Vernon Hills' Gallagher is on her own

After being the only Lake County girls cross country runner from the Daily Herald area to qualify in any class, the 2010 Class 2A state meet may be a bit lonely for Vernon Hills senior standout Kelley Gallagher Saturday at Peoria's Detweiller Park.

And while Gallagher will probably not see many familiar faces running along side her on the storied 3-mile course in central Illinois when the starting gun sounds at 11 a.m., she has already proven that she belongs there with many of the top runners in the state.

The versatile Gallagher's road to the state meet has actually been a pretty short one compared to many runners who have come before her as she was a swimmer in the fall during her first two years of high school.

But not only was she a swimmer, she was a sophomore swimmer on the Cougars' 200-yard freestyle relay team which reached the IHSA state meet.

She followed up that performance by just missing all-state in track that spring with a 10th-place finish in the 1,600-meter run at the state meet in Charleston.

But with hopes and goals of running in college, Gallagher chose to switch from swimming to cross country last fall where she had a very successful first campaign despite just missing out on a berth to the state meet.

She did make the all-state team in track last spring with a ninth-place finish at 1,600 meters, and that set the stage for her to take one more crack at becoming the first person in school history to qualify for state in three different sports.

And after putting together a great season, there was no doubt about it as Gallagher placed seventh at the Belvidere sectional just behind Hampshire's Cassie Kruse last Saturday to easily qualify for the state meet and make Vernon Hills history.

“Her main goal for the season was to make it to state since she missed it by one place last year,” said Vernon Hills coach Suzanne Richert, who is in her sixth season. “Now that she has gotten there she wants to do something with it and she doesn't get rattled very easily.”

“She was pretty good in a lot of swimming events too, and it's hard to make state in that sport because there is only one class,” added Richert. “I think she prefers track, and most of the Division I schools she is looking at want you to run both cross country and track.”

Whether it is swimming, cross country or track, Gallagher has been very comfortable in every one of these different settings and hopefully she can close out her high school cross country career with one more great performance at Detweiller Park, where she has competed twice.

“Kelley is peaking at the right time and our goal is to get in the top 25 and be all-state,” said Richert. “Kelley positions herself in the lead pack early in the race, settles into her pace, and then she has consistently made moves during the third mile of the race.”

If Gallagher does make all-state, she will not be the first Vernon Hills girl to do it as Danielle Dickman was an all-state runner for the Cougars in both 2007 and 2008. Dickman started her college career at Eastern Illinois before transferring to Miami of Ohio where she currently attends.

“I don't anticipate her (Gallagher's) game plan to be any different this weekend although the beginning pace will be fast,” Richert said. “We're confident that she will adjust to the race as it plays out. She has had a tremendous season of workouts and is prepared to run with the strong 2A field at state.”

The Class 2A awards ceremony is slated for 1 p.m.