Girls cross country: Barrington's taking impressive first strides
Barrington's girls cross country team sure looks strong in the early going.
The Fillies ran to the St. Charles Leavey Invitational title on Saturday, and they came back strong on Thursday.
Barrington swept the top six spots in rolling to a 15-45 Mid-Suburban League West dual meet victory over host Hoffman Estates at Barrington Pond.
Senior Jocelyn Long, who won her third consecutive Leavey title on Saturday, led the charge again on Thursday breaking the line in 19:11 to earn first place.
The Fillies' pack then took control.
"It's a first time in a long time that we've had a group of girls that can run together," said Barrington coach Deb Revolta of the Fillies pack. "They are figuring it out. Today was a big step in the right direction."
Sophomore Alyssa Norris (19:28), junior Shelby Petersen (19:29), freshman Molly Fitzpatrick (19:30), senior Caitlin Feely (19:31) and junior Sophie Hoeltgen (19:32) secured the second through sixth places to power Barrington.
As usual it started with Long, a two-time top-10 all-state runner.
"I'm feeling good," said Long who is on the short list of MSL title contenders. "I'm excited about getting better and improving each meet.
"I have been working hard all these years and I'm looking at finishing it off strong."
And this year Long has a group of talented runners to back her.
"St. Charles (Leavey Invite) was an eye-opener," said Norris. "And today it was helpful that we were all running together - it's a good start to the season."
Hoffman Estates has started the season on a conservative note, but the Hawks have plenty of potential. And they hope to see it come together at the end of the season.
The Hawks were missing senior Allison Schrader and senior Vanessa Peinado, two of their veteran leaders, on Thursday.
But junior Michelle Diaz (20:17), senior Meghan Ramanathan (20:19), junior Bella Alansari (20:19) and junior Nikki Rong (20:20) took seventh through tenth place.
Diaz has stepped up this season in pacing the Hawks early.
"I'm seeing a lot of big things," said Diaz, who also led the Hawks in their opening dual meet. "Not only for me, but for the whole team."
"Workouts are showing that we are getting better," said Anna Miller, who finished 11th, "and it is coming together."