Girls cross country: Prospect cooks up a winning formula

Prospect's girls cross country team stuck with its winning formula on Saturday at the Class 3A Hoffman Estates sectional.

The Knights, powered by its pack running, raced to victories at the Mid-Suburan League meet and Hoffman Estates regional the past two weekends.

The formula worked again on Saturday.

Prospect placed five runners in the top 23 in rolling to the sectional title with 89 points on brisk fall morning at Busse Woods.

Barrington took second with 125 points, followed by Cary-Grove (135 points), Hersey (153 points), and Grant (159 points).

All five teams will advance to the Class 3A state meet next Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria with the girls race scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Grant freshman Aly Negovetich took first place crossing the line in 16:30.

"The girls have a lot of confidence," said Prospect coach Pete Wintermute, whose team secured it second sectional title. "The goal was to have a tight split. They fed off each other."

Freshman Audrey Ginsberg (17:56) paced the Knights by taking 15th place, with senior Jenna Baltes (17:56) and junior Emily Hubbard (17:57) not far behind taking 17th and 18th place respectively.

"It hasn't really hit me yet, but it's exciting, " said Ginsberg of the Knights' big finish. "We've been pushing each other and staying positive all season."

Baltes was part of a Prospect team that missed qualifying for state by one spot her freshman and sophomore years before finally qualifying last year.

"It means a lot," added Baltes. "All the hard work we put in made it worth it."

Senior Marissa Valentini (21st place, 17:59) and senior Julia O'Grady (23rd place, 1804) kept the line moving and completed the scoring for the Knights.

"Our race plan was to get out fast and have a good start," said O'Grady. "We just wanted to take control from the beginning and we executed the plan well."

Barrington's front three has been running very strong all season and on Saturday the Fillies got a lift from their back pack.

Sophomore Molly Fitzpatrick (16:49) and junior Alyssa Norris (17:11) set the tone for the Fillies by taking third and fourth place respectively, with sophomore Anne Berquist (17:47) adding a 12th place finish.

"We had confidence coming into this race, but we knew it wouldn't be easy," said Fitzpatrick. "We executed today."

"It was pretty special," added Norris, "We knew what we had to do and we rose to the occasion."

The Fillies received a big lift from senior Eve Hoeltgen (56th place, 18:41) and sophomore Morgan Magro (61st place, 18:45) to secure their spot.

"We knew our 4-5 runners needed to step up and they did today," said Barrington coach Deb Revolta. "We battled out there today and everyone did their job."

The Cary-Grove girls also did their job.

Sophomore Maggie Mason (17:39) led the charge by securing seventh place, followed by sophomore Morgan Dieschbourg (17:54) and junior Alison Drage (17:58), who took 14th place and 20th place to power the Trojans' attack.

"I didn't expect a top ten finish," said Mason of her performance. "I knew it was going to be a fast race, I just wanted to keep up."

Sophomore Delaney Blohm (33rd place, 18:17) and Ellie Miller (71st place, 18:51) sealed third place for the Trojans.

"It's an incredible experience," said Dieschbourg, "We've all been working hard and we've been positive all season."

Hersey made a strong late season charge and it continued on Saturday with the Huskies' fourth-place finish.

"I think it's a surprise to everyone except us," said Hersey coach Danielle Freeman of the Huskies' run to state. "I have been reiterating all year we were going to be an end of season team."

And the Huskies were just that.

Junior Katie Freidan (17:43) set the tone for the Huskies with a 10th place finish.

She was followed by sophomore Jane Stefaniak (27th place, 18:08) and junior Erin Barton (32nd place, 18:15). Senior Teagan Beckley (45th place, 18:30) and junior Hannah Kersemeier (50th place, 18:34) completed the scoring.

"Going in we didn't really have a target on our back," said Fredian. "But we knew what we were capable of doing. All the girls worked really hard today."

Palatine sophomore Anne Marie Jordan (17:31) finished seventh and Hoffman Estates senior Nikki Rong (17:54) took 13th place. Both will advance to the state meet as individual runners.