Hernandez, Ortiz record top-10 finishes on Wednesday

BYRON — The Rochelle Hub and Lady Hub varsity cross country teams competed in the Byron Invitational at the Byron Forest Preserve on Wednesday. The Lady Hubs finished fourth out of five teams with 110 points, while the Hubs took fifth out of six teams with 119 points in the meet.

Junior Luis Hernandez medaled in ninth place out of 46 runners in the varsity race, clocking in at 16:25 over 2.87 miles to lead the Hubs. Senior Thomas Koziol took 23rd overall with a time of 17:42, while freshman Declan McGee finished 27th overall with a time of 18:03. Other notable finishers include senior Avery Auld (36th in 20:36) and freshman Elijah Mayen (41st in 21:40).

“I thought our kids ran well,” head coach Mark Zilis said. “It was a slightly shorter course, but when converted to a full 3-mile race, almost every girl and several of our guys set new personal records. They ran the course really well and there were a lot of hills they needed to work through. Some of our slower runners really stepped up and our training seems to be working.”

Senior Yuelma Ortiz medaled in fifth place out of 40 runners in the varsity race, clocking in at 20:09 to lead the Lady Hubs. Freshman Annaliese Koziol finished 24th with a time of 22:40, while freshman Rose Luxton and sophomore Bridgett Ramirez took 33rd and 34th with respective times of 26:04 and 26:17. Freshman Mary Chadwick and senior Gisselle Robles placed 36th and 37th with respective times of 26:51 and 27:01 to round out the varsity lineup.

“I think our season has gone well,” Zilis said. “We have a great spirit on this team and all of our kids get along really well. They’re constantly encouraging each other and I love seeing that.”

The Rochelle Hub and Lady Hub teams will race at the Rock River Run in Sterling on Saturday.