Girls cross country: Another trophy finish for Vernon Hills
For the third time in four years, the Vernon Hills girls cross country team was able to put together a successful formula as the Cougars worked their magic again Saturday morning at the state meet.
With junior standout Lauren Katz leading the way with a 14th-place finish on the 3-mile Detweiller Park course, Vernon Hills easily locked up its third third-place trophy in four seasons with 95 points.
The Class 2A state rankings heading into the historic race held true with top-ranked Belvidere North managing to hold off runner-up Dunlap 61-79 while Crystal Lake Central placed fourth with 124 points.
Grayslake Central put the finishing touches on its great campaign by finishing in a program-best fifth place with 271 points.
After two-time all-stater Katz (eighth in 2015), the Cougars' pack was outstanding with reliable sophomore twin sisters Katie and Leah Wilkowski placing 28th and 29th to just miss making the all-state (top 25) cut-off.
Having no seniors did not matter at all to Vernon Hills as sophomore teammates Payton Makowskyj (33rd), Ryan Schofield (47th), and Hannah Ray (58th) helped carry the Cougars to another trophy finish.
"These three teams (Belvidere North, Dunlap, and Vernon Hills) are all fairly young so it's going to be a battle for the next couple of years," said Vernon Hills coach Suzanne Curry, who just completed her 12th season. "But for this young team to perform this well is pretty incredible."
The push to the finish line under the ideal and seasonably-warm running conditions was a tough one. But Katz came through like a champion to help lead her young squad to the hardware.
"She (Katz) has been our team leader, she's only a junior so she's coming back, and she's kind of been our emotional team leader," added Curry, whose team had a split of 43 seconds between its top five runners. "The (Wilkowski) twins kind of led the charge in the group that they run with, and our girls got out really well in the first 400 meters."
Katz, Makowskyj, Schofield, and Ray were all a part of the 2015 state meet team, and the same Cougars group has a chance to do it one more time in 2017.
"I definitely knew we were capable of doing it, and just seeing the atmosphere yesterday here (at practice) I knew we could do it," said Katz, who ran a 17:37. "I'm really proud of the way they handled the pressure and working hard in practice really paid off."
After shining on the cross country course for over a decade as a part of the North Suburban Conference, Curry and Vernon Hills have now carried that success into their new Central Suburban League this fall.
"She (Curry) is amazing, she's the one who gets us through it all," said Katz following the awards ceremony. "She holds us together and we wouldn't be here without her."
Grayslake Central's push for fifth place was led by senior Elizabeth Aho in 60th place, freshman Leah Minsky in 72nd, sophomore Lauren Brunk in 76th, and senior Megan Girmscheid in 84th. Sophomore Mali Chiodi closed out the Rams top-five scoring with a crucial 90th-place finish.
"The girls ran amazing, we went from fifth at sectionals to fifth in state and we ran a really great pack race," said Grayslake Central coach Jimmy Centella. "Everybody ran a personal best, and we just overcame a lot of adversity and started clicking at the end of the year."
Hampshire junior Sophia Oury had a solid 38th-place finish as an individual at-large qualifier to the big meet.
Vanessa Olmos added a 117th-place run for the Rams while St. Viator sophomore Payton McDonnell placed 126th. The Rams' top seven was rounded out by Amy Moore (144th) while freshman Lily Blasé (145th) was right behind her for the Cougars.