The Palatine Pirates won the 3A state cross country title held at Detweiller Park in downstate Peoria Saturday, Nov. 5 with 114 team points.
The Pirates edged O’Fallon High School by 6 points.
Palatine, ranked number one in the state all season, got some redemption over third place Neuqua Valley (144) which was the only team to beat the Pirates during the regular season.
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Of the more than 200 state qualifiers for the 3A state meet, Palatine had four runners finish in the top 25 and five runners finish in the top 50 en route to their state crown.
Senior Peter Tomkiewicz led the Pirates to this year’s title with his 11th place (14:43) finish, just ahead of fellow senior Anthony Gregorio’s (14:55) 18th place.
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Despite the strong start by Tomkiewicz and Gregorio, the Pirates still found themselves trailing O’Fallon early in the meet. Seniors Tim Johnson (28th with 15:05) and Marcus Garcia’s (29th with 15:05) back to back finish produced necessary points in the fight with the Panthers who had runners finish 34th and 37th.
The Pirates, now with a mere four point advantage, relied on senior Tim Meincke (66th at 15:22) to bring the crown back to Palatine as he finished just ahead of O’Fallon’s final runner.
"We were able to accomplish our goal from the beginning of the season and that was to run our best race," Tomkiewicz said. "We did that. In the end it was a great experience to have with my teammates for 4 years of blood, sweat, and tears."
"The championship was just the end result and whether we would have won or lost I'm just overjoyed that I got to experience this season with my teammates," Tomkiewicz said.
This is the first state championship for Pirate head coach Chris Quick who has had many successful trips downstate including three second place finishes (2003-2005), a third place finish in 2007 and last year’s fourth place finish.
Junior Christian Zambrano (133rd at 15:43) and senior Noah Brown (184th at 16:12) also ran in the state meet.
