Vernon Hills nabs final state spot
Yorkville's girls cross country team started the day off in great fashion, placing its top five runners in the top 22 to win the Class 2A Kaneland sectional with 72 points.
Belvidere North finished second with 89 points. Blue Thunder sophomore Jenna Lutzow won the race in a time of 17:12, while Marengo's Kitty Allen finished second in 17:17.
Crystal Lake Central (105), Lake Forest (115), and Vernon Hills (137) rounded out the top five qualifiers for next weekend's state meet in Peoria.
Lake Villa junior Kortney Schardt finished third in a time of 17:40. Schardt won the Antioch regional last weekend, and now sets her sights on the state meet next weekend.
"Today I just wanted to finish in the top five, and I accomplished that," Schardt said. "I wanted to have a good mental mindset today, as well. I was really trying to work on my second mile and make sure I kept a really strong pace. I'm really excited (about advancing to state) and I'm just hoping to make all-state and finish in the top 25. "
Vernon Hills junior Vivian Overbeck was only seconds behind Schardt in fourth place in 17:42.
Each runner has their own strategy - some run for personal bests, while others try to hang with the top runners. Overbeck has settled on a strategy that works best for her.
"I really like running in the cold weather, so I don't think it bothered me," Overbeck said. "There were a couple of girls here today who I haven't seen yet this year, so I just really tried to stick with them and push myself at the beginning and hold on as long as I could. Last year I finished 11th at the state meet, so next week I'm hoping to be in the top 10. I used to really focus on time, but I've changed my race strategy and I try to just focus on beating people now."
Samantha Hershman (21st, 18:27), Lauren Katz (26th, 18:39), Shannon Skeoch (46th, 19:05), and Lauren Kim (48th, 19:07) rounded out the top five placements for the Cougars.
Kaneland just missed qualifying for state as a team, finishing sixth overall as a team with 171 points. However, junior Brianna Bower finished 12th overall in a time of 18:11 to qualify as an individual.
Bower said the weather didn't affect her as much as she was anticipating.
"I was really nervous because this season has been pretty rocky, but it felt pretty good," Bower said. "The weather was lot nicer than I thought it would be. I think runners like the weather to be cooler, so I was pretty happy."
Victoria Clinton (27th, 18:40), Andrea Wells (35th, 18:52), Aislin Lodwig (39th, 18:52), and Jessica Kucera (70th, 19:30) rounded out the top five finishers for the Knights.
Burlington Central freshman Chloe Bilyk finished 32nd overall in a time of 18:49.
Grayslake Central finished 13th overall as a team with 321 points. Sophomore Megan Girmscheid led the Rams, finishing 33rd in a time of 18:49, just five-tenths of a second behind Burlington Central's Bilyk. Junior Lura Quandt finished 50th in a time of 19:08.
Girmscheid and Quandt both felt that the race and common goal helped them run together as a team today.
"We really just wanted to come together and have everyone run their best races, and I think we feel really good about that," Girmscheid said. "I wanted to break 19 (minutes), and I accomplished that."
"I just wanted to run my best for the team," Quandt said. "We all had to come together for the team today. We try to run in smaller packs as a team."
Carmel Catholic ended up with 387 points to finish 16th as a team. Freshman Aileen Hull led the Corsairs, finishing 44th in a time of 19:01.
"I felt really good," Hull said. "I tried running as hard as I could because I knew there was really good competition. This year was really exciting and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the year."
Antioch was 18th with 513 points and were led by sophomore Tessa Furlong. Furlong (81st, 19:44) thought that the cold and windy weather may have affected her and her teammates.
"I think it went well, but the weather definitely affected me and my team," Furlong said. "We were able to get past that. It was a quick, flat course, so that really helped our team. A few of us set personal records."
Other area notables included Wauconda sophomore Erin Levon (82nd, 19:46) and Grayslake North's Cindy Alcala (85th, 19:48) and Paloma Alcala (132nd, 21:38).