Photo: Sometimes cross-country races are separated by inches as it was on Tuesday as Oak Park-River Forest’s Matt Vietzen edged York’s Sean MacGregor in a dual meet at Schiller Woods (Mike Newman photo).

By Michael Newman

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Conditions were almost perfect for the Sycamore Invitational held at the Afton Forest Preserve just outside of DeKalb. Athletes took advantage of the perfect running weather with some great performances.

The Boys individual race pitted two of the top 2A individual runners in the state with Kaneland’s Matt Richtman and Sterling’s Jacob Gebhardt. It will not be the last time the two will face off against each other. Both Sterling and Kaneland are in the NIB-12 Conference and most likely will be in the Kaneland Sectional.

The first race between the two all-state runners came down to the final meters to decide a winner. Richtman pulled away for the win (15:20) just two seconds ahead of Gebhardt. Sycamore’s Stephen Poorten, who is another 2A runner to watch up front, did not race. All three runners could face each other next week at the First to the Finish Invitational at Peoria’s Detweiller Park. Dawson Smith, a sophomore from Rock Falls, was a distant third running 16:07.

3A Unranked DeKalb made a statement of why they could be soon moving into the 3A top 25 with a convincing win over some ranked 2A schools. The Barbs put their first five in the top 18 to win the team title with 53 points. Jacob Trapp lead DeKalb by finishing 4^th. He was followed by Ben Allen (6^th), Aidan Donohue (10^th), Riley Marks (15^th), and Juan Castro (18^th). Their split on their five scorers was 46 seconds.

2A #8 Kaneland was second with 88 points followed by #6 Sycamore (97 points), #14 Belvidere North (127 points), and #11 Dixon (128 points) in the top five.

2A top ranked Belvidere North started their march for a second 2A Girls championship easily winning the Girls race placing three in the first four as well as all five of their scorers in the first 11. The Blue Thunder scored 26 points to outdistance #9 Dixon (69 points) and Rock Falls (92 points).

Belvidere North showed their strength in the front as Madison Diercks won the individual title (18:15.5) just three seconds ahead of teammate Gianna Sagona. DeKalb’s Katherine Olsen broke up the North top three as she finished third ahead of Sabrina Elder. Olivia Zalucyj (10^th) and Alexandria Reza (11^th) rounded out Belvidere North’s top five who had a split of 93 seconds.

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The top two finishers in last year’s 1A Girls state meet St. Joseph-Ogden and Tolono Unity faced off for the first time Tuesday at the Kickapoo Kickoff Classic. The two schools will face each other every week this season except one.

It was top ranked Tolono Unity that had the edge in the first matchup. The Rockets placed all five scorers in the first 15 to win the team title with 43 points. #2 St. Joseph-Ogden, led by Faith Houston’s sixth-place finish, was next with 69 points. Urbana University (82 points) and #13 St. Thomas More (88 points) finished third and fourth.

Tolono was led by Jordan Harmon who finished second overall. Caroline Bachert (7^th), Evelyn Adkins (9^th), Kylie Decker (10^th), and Savanna Day (15^th) were the other runners in their top five. Even though their five-runner split off Harmon was well over two minutes, their split on their second through fifth runners was 81 seconds.

Shanice Garbutt of Danville dominated the Girls individual race completing the rugged three-mile course in a quick 18:15. She was 27 seconds ahead of Tolono’s Harmon.

2A #3 Danville rolled to the Boys team title behind the individual win by Michael Moreman who covered the course in 16:24. The Maroons put all five scorers in the top nine to win with only 25 points. 1A #10 St. Joseph-Ogden was next with 79 points.

Sincere Williams-Davis was only six seconds behind his teammate in second. Dylan Watson (5^th), Phillip Hall (8^th), and Brandon Barfel (9^th) were part of Danville’s top five that had a 72 second split on five.

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1A #4 Carlinville took the top three places on their way to winning their own meet with only 20 points. Rochester scored 60 points to finish second. Only 12 seconds separated Carlinville’s first three with Jason Landon first in 16:51 followed by Charles Helton (16:58) and Bailey Lippold (17:03). Their split on five was 39 seconds.

Staunton followed up with their strong performance at Edwardsville with a win in the Girls team and individual races. Freshman Lydia Roller cruised to the individual win in 19:11. She finished 39 seconds ahead of Litchfield’s Madison Throne. Staunton also won the team title (57 points) ahead of Jersey (66 points) and Litchfield (72 points).

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St. Charles North placed 5 runners in the first 15 to win the Girls team title at the Elgin City Classic Tuesday at Lord’s Park. Natalie Galvan led the North Stars with the individual win covering the three-mile course in 19:07. South Elgin’s Hannah Anderson ran 19:40 to finish second with Bartlett freshman Camille Buchanan running 19:45 to finish third.

Glenbard North scored 63 points to finish second with Bartlett finishing third (72 points).

The Glenbard North Boys’ team packed up putting four runners between 6^th place and 11^th place and 5 in the top 19 to win the team title with 52 points. North was led by the sixth-place finish by Matthew Sulocha. Their split on their first four was only 16 seconds with a 32 second spread on their top five. East Aurora (63 points) and Bartlett (94 points) finished second and third.

Jesus Nava of East Aurora ran 16:11 to win the individual race. Jace Warrick of South Elgin (16:22), Bo Ruttens of St. Charles North (16:23), and St. Charles East’s Michael Larry (16:24) were the next three finishers.