WW South edges Geneva for sectional crown
Youth edged experience Saturday in the Class 3A St. Charles East girls cross country sectional at LeRoy Oakes.
Wheaton Warrenville South with its lineup of seven non-seniors finished four points ahead of Geneva and its six seniors.
Both WW South (49) and Geneva (53) along with Glenbard West (71), St. Charles North (177) and Naperville North (183) advanced to next Saturday's state meet in Peoria.
“We don't really look at other teams and what they are doing, we just do the best we can do,” said WW South's top finisher, sophomore McKenna Kiple.
Kiple covered the course in 17:48 to place fourth among the sectional qualifying teams.
“I just kind of ran my race and did the best I could,” Kiple said. “(Teammate) Mikayla Kightlinger really helped me. I was looking at the back of her jersey and I was thinking I have to get up with her. We were helping each other all race.”
Kightlinger came in one spot behind Kiple and Lauren Mordini finished two behind Kightlinger giving the Tigers three in the top 10.
“It helps to have teammates that I run with,” Kiple said. “If one of us is having a bad race, there's always two of them right there and it's so easy to connect with them and push through it.”
Coach Rob Harvey said he is never sure just what order his runners will finish.
“Goal accomplished, whether we were first or fifth we wanted to qualify for state,” Harvey said. “It seems like we have a different one and two and three every week. We're a team. They rallied around a couple things that could have thrown them off this week.”
Hope Schmelzle and Clare Kelly posted the final two counting places at 16 and 17 for the Tigers, who won their second sectional title in school history and second straight. They now have won four races this year.
“Kightlinger, (seventh runner) Amy Young, (sixth runner) Melinda Franker have never run high school cross country,” Harvey said. “The main thing is they are athletes. No matter how much experience in cross country they are true competitors.”
Geneva senior Kelly Whitley won the sectional title, a feat she also accomplished as a sophomore. She led comfortably all race and wound up 20 seconds ahead of Crystal Lake South's Marianne Collard in 17:20.
“Definitely special,” Whitley said. “Last time racing here, it definitely means a lot to me. I wanted to redeem myself from last year. Our team wanted to. We have spent countless hours here and it is nice to go out with a race like we did today.”
Geneva, the 2007 and 2008 state champions who took fifth last year with this core group of seniors, said they expect a better race next week.
“I personally don't feel like I did as well as I could,” said senior Tess Ehrhardt, who followed Whitley with a ninth-place finish among the sectional qualifying teams ahead of teammates Liza Tauscher (10th), Rachel Hammond (12th) and Megan Brady (21st).
“I was lucky to have such a good team behind me, I had Liza and Rachael supporting me. Kelly seeing her in first carries us along. That's good for us.”
Maddie Nagle and Madeline Perez both broke 18 minutes and scored six and eight points, respectively, leading Glenbard West to third.
St. Charles North qualified for state for the second time in school history, joining the 2006 team. The return of Erica Bauerbach from a left foot stress fracture sparked the North Stars. She placed 26th after missing the last six weeks, just ahead of Ania Gawlik (28th) and Sydney Stuenkel (35th).
“I think I ran really well the first two miles, the last mile I struggled a bit,” Bauerbach said. “It got hard. This is always the toughest meet. I think I competed pretty well until the last mile and some people started to pass me. Not too many but I shouldn't have let them pass me.”
“Relieved,” St. Charles North coach Shari Hayes said. “They ran well. Having Erica run was the biggest key and the rest of them ran in a pack.”
Naperville North's counting places went 31st through 45th, paced by Marly May.
Bartlett and St. Charles East both had one individual qualifier. Bartlett's Alyssa Schneider finished third in 17:43.
“She said her legs felt tired today,” Bartlett coach Beth Emody said. “The last half mile was super challenging. But she looked strong, she looked confident. She finished as strong as she could.”
Schneider will try to cap her stellar career with a state race like her fifth-place finish as a sophomore.
“It would be nice to see her get back up to there because last year was a tough race at state,” Emody said.
St. Charles East's Jessica Evans placed 13th in 18 minutes even to qualify.
“It was a hard race, it was really fast,” Evans said. “It was hard to get in the right position and stay there but I did what I could do.
“It means a lot (to qualify). I've been working toward this all season.”
Batavia didn't qualify anyone but has reason to be encouraged with its entire top 12 back next year. Rachel Spalding and Bari Robinson both placed in the top 30.
“Rachel put herself on another level this year and Bari ran awesome,” Batavia coach Chad Hillman said. “Our whole top 12 is coming back. We feel like we have a nice freshman class coming in. We are looking forward to a big improvement. That's (qualifying for state next year) a goal, it's definitely something we are looking at.”