Tennis and Cross Country | Eagles soar to titles

By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer

It was a Sandburg Saturday.

It was raining and reigning on Oct. 14 as the Orland Park school was able to add three titles to its collection of hardware in cross country and girls tennis.

The Eagles won their ninth straight girls tennis sectional title, scoring 29 points and holding off Marist, which finished with 24 points, in the Class 2A Sandburg Sectional.

Sandburg finished first and second in doubles as the sister combo of Maia and Estela Loureiro beat Neela Browne and Alexa Petcu, 6-0, 6-0, for the title. The Loureiros, who are both nationally ranked as individuals, did not lose a game in the tournament.

The Eagles were also aided by sophomore singles player Laila Brown, who finished third to qualify for state.

Marist freshman Helena Klooster, who is also nationally ranked, opened her high school postseason career in fine fashion, shutting out three opponents and beating Stagg’s Vicki Lipinski, 6-1, 6-0, in the championship. Marist’s Elsie Koch finished fourth to qualify for state.

In doubles, Richards’ Mia Montes-Violet McIntrye and Mother McAuley’s Mary Kate Halleran-Nora Wolfe-Halpern also qualified for state.

In Class 1A, Nazareth Academy finished third at the Hinsdale South Sectional as the doubles team of Layden Almer-Audry Moster finished third while freshman singles player Elaine McNamera took fourth.

Rain postponed the other sectionals involving other area schools. Makeup dates were scheduled after this newspaper’s deadline.

The state meet is scheduled to open Oct. 19 at various campuses in the North and Northwest suburbs.

Boys cross country
Sandburg scored 37 points, well ahead of Lincoln-Way East’s 56 in the SouthWest Suburban Blue meet at Lockport.

Sandburg senior Grant Giblin won the race with a time of 15:48.60 seconds.

Stagg senior Luke Barham finished second in the Red division in 15:58.50.

Reavis won the South Suburban Red meet at Bedford Park with 46 points and Richards was second with 53.

Freshman Santiago Chavez led the Rams with a second-place finish of 16:55.45 and senior Jose Flores was third in 16:57.26.

Evergreen Park’s Rocco Cipolla won the race in 16:23.54.

In the West Suburban Silver at Proviso West High School, Lyons senior Cillian Henning finished third in 16:05.26.

Riverside-Brookfield won the two-team Metro Suburban title at Westmont, with senior Evan McMullen winning in 18:09.

St. Laurence junior Luis Flores and Brother Rice junior Gavin O’Connor finished second and third, respectively, at the Chicago Catholic League meet with times of 15:50.12 and 15:53.00

Girls cross country
Sandburg’s girls finished in first in the SWSC Blue with 26 points – 10 ahead of Lincoln-Way East.

The Eagles claimed the first three spots with sophomore Lindsey Gerhardstein finishing first in 18:26.30, senior Ava Giblin taking the runnerup spot in 19:21.70 and senior Katie Roche taking third in 19:27.90.

In the South Suburban Red in Bedford Park, Reavis won with a 26 while Argo was second with 51.

Argo senior Valeria Marquez Enriquez won the race in 20:28.23. Reavis senior Mia Chavel took second and Rams sophomore Delyanna Arocho third in 20:39.59.

Riverside-Brookfield won the three-team Metro Suburban Conference meet at Westmont High School with 19 points as junior Gianna Gelb led the Bulldogs with a second-place finish of 21:00.