David Carlson Guest Writer Cross-country teams in the Independent School League now officially fear the Running Romans.  On Thursday, October 5^th, both the boys’ and the girls’ teams won their annual home meet, the Prep Classic in Lincoln Park, against other Chicago area college prep schools. The girls beat their rival U-High by more than ten points and pulled out the overall victory on a tiebreak with Walter Payton.  Junior Lizzie Guynn beat Payton’s sixth runner, breaking the tie and giving the Romans the win.  Junior captain Kara Bank and freshman Victoria Bianco led the way, both finishing in the top ten. The boys were victorious for the second consecutive year.  The depth of the boys’ team is what makes them so strong.  The top four runners all finished in the top eleven in the race.  Junior Britt Henderson had a breakout race finishing fifth, followed by senior captain, Nick Stender, and juniors Ethan Lee and Tom Cox, finishing 6^th, 7^th, and 11^th, respectively.  Captain David Carlson and junior Nick Mendia rounded out the top 6 finishing 18^th and 19^th. Brian Dhingra took the individual title in the boys Frosh/Soph two-mile.  Dhingra is the third Latin sophomore in three years to win that race. Today, the varsity teams represented the Northside in the Nike Northside-Southside Challenge before the Chicago Marathon.  Everyone had a great time running the last 2.62 miles of the Marathon course. Facing tough competition, the boys team placed 7th, and the girls impressively pulled out a 3rd place finish, helping the Northside defeat the Southside. As the teams head into the ISL Conference Meet on Thursday, the boys look to retain their title, while the girls hope to win for the first time in seven years.]]>