Girls cross country: Hart leads Glenbard West to title at Lake Park
Glenbard West's Katelynne Hart seems to have a liking for the Lake Park East campus course.
As a freshman she won her first invitational title on the course and also added a regional title on her way to winning the Class 3A girls cross-country state title.
Hart was back in her comfort zone on Saturday.
The Hilltopper sophomore took first leading Glenbard West to the 42nd annual Lake Park Harvey Braus Invitational title in Roselle.
Hart jumped out to a huge advantage in the opening mile and didn't look back in cruising to the title in16:08. It was the second fastest girls time recorded on the East Campus course.
"It's my favorite course," said Hart who finished with a 1 minute and 21 second cushion over her teammate, senior Lindsey Payne (17:29). who took second. "Today was about taking it out faster and seeing how it works. I love finishing on the track."
Hart, Payne, and junior Katie Hohe (17:36) swept the top three spots in helping the Hilltoppers secure first place with 40 points.
York had three girls finish in the top 14 in taking second with 81 points. Prospect (117 points) nipped St. Charles North (120 points) for third with Maine South (127 points) taking fifth.
Glenbard West is currently ranked No. 5 in the Illinois Cross Country Coaches Poll and the Hilltoppers looked smooth on Saturday.
Junior Chloe Connolly ran a huge race in taking 13th place, followed by junior Abby Hoffman (19:00) who finished in 26th place.
So is Glenbard West coach Paul Haas happy with his team's early results?
"Very much so," said Haas, whose team took second at the Hinsdale Central Invite last weekend. "It's still early September, but we are progressing the way I would like and getting better every week."
For the second straight week Payne was dealing with an illness, but the senior gutted out a tough race and Hohe, who missed the state series last year due to mononucleosis, has returned in a big way.
"It was good to see all three of them working pretty well up top," added Haas.
"We go into each meet with a blank slate," added Payne, who finished second in Class 3A last season. "But today's win was nice because it shows what we can do and gives us a little taste of it."
York also looked pretty good with junior Sarah May (18:23), sophomore Emma Kern (18:26), and senior Katherine Tomaska (18:27) securing 8th, 10th, and 11th place. Duke senior Erin Davies (18:43) contributed a 14th place finish.
Prospect senior Mikayla Olsen (18:24) powered the Knights' attack by taking ninth place. She was aided by junior Marissa Valentini (19:02) and senior Kaitlyn Rouse (19:08) who added 27th and 30th place.
"We really wanted to get out with a good start," said Olsen of the Knights' improving attack. "We had a less than a minute split today, so I'm happy with that, now we just have to keep working."
St. Charles North junior Natalie Galvan (17:47) gave the North Stars a nice lift by taking fourth place. Senior Ally Suyak (18:49) and freshman Grace Dorrance (19:00) followed by taking 19th place and 24th place.
"I wanted to go out hard and maintain my spot," said Galvan who did a nice job of attacking the course. "It was hard too keep that fourth spot, but being on the track to finish really helped."
St. Charles East freshman Alice Abbot (18:17) had a nice run in capturing sixth place.
Schaumburg was missing its star runner, Maddie Marasco, who was taking the ACT test, but senior Rachael Vaccaro (18:47) and junior Mikeelie Jensen (18:49) helped to fill the gaps by taking 17th and 18th place and pacing the Saxons to a seventh-place finish.
"The first mile went out fast, but the race felt pretty good at the end" said Vacarro, who has paced the Saxons' attack as their No. 2 runner this year. "We have really been working as running as a pack this season."