St. Charles North's Ernst continues fabulous season
It's a short list of runners that St. Charles North's Audrey Ernst hasn't beat in her breakthrough freshman season.
The list got a little shorter Saturday.
Ernst covered a wet and muddy Leroy Oakes course in 17:17, good for second place in St. Charles North's annual invitational.
That was one spot ahead of Jacobs' Lauren Van Vlierbergen, the fourth-place finisher in the 2013 Class 3A state meet who beat Ernst on the same course earlier this season.
“It is a really good field, a lot of great teams, a lot of really good individuals,” St. Charles North coach Shari Hayes said. “I was expecting her to get third today. But she ran great especially in these conditions. It is windy especially on that hill.”
Both Ernst and Van Vlierbergen finished behind champion Alexa Haff, a sophomore from Hinsdale Central. It was that hill two miles into the race where the top three made the moves that put them in the positions they finished.
“It went pretty well,” Van Vlierbergen said. “I have to kick harder at the end but everybody went so fast. It's a fast course. I definitely need to work on my kick.
“The weather was definitely freezing but when you are running you don't even notice. it was perfect running weather. It was a little muddy and a little sloshy but it is a great course.”
Hayes credited the North Stars' boys cross country team with helping Ernst train.
“She's been running a lot with the boys because the varsity boys she can chase,” Hayes said. “Hopefully we'll get her in the right shape in the right time of the year.”
As a team the North Stars finished eighth at their 17-team invite.
“We're improving,” Hayes said. “It's good to see. They are all under 20 now which is an improvement. They are getting stronger and stronger. We're not in the same position we were last year but we are definitely rebuilding and we'll see what we have at the end.”
Hinsdale Central placed four of the top 11 to win going away with a 49-95 margin over runner-up Minooka.
Batavia was third with 97 points and Geneva fourth at 119.
The Vikings didn't have their complete lineup. Sophomore Emma Ehrhardt took 14th, senior Brooke Nusser 18th, junior Emma McSpadden 23rd and sophomore Mary Grace Neville 25th.
Batavia put three runners in the top 16 led by freshman Emma Stephens in eighth in 17:42.
“There was mud but it wasn't too bad because you could get around it,” Stephens said. “I think the cold felt good because you could move faster. I've been trying a lot of different ways of starting and today I got a good start and just trailed the top group. The first mile felt really good and the second mile I tried to make my move and move up.”
Stephens passed three runners in the second mile.
Junior Dakota Roman (12th, 18:03), freshman Daphne Kolody (16th, 18:30), freshman Marygrace Golden (30th, 18:58) and freshman Erika Mansfield (31st, 19:00) rounded out Batavia's top five.
“I think the team did really good and we are becoming more of a pack and getting closer and closer together,” Stephens said. “It's just really fun to watch everyone grow as a runner on the team.”
Streamwood senior Gabby Juarez passed Hinsdale Central's Annie Zaher in the final few steps to take fourth in 17:24.
Jaurez had run a 17:07 at Lake Park earlier this year but her times had gone up to the low 18s recently. On Saturday she focused more on pacing herself and saving her energy for the close.
“We changed our game plan a little today and didn't want to worry about going out with the top runners,” Streamwood coach Dennis Lau said. “We wanted to get back in the 17s. She said she had a lot left in the tank. Her kick was way too much. We need to disperse that throughout the race a lot more.”
Lau put a lot of thought into the strategy for Saturday's race.
“I think she realized today she can be up there,” Lau said. “These are all great athletes and she's still trying to get a little more confidence to be up with the elite, elite runners. With a little more experiments I think she's definitely going to be up there at the end.
“It was a great all-around race. A lot of strategy went into today as I'm sure it did with everybody.”
Lau said it was the first time in school history the Sabres had a runner finish in the low 17s and two in the 18s — Samantha Harding, 18:50 and Addie Kelly, 18:51.
“We wanted to have a more balanced approach this time,” Lau said. “We didn't want to go out and have a 5:28 this time and come back with a 6:30. We wanted to keep everything more even. And that's how it was for our top three today.”