T.F. South's Angell wins SSC Blue cross country title

LANSING | T.F. South senior Dylan Angell feels pretty nice to be a champion.

Angell won the boys race at the South Suburban Conference Blue championship Saturday morning at North Creek Meadow. His time of 16 minutes, 16 seconds was 24 seconds better than second-place finisher Brandon Iviins of Oak Forest and was a personal best for Angell this season. Teammate Johnny Leopardo finished eighth with a time of 17:17.

"I'm really excited that I got first place in conference," Angell said. "Me and Johnny Leopardo were in the top 10 so we're going to be all-conference and that's pretty exciting. The weather was a bit chilly, but after a while you don't notice it at all."

The Rebels took third in the team competition behind Oak Forest and Lemont. Leopardo has seen the T.F. South program come a long way and he hopes to continue to improve as the team prepares for regionals next weekend.

"I felt really good about today," Leopardo said. "We definitely came up from where we were last year. We've hopped up in places as a school and we showed that we've changed a lot this year. It was pretty difficult today. It just made your body feel more sore than usually. It was just really cold that's all I can say."

T.F. North struggled and only recorded two runners in the top 30. Chris Szablewski finished in 27th (18:17) while teammate Joel Flores was 30th (18:44).

In the girls race, T.F. South's Jessica Fierce placed 23rd with a time of 22:27. T.Rebels Sam Locasio and Cruzita Arambula finished in 33rd and 34th place, respectively.

"I got a (personal record) today and it was pretty hard with all the wind pushing me back," Fierce said. "Overall, I think I did good and I think the team did their best. In regionals, I think I have a good chance of moving on to sectionals, but I'm just taking it one race at a time and keep pushing myself."