Girls cross country: Glenbard West's Hart claims her first fourth
On Nov. 9 Glenbard West senior Katelynne Hart will attempt to become only the fourth girls cross country runner to win four individual Illinois high school state championships for any class.
On Saturday Hart put herself in a class by herself at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division meet at Berens Park in Elmhurst.
Hart became the first four-time champion in WSC history after covering the 2.96 miles in a girls course-record 16:12.44.
"I didn't know. (Finding out) was a cool moment," Hart said. "It definitely is really special because this conference in my opinion is one of the most competitive in the state. It means a lot. It was really cool to get to achieve that."
Saturday's fields included six top-25 Class 3A girls teams and five boys teams in the ILXCTF.com rankings.
York senior Daniel Klysh won the boys race in 14:40.83 and the No. 2 Dukes were team champions for the second straight year with 40 points. No. 18 Downers Grove North edged No. 7 Lyons Township 64-65 for second with No. 23 Glenbard West fourth and No. 25 Hinsdale Central fifth.
No. 4 Hinsdale Central won its first girls title since 2014 by beating No. 9 Glenbard West 50-58 with No. 12 York third and No. 14 Downers North fifth.
Hart will make her college running choice between Colorado, North Carolina, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin sometime soon. She won Saturday by more than a minute.
"It's amazing, but she's amazing. We'll never see another runner like (Hart) not only at Glenbard West but probably in this conference again," Glenbard West coach Paul Hass said. "You never know, but I'm glad she's on our team and just love her to death as a person as well."
Klysh won by 10.06 seconds over Lyons Township senior Jack Ehlert.
York's Michael Moriarty, Ethan Kern, Colin Hill and Will Yasick were seventh, ninth, 10th and 13th for top-16, all-conference honors.
"(Winning) obviously means a lot. But I've said it before, obviously the team goal is always going to be more important," Klysh said.
The Dukes have made significant strides since winning the Nike Valley Twilight Invitational on Oct. 5 in Terre Haute, Indiana, also the season debut of Kern, last year's Silver champion. They're determined to challenge No. 1 St. Charles East among others for the state championship.
"We're really looking forward to the rest of the championship series with this nice win under our belt," Klysh said. "It wasn't exactly what we wanted to do, but we'll take it now and come back and work even harder."
Glenbard West junior Pierce Cousins was third in 14:56.15, Downers North junior Evan Cummins fifth in 15:00.55 and Glenbard West junior William Hohe eighth. Also all-conference were Hinsdale Central's Carter McCarroll and Henning Ley in sixth and 11th and Downers North's Kyle McNally, Roy Llewellyn and Andrew Thompson in 10th, 14th and 16th.
"I went out hard, knowing I could have a shot at even winning it, so I went for it. It's great. I'm glad what I did," Cousins said.
Hinsdale Central senior runner-up McKenna Revord ran 17:15.64 in also becoming a four-time all-conference finisher, her last three among the top five. Emma Watcke, Taylor Wagner and Catie McCabe were ninth through 11th and Louisa Brorson and Sarah Fischer 15th and 16th.
"This (title) is probably one of the more special things I've been able to be a part of," Revord said. "Hopefully it's not the most exciting thing because we want to keep going, but it definitely feels good."
Glenbard West sophomores Audrey Allman and Delaney Engel were third and eighth. Allman's 17:19.38 earned a higher Silver finish than her mother, Julie (Krebsbach), who was fifth for the Hilltoppers in 1989.
"Obviously, it's a lot different from when she ran (2.0 miles), but having her there kind of knowing what I'm going through is really special," Allman said.
Downers North junior Melissa Jachim persevered for fifth in 17:33.41 after being 20th in 2018. York freshman Bridget Berger and sophomore Katelyn Winton were ninth and 14th.
"I was just feeling not up for it," Jachim said. "I was thinking of giving up - I'm not going to lie - and then at the end I still finished good so I was pretty happy."
York improved from repeat fourth-place Silver finishes. In 2018, Winton was 18th, only 0.9 from 16th.
"It was my goal since freshman year. I heard that I was 17th so I just kicked it at the end and tried to get all-conference," Winton said.