Vikings measure up
Running on its home-away-from-home course, Geneva's girls cross country team put on quite a show Saturday morning at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles.
Relying on an all-freshman starting seven, the Vikings knocked off DuPage Valley Conference champion Wheaton North and the rest of the 11-team field while capturing the Class 3A St. Charles East regional title.
Kelly Whitley led the Vikings to their second regional crown in 4 years, covering the 3-mile course in a time of 17:36.4.
Fellow frosh Liza Tauscher (fifth, 17:54.3), Rachel Hammond (seventh, 18:25.9) and Tess Ehrhardt (ninth, 18:32.6) also cracked the top 10, while Megan Brady (17th, 18:57.5) added support as Geneva's fifth finisher.
"It was exciting," said Whitley. "I didn't really know what to expect. Everyone told me it was a big meet and that it was important. Our main goal was making it on to sectionals and then to state."
Geneva edged Wheaton North 40-54 for team honors.
"It's a great day for them," Geneva coach Bob Thomson said of his freshmen. "It's a new experience every week. I've been telling everybody when they ask how we're going to do, 'Well, this is their first experience in a regional and next week will be their first sectional opportunity, so you just don't know.'
"They should be extremely proud of themselves. I don't think anybody had a bad day."
Whitley felt comfortable at scenic Leroy Oakes.
"We like this course," she said. "We practice here every day in the summer so we know it well. It's like our home course, almost."
St. Charles East junior Lizzy Hynes earned the individual title -- her third straight regional crown -- in a course-record 17:24.4.
"It kind of gave me a little added incentive to try and defend my title," said Hynes. "And I was undefeated on my home course so I definitely wanted to maintain that."
The Saints, who were supported by sophomore Grace Gordon (18th) and freshmen Gina Bartindale (25th), Rachel Rawson (28th) and Morgan Ketterling (30th), placed third with 102 points.
Sophomore Kelsey Tharnstrom, who won the DVC individual title one week earlier, paced runner-up Wheaton North with a fourth-place showing (17:45.5).
"I think we know we should have done better," said Tharnstrom, who was joined in the top 10 by teammates Jaime Orewiler (6th) and Alexa Reinecke (10th).
"We kind of came out here and might have rested on the fact that we thought we were going to win. We're just going to try and forget about it, work hard and move on to next week."
Sophomore Stephanie Strasser placed third (17:44.4) for fourth-place St. Charles North (145), while Glenbard East (146) secured the fifth and final team sectional berth. The Rams were paced by senior Samantha Comerci (16th).
Individual qualifiers from non-qualifying teams were Addison Trail's Mayra Sanchez (8th), Bartlett's Sam Salinas (11th), Batavia's Alexis Sampson (12th), and Glenbard West's Rachel Folan (15th) and Beth Phillips (21st).