ROCHELLE — It was a bit of a sloppy day for competitors at Thursday’s Hub invitational cross-country meet at Skare Park west of Rochelle, as recent rains affected the terrain.
“Wet, muddy conditions slowed times today, but everyone seemed to be having fun at the Rochelle Invitational,” laughed Hub coach Mark Zilis.
DeKalb won the boys team competition with total points, while Rochelle ended up in fourth place as a team with 70 points.

Rochelle’s Santi Cordoba and Josue Huerta ran competitively, finishing in eighth and 11th place, respectively, while Aiden Seldal finished in 15th place and freshman David Wanner ended in 17th place.
Zilis also was pleased with his team’s overall effort and specifically for one of the new harriers on the team.
We were only a few points out of second place so it’s good to see the runners competing hard,” Zilis said. “We were also excited to see our foreign exchange student, Aniket Ranjan, finish his first race of the year in 64th place.”
In the girls’ competition, the Lady Hubs placed in fifth with 95 points. DeKalb won the team event with 49 points.
Britney Baez led Rochelle with a nice performance, finishing in second place and turning in an impressive time despite the conditions. Sara Johnson placed ninth for the Lady Hubs.
“Britney ran a great race, finishing with a respectable time of 21:31,” Zilis said. “This not only represents her best time ever at our home meet, but was also eight seconds faster than last year’s winning time.”