Knowledge pays for Dodis, Kaneland
The hills of Elburn Woods claimed a few more victims Saturday morning at Kaneland's annual Larry Eddington Invitational.
That's when it pays to know the course like Knights junior Abby Dodis.
Dodis turned in the best race of the day for host Kaneland, finishing eighth in 19 minutes, 45.6 seconds.
“We really do like this race,” Dodis said. “It's tough, it's definitely a tough course but we practice on it and definitely have a little bit of an advantage.”
Dodis, coming off a 10th-place finish last week at Wauconda, got boxed in at the start of the race and had to work her way back to take eighth.
Junior Maggie Brundige came in next for the Knights in 15th with a time of 20:08.
Crystal Lake Central freshman Sami Staples won the race in 18:34.6, beating Glenbard East senior Maggie Angst by 6.4 seconds. The Tigers roared to the team title with 40 points, followed by Benet (83), Marengo (89), Jacobs (99) and Glenbard East (134).
Other local finishers among the 17 competing teams included Geneva in sixth with 147, Rosary 10th at 271 and Burlington Central 13th.
While the hills got to some runners, Angst said she always looks forward to coming to Elburn.
“This course is actually my favorite because you don't repeat anything,” Angst said. “It's nice to have all the different environments. I like the hill. It's a good race to show how tough people are. The hills are hard but I like it.”
After about the mile mark Staples broke free from a pack of seven runners. Angst stayed in the pack until getting back in the woods when she pushed forward.
“Some of the girls slowed down so I used that as a time to surge,” said Angst, who opened the season with a top-10 finish at Hinsdale and took third last week at Wauconda. “I tried to surge up to the lead girl but she was going good.”
Audrey Blazek, who won last week's Royal-Cadet invitational, led Benet in sixth place in 18:54.
“I'm surprised we finished second,” Benet coach Scott Brooks said. “Every girl who ran here last year was slower at the mile than they were last year. We didn't put ourselves in a position to win the race. It's Homecoming and I don't want to use that as an excuse but it didn't look like we were focused today.”
Benet freshman Alexis Mayfield took 12th and junior Maddy Gilleran was 14th.
“Once they dug themselves a hole they tried hard to get out of it but this isn't a course where you can get out of a hole easily,” said Brooks, whose team has their first conference meet next week and a Friday night race in Naperville. “Maybe we were looking ahead a little. You aren't going to pass 50 kids like on a flat course. It was an off-day for us. We've got some work to do. I know we can run better than that which I guess is encouraging.”
Freshman Lauren VanVlierbergen and junior Samantha Brown paced Jacobs in seventh and ninth place, respectively.
“I kind of died toward the end,” VanVlierbergen said. “I wish I could have pushed a little harder. The hills are really bad, really severe. Made it a lot harder. I'm looking forward to improving.”
Sophomore Kathryn Adelman paced Geneva in 19th in 20:16. A pair of freshmen Kylie Monahan (23rd) and Brooke Nusser (31st) weren't far behind.
“A couple went out a little too fast,” Geneva coach Bob Thomson said. “Still learning. Being young you still have to learn how to race the course. It's not won in the first mile. I'm happy with them. Pretty decent pack today.”
Junior Kara Kalisz led Rosary in 38th.