Lancers 2nd at Fenton
It's a new girls cross country season, but the results remained the same at the 27th annual Fenton Earlybird Invitational.
Conant junior Kalli Dalton surged with a half-mile remaining to claim her second consecutive title, finishing with a course-record time of 18:14.
Lake Park had five runners finish in the top 20 to secure its second straight team title with 62 points. Downers Grove South (71 points) took second followed by Downers Grove North (110). Conant (125) edged Prospect (128) for fourth place.
Dalton was shadowed for a majority of the race by Lake Park's Lindsay Flannagan and Oak Park-River Forest's Katherine Rack. But the junior made her move and never was threatened in the home stretch.
"She was able to drag with lead pack and she knows when to go," said Conant coach Amy Spizzirri of the Cougars' leader.
Dalton finished fifth at state as a freshman and followed it up with a seventh-place finish last season. On Saturday, she ran a controlled race the first 2 miles and relied on her experience for a strong finish.
"It was like now or never," said Dalton of her winning surge. "I didn't want it to come down to a 400 sprint and I still had a little left so I pushed it."
Flannagan (18:27) and Rack (18:29) took second and third followed by Prospect sophomore Annette White (18:49) and Downers Grove South junior Nicole Thate (18:51).
Lake Park returned six of its top seven runners from last year's team, which took fifth at the state meet. And the Lancers seemed to pick up where they left off.
Flannagan paced the Lancers with her second-place finish and was followed by junior Trisha Ehrhardt (19:05), who took eighth place.
"It's really exciting," said Flannagan of her team's prospects. "All the girls are really close and we know if we stay together we'll do well."
Sophomore Ashley Prochazka (19:23), senior Yazmin Gutierrez (19:50), and junior Juliet Vogel (19:50) finished 13th, 19th, and 20th to round out Lake Park's top five.
"It was like last year," added Ehrhardt of the Lancers' success. "Since we did so well at state last year, this year we'll work even harder."
Downers Grove South pushed Lake Park the entire race in taking second, as junior Nicole Thate powered the Mustangs with a fifth-place finish.
"I used the downhill to pick up the momentum at the end," added Thate of her strong finish.
A quartet of sophomores took the next four positions for a young Downers Grove South squad. Grace Magliola (19:20) and Casey Harms (19:25) finished 12th and 14th. Jessica Pacholski (19:47) and Abby Lechner captured 18th and 22nd place for the Mustangs.
"We have a dedicated group of girls that really put forth the effort in practice," added Thate of her team. "And it really shows on the course."
Junior Wendy Rasmussen (19:10) and senior Erin Walgamuth (19:12) powered Downers Grove North to a third-place finish by securing 9th and 10th place.
"The whole time we were working off of each other," said Walgamuth of the duo's performance. "This is not our peak race, so we'll build off this. But it was a good start."
Dalton wasn't Conant's only cog, as senior Michelle Rawleigh (19:02) secured seventh place. Rawleigh had played volleyball the previous three years before joining cross country this season. The senior had an immediate impact on Saturday.
"She was outstanding," added Spizzirri of Rawleigh performance. "I think with our 1-2 combo, if we can just get that pack a little bit closer we can do some good things."
White powered Prospect to a fifth-place finish, last year as freshman she took second place at the Mid-Suburban League meet.
"I've been using my experience from last year," said White, who showed a strong kick at the finish. "I know my teammates better and I know my opponents better. It's starting to come together."
Senior Claire Hollis (19:37) and senior Lucy Taylor (20:07) took 15th and 25th place to aid the Knights' attack.
"We got out slow and after that we were battling the rest of the way," said Prospect coach Dave Wurster of his team's performance. "But we finished strong, I think we're going to be fine."
Sophomore Sarah Reynolds (19:39) and junior Megan Gojney (20:00) finished in 16th and 23rd place to pace Hersey (172 points) to a sixth-place finish.
"This year I came in feeling more prepared," said Reynolds of her experience. "We're excited about the season and today was a good start."
Junior Erin McShea (20:05) took 24th place pacing St. Francis (172 points) to an eighth-place finish.
"The second mile was tough because the adrenaline was gone," said McShea. "It was fun and I think our team ran well, it was kind of a close pack."
Heather Crowe (19:53) paced host Fenton (343 points) to an 11th-place finish by securing 21st place.
"I think she will just be getting better and better as the season goes on," said Fenton coach Sara McDougal of her junior leader. "She put in a lot of miles this summer."
Senior Mayra Sanchez (19:41) took 17th place to pace Addison Trail.
"It's definitely a good start," said Sanchez. "I ran more over the summer and I think it's paying off now."
Leavey Invitational: Even the most experienced of runners admittedly don't always know what to expect heading into the first invitational of the high school cross country season.
Take St. Charles East's Lizzy Hynes, for example.
After a bruised knee curtailed her summer workout plans, Hynes, who earned all-state honors with a sixth-place individual effort last fall in Peoria, wasn't sure how she would respond during Saturday's St. Charles East/Jeff Leavey Invitational.
"Two days after state (track), I fell on my knee and suffered a bone contusion," said Hynes, "and it just escalated from there. I definitely didn't run as many miles as I wanted to. That's why I was kind of worried (today)."
No need to fret. Hynes claimed individual honors, covering the 3.0-mile Leroy Oakes Forest Preserve course in a time of 18:13.5 and distancing herself from second-place Alisa Praught (18:21).
"For my first mile, I wanted to run 6 minutes and I was exactly at 6:00," said the junior. "I think from there, I could tell I was doing pretty well."
After her opening mile, Hynes surprisingly found herself ahead of the pack.
"I took the lead pretty early," she said. "My plan was to stay in touch with the leaders and wait for them to kind of fall back. I took the initiative pretty quickly.
"I wasn't expecting a win today, but I really wanted to because I've never lost on my home course the past two years."
Fueled by five top-15 performances, defending meet champion York cruised to a 47-85 team triumph over second-place Barrington. Geneva (136), Bartlett (165) and St. Charles North (166) rounded out the top five in the team standings.
"We were hoping to break 80 points," said Lady Dukes coach Annette Schulte. "Their goal was to get under 80 and try to get all five (runners) in the top 20 -- and we got our top five in the top 15."
Sophomore Meghan Frigo paced York with a fourth-place time of 18:50, while Angela Pisani (sixth, 18:58), Allie Haling (10th, 19:11), Shreya Singh (12th, 19:14) and Megan Fry (15th, 19:22) adding counting scores.
"This is my personal best and the team's best," said Frigo. "We had such a great pack and we were all pushing each other."
"I told them before the race, 'If you have an awesome race, you might get five in the top 15 -- and they did it," said Schulte, who downplayed the significance of the season-opening meet. "Now, we've got to come back on Monday like nothing happened (over the weekend)."
Third-place Geneva, led by junior Sarah Cable's 16th-place effort, may have received its biggest emotional lift with its 15-point, 1-through-5 sweep during the frosh-soph race.
"That was a nice way to start the day," said Vikings coach Bob Thomson. "That really set the tone today. When we start blending that group together, it's going to work really nice for us. And I thought all seven of the varsity girls ran well today."
Junior Sam Salinas (seventh, 19:03) was the top finisher for fourth-place Bartlett.
"I was looking forward to this meet -- this is one of my favorite places," said Salinas. "I just felt awesome today."
Stephanie Strasser, who suffered a stress fracture in her toe last June, placed third for the fifth-place North Stars.
"I was really happy for my first start and not running all summer," said the sophomore. "I started running again three weeks ago so I'm really still training."
Ninth-place Batavia was led by sophomore Alexis Sampson (25th, 19:42).
-- Craig Brueske