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Naperville North's Pendergast in the running on national stage

Arthur Lydiard, the late runner and coach from New Zealand, once said the days of race tactics were numbered.

Yet in two events spanning a week against the nation's best prep runners, Naperville North's Judy Pendergast adjusted her tactics. It equaled success on her biggest stage thus far.

One week after bounding to an early lead at the Nike Cross Nationals before settling for eighth place on Dec. 5 in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships the Harvard-bound senior stayed within herself to claim fourth at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Those two races gave the slim redhead the sixth-best combined finish by a girl in the same year.

"I've never really been a national competitor in terms of being high up in place, so definitely I think this year is very different from past years. So yeah, it's definitely the highlight of my cross country career in high school," Pendergast said over the phone after the 37th annual Foot Locker event.

"I feel really good," she said, her time of 17 minutes, 20 seconds witnessed by mother Catherine, grandparents William and Susan Patout - in from Louisiana - and Naperville North girls cross country coach Dan Iverson and assistant Anna Kraftson.

"I'm a little tired but I'm feeling good and really proud of my race. So it's going to be a good day."

At Nike the IHSA's Class 3A champion rushed to the lead, then fell back due to that early exertion. At Foot Locker she resisted the urge to be "too antsy" and joined a pack of four front-runners who were never challenged.

"Last week at Nike I think around 800 or 1,000 meters I was up in front, pushing the pace. I think that definitely affected my race," Pendergast said.

"All these girls are amazing runners to get to national competition, so I definitely tried to stick in a pack with the other girls and pushed from there."

Pendergast, Peoria Notre Dame's Maryjeanne Gilbert and North Carolina's Nevada Mareno each took shots at Virginia's Weini Kelati, who bent but never broke to win at 17:09.70. Pendergast finished nine seconds ahead of Taylor Werner of Missouri, who placed fifth out of 40 girls. Oakwood High's Jon Davis was Illinois' top boys finisher, in 13th.

"She hasn't raced people at this level, just the past several months. It takes a little bit," said Iverson, to be inducted into the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame Jan. 9 at Oak Park.

"It came back to bite her at Nike. To her credit she learned that lesson quickly."

After the 2-mile mark Pendergast went three abreast with Kelati and Gilbert, and Pendergast's long strides earned a brief lead over Kelati. The little juggernaut from Eritrea surged yet again up the make-or-break hill on the course at Balboa Park.

"I was in fourth at that point and I wanted to push the pace, not only push myself but push the girls around me to go faster. The girls responded really, really well," said Pendergast, who carries a 4.125 grade-point average.

She said she'd prepared mentally for the two national events since the season began in mid-August but understandably felt exhausted.

Before preparing for her senior indoor and outdoor track seasons, where she's the defending Class 3A 3,200-meter champion by 16 seconds, there's one more race.

Iverson said USA Track & Field selected Pendergast, Gilbert and Nike Cross Nationals winner Katie Rainsberger of Colorado for the junior women's team to run at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country International Challenge in Scotland on Jan. 9.

"It's where Judy wants to be," Iverson said. "She knows she has to race against the very best wherever she can find it."

Dig it

Nebraska middle blocker Meghan Haggerty, a senior out of Glen Ellyn and Benet, will represent DuPage County in the Final Four of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament.

The No. 4 seeded Cornhuskers play No. 9 Kansas in the second match of Thursday night's doubleheader, following No. 2 Minnesota vs. No. 3 Texas in Omaha, Nebraska. The title match will be held Dec. 19.

Meghan is the older sister of Maddie Haggerty, a redshirt freshman who started at outside hitter at Florida; and St. Francis senior outside Molly Haggerty, who on Dec. 8 was named Gatorade's Illinois player of the year.

Peg Kopec, who announced her retirement after the Spartans won a fourth straight state title and her 12th overall, called Molly Haggerty St. Francis' best player in history. That is saying something.

The Wisconsin recruit was a first-team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and is PrepVolleyball.com's No. 5 recruit in the country.

Bend it like "Rigo"

Hinsdale Central boys soccer coach Mike Wiggins said he's spent a lot of time talking to college coaches about uncommitted senior forward Rigoberto "Rigo" Rojas.

"He's in a good position," Wiggins said of Rojas, who bolstered his prospects on Dec. 5, named the West MVP at the Boys High School Soccer All-American Game at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Wiggins was selected as an assistant coach for the West, which lost 2-1 to the East with Rojas' late goal off a direct kick his team's sole score.

Hinsdale Central midfielder Louis St. John and Wheaton Academy forward Ty Seager also were selected to the West squad. All three players were named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Fall High School All-America Team.

"What a nice kid," Wiggins said of the Northwestern-bound Seager. "I was the lucky one on that one."

Rojas had no luck on his first attempt at a restart. Wiggins had talked up Rojas' talents to West coaches, but on the forward's first opportunity following an East penalty, he "floated the ball to the goaltender," Wiggins said.

So it was no slam dunk trailing 2-0 with about five minutes left when Wiggins again implored for Rojas to take the shot after a foul at the top of the goalie box.

This time Rojas made no mistake, over the wall, tight to the post. His teammates exploded in celebration.

"It was so nice to see him rewarded," Wiggins said.

"The whole experience was just really a lot of fun," the coach said. "And to see a bunch of kids who are the best in the country come together with no egos is really, to me, what stood out the most."

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

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