Teams included: Frassati Academy in Wauconda, Holy Family Academy in Inverness, Immanuel Lutheran, St. Thomas of Villanova and St. Theresa, all in Palatine; Our Lady of the Wayside and St. James in Arlington Heights; St. Alphonsus in Prospect Heights, St. Benedict Preparatory School, St. Juliana and Queen of All Saints, all in Chicago; St. Raymond and St. Emily in Mount Prospect; St. Francis de Sales in Lake Zurich, St. Gilbert in Grayslake, St. Hubert in Hoffman Estates, St. Mary in Buffalo Grove, St. Patrick in Wadsworth, and St. Paul of the Cross in Park Ridge.
“It’s one of the only high school invitationals that we know about,” says Christine Bremner, race director and enrollment director at Saint Viator. “We think that’s the reason we get schools from a wide geographic area.”
She adds that young runners get to compete against schools outside their conference, and see Saint Viator’s expansive campus. Members of Saint Viator’s girls’ and boys’ cross country teams helped run the event and led the younger runners through their courses.
Junior varsity boys and girls ran a one-mile course, while varsity runners ran a two-mile course. All racers were clocked by a professional timing company, It’s Race Time, Inc., and were able
see their results online.
“It is such a great feeling watching those kids cross the finish line,” Bremner adds. “I love seeing those exhausted, determined, proud, happy faces crossing the finish line. What a great way to build confidence and self-esteem for the new school year.”
In all, 100 individual awards were handed out, with the top 25 finishers among JV girls, JV boys, varsity girls and varsity boys all receiving medals. The Saint Viator traveling cup went to the top girls’ and boys’ varsity teams, or St. Benedict Prep for girls’ varsity and St. Mary in Buffalo Grove for boys’ varsity. Top placing teams in each division included:
Girls JV
1st Place – St. Benedict Prep
2nd Place – Saint James
3rd Place – St. Mary
Boys JV
1st Place – St. Benedict Prep
2nd Place – St. Raymond
3rd Place – Our Lady of the Wayside
Girls Varsity
1st Place – St. Benedict Prep
2nd Place – St. Thomas
3rd Place – Queen of All Saints
Boys Varsity