Barrington's impressive rise continues
Barrington has a girls cross country team on the rise, and the Fillies took another step forward on Thursday.
Barrington nipped host Palatine 27-29 for a thrilling Mid-Suburban West victory before an energetic mid-week crowd at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve.
In the process, the Fillies snapped the Pirates' streak of 55 consecutive dual meet victories which started back in 2006.
"It was a great battle," said Barrington coach Deb Revolta, whose team has risen to No. 4 in the Illinois Cross Country Coaches Poll. "That's how it should be; it was a great race by both teams."
Both teams started out conservatively before the action heated up in the second mile. Palatine senior Kelly O'Brien and Barrington sophomore Jocelyn Long broke away from the pack and battled it out for the final 2 miles.
O'Brien used a final surge with 400 meters remaining to pull away from Long (17:43) and claim the individual victory in 17:31.
"I knew it would come down to the kick," said O'Brien the defending MSL champion. "I really wanted it and the race definitely gives me some confidence."
The race also gives Barrington a huge boost. The Fillies were the most recent team to defeat Palatine in a dual meet, on Sept. 13, 2006. That was also the last year Barrington won the MSL West title on its way to a second-place finish in Class AA.
"It's just a big confidence boost for all of us," said Long, who has the third-best girls time on the state course at Detweiller Park in Peoria so far this season with a 16:49.6 at the First to the Finish on Sept. 12. "We know we're doing well and we just want to keep it up."
Fillies senior Lauren Conroy (17:54) took third, with junior Sammie Samaryczew (18:31) and freshman Sophie Hoeltgen (18:32) adding key points by going 6-7.
Freshman Eve Hoeltgen (19:17) completed the Fillies' scoring by taking ninth place, followed by senior Arushi Agarwal (19:18) in tenth.
"It's so exciting," said Conroy. "Once we all kind of broke off, it just came down to those points. That's where we're strong."
The win puts the Fillies in position to win their first MSL West division title since 2006 - but they are not looking too far ahead.
"We're definitely just focusing on ourselves," said Conroy, "The rankings or anything else, we just forget all that because it comes down to us."
Ninth-ranked Palatine wasn't about to let it streak end easily, and the Pirates were nipping at Barrington's heels for the entire race with senior Sam Lechowicz (17:58) and junior Anna Buckstaff (18:16) going 4-5 to keep things close.
Senior Sabina Yosif (18:42) added an eighth-place finish for the Pirates, with senior Rebecca Duran (19:27) taking 11th place.
"It was just a matter of time," said Palatine coach Joe Parks of the streak ending. "Right now it's just about getting some of the girls to click on the right day and I think we have the pieces to be a lot better."