Higuchi's record effort powers Fremd at Warren
As the old saying goes, "it's the little things that count."
That details-first approach to practice and meets has really helped the Fremd girls cross country team, and the determined Vikings ran to the championship of the 17-team Warren Invitational Saturday morning by a solid 63-88 count to top the host Blue Devils.
Not only was Saturday a great day for Fremd as a team, but Ayako Higuchi set a record on the 2.95-mile course on the grounds of the high school with a winning time of 17:12.16.
Higuchi's next closest competitor was runner-up Morgan Schulz (17:33) of third-place squad Cary Grove (98 points) which was within striking distance of Warren the entire way under warm running conditions in the upper 70's.
Crystal Lake South also put together a strong team effort with a fourth-place score of 105 points while Rolling Meadows (204 points) placed seventh.
Higuchi was able to pull away in the final two thirds of the race to easily capture first place.
"With about 2 miles to go I went ahead and I kept going," said Higuchi, who was followed by teammate Katie Escobar's outstanding fourth-place finish. "Our team is doing very well and we've improved so much since last year."
The Vikings' top-five pack featured Anita Grduzien in 10th, Nora Finegan in 20th, and Jessica Peterson in 30th.
Fremd coach Joe Marcin praised his team for doing the little things in practice that have led to bigger things in the early stages of the new season.
"The girls are starting to believe in themselves and their pack-running, and day in and day out they do all of the small things right," said Fremd coach Joe Marcin, who couldn't be happier with Higuchi. "She ran within herself, and Ayako came out in the lead after the second mile and she went after it."
The Blue Devils had their typical blue collar effort Saturday with senior Becky Haight once again leading their way in fifth place.
Warren had a fantastic pack of runners 2-6 bunched together, including Emily Jahn (17th), Brooke Wilt (22nd), Elizabeth Abundes (23rd), Michelle Klimt (25th), and Sammi Jo Nixon (26th).
"It's a beautiful day to run and our course is notoriously fast so we're very happy for her (Higuchi) setting the course record," said Warren coach Brett Heimstead. "We're running well, we're working on trying to run as a pack, and we're letting Becky (Haight) go ahead a little bit up in the front of the pack."
Along with the great finish by Schulz, Cary-Grove was another area team to exhibit some consistent pack running with Linnea Yokup in 15th, Sarah Ceasar in 19th, and Sarah Riley in 28th.
"Cross country is never easy so we're in the process of making this the best team we can be," said Cary-Grove coach Mark Anderson. "To come out of there with third place I'm thrilled, and obviously Fremd's team as a whole was outstanding."
Crystal Lake South had a terrific trio of Kiley Britten in eighth, Caitlin Bruzzini in 11th, and Andie Kobrick in 14th to help hold off fifth-place squad Evanston by only 13 points.
"Our top three are running great and I thought we had a shot at Cary-Grove and Warren today," said Crystal Lake South coach Ken Greenfield. "They (top three girls) have been executing our race strategy at a very high level all year long and they've been doing a fantastic job of that."
Rolling Meadows' duo of Gaby Sanchez (12th), and Leslie Rosiles (18th) looked sharp in leading the Mustangs' pack.
"She (Rosiles) made a big improvement today, she ran a great race," said Rolling Meadows coach Lisa Kollias, who said running five days a week this summer really helped Rosiles. "This is the first summer she put in a lot of running so it pays off running in the summer."
After winning the Warren Invite the last two years, Buffalo Grove junior Kaitlyn Ko put together a solid seventh-place finish to lead the Bison Saturday.
"She (Ko) has been having some growing pains, she didn't compete at all in track last season (due to injury), and she's doing very well," said Buffalo Grove coach Sara Farrell. "She is a really strong competitor, she has the work ethic and desire to do it, but it takes time."
Mundelein did not have a full varsity competing, but junior Abby Grein looked strong for the Mustangs as an individual in 16th place.
Antioch's surge to the finish was led by sophomore Tessa Furlong in 21st place while Lluvia Chavarria put together another strong race to lead Round Lake in 27th place.
Fremd's Lauren Ciardiello added a 34th-place run followed by CLS's Jenny Luken in 36th, Cary-Grove's Talia Duzey in 37th, and CLS's Ann Lewandowski in 38th.