Glen Crest Middle School had one team champion and one individual champion at the DuPage Metro Valley Association cross country conference meet in October. The seventh-grade boys won a close meet while eighth-grader Tom Jochum earned the individual title in the eighth-grade race.
The seventh-grade Spartans narrowly edged O’Neill to win the conference title. O’Neill runners finished first and second at the meet but a pack of top-10 Glen Crest runners - Evan Rubinas (3rd), Daniel Alcala (5th), Giancarlo Pietrasanta (7th), and Alan Pikul (10th) – kept the race close. Glen Crest cross country coach Michelle Bolker credited the clutch performances of Lukas Donaker, Noah Martin, and Andrew Woods for helping Glen Crest win the meet.
“The team worked very hard and improved throughout the year,” Bolker said. “They were able to stay cool, calm, and collected at the conference meet.”
In the eighth-grade boys race, Tom Jochum capped off an outstanding season by finishing 24 seconds ahead of the second-place runner in the conference meet. Jochum finished the two-mile course in 11 minutes, 10 seconds.
Bolker said Jochum worked very hard over the summer and improved exponentially in his eighth-grade year. Jochum won seven of the eight meets he ran in this season.
Glen Crest cross country coaches are Michelle Bolker, Mark Odell, and Danny Sheridan.