Girls cross country: Fremd's pack mentality leads to Warren victory
The hot running conditions were challenging, but it was still a banner day for the Fremd girls cross country team Saturday morning at the Warren Invitational.
The Vikings rolled to the title of the 19-team meet with 64 points to cruise past runner-up Cary-Grove with 105 points, and Carmel Catholic with 115 points.
The 3-mile course was newly-aligned due to partial flooding problems on the old course. The finish line on the new course ended on the 40-yard-line of the Warren football field on the O'Plaine Road campus.
Round Lake sophomore Fatima Giron was impressive in taking second place in 17:59.2 under the 80-degree running conditions as numerous runners needed to be given first-aid assistance to cool down following the race.
"I was leading the whole race until about the last 200 meters, and I hoped to get under 18 minutes today," said Giron, who just reached her goal. "I really hope to make state this year, it's going to be tough, and the key for me is icing every day that I run, that is why I haven't been injured so far."
Fremd's winning pack was led by Marisa Ban in sixth, Rebecca Markham in eighth, and Nupur Pokharkar in ninth. The Vikings also got an 18th from Hannah Ban, and a 23rd from Clare Oehler-O'Sullivan.
"64 points is in the range where I kind of expected them to be. I dropped a girl down (Lucy Jiang) who won the frosh-soph race with an impressive time," said Fremd coach Joe Marcin. "We have a couple of girls who are coming back from illness, but they competed well, and our top three are looking strong."
Cary-Grove's top young trio was also very impressive with Morgan Dieschbourg in 10th, Delaney Blohm in 11th, and Ellie Miller in 12th.
"I'm really happy because our top three runners are freshmen, so we're young and we're happy to get a second-place trophy," said Cary-Grove coach Mark Anderson. "Our two sophomores (Teagan Hayes and Jessie Hill) had pretty good races, and it's early in the year, but they're a hard-working group of kids."
Carmel Catholic was led by senior Aileen Hull in fifth, Brigid Hull in 19th, Ezzie Posner in 24th, and Lauren Laughlin in 29th.
"One of our top five was sick so she didn't run very well today, but Aileen ran well and our top three ran well," said Carmel Catholic coach Jim Halford. "Our fourth girl was 29th, so like everybody else we're dealing with some injuries and sickness, but it was a good day."
Crystal Lake South put together a true team effort behind Emma Heuck (17th), Olivia Beckwith (20th), Mackenzie Aldridge (21st), and Chelsea Greene (27th).
"I thought we were competitive with Fremd, Cary-Grove, and Carmel, and it's tough for everybody to run in these conditions," said CLS coach Ken Greenfield. "There are always things to improve on, and I loved how we finished in the last half mile."
Buffalo Grove placed eighth behind top runner Alexis Opperman (13th) while Antioch placed ninth behind team leader Natalie Hill (16th).
"At least three of our girls had p.r.'s today, and Kaylin (Hellyer) was right there, but I think the heat got to her today," said Buffalo Grove coach Martha Kelly. "We've been pushing them hard the past two weeks, I'm very proud of the girls, and the younger girls look up to the leaders on the team."
Junior Andrea Cordova (14th) paced Mundelein while the host Blue Devils were led by junior Ashley Kachurik in 22nd place. Rolling Meadows' Elizabeth Clark (25th) nipped Buffalo Grove's Rylee Bers (26th) at the finish line.