Standridge finishes with quite a flourish

Palatine senior Colleen Standridge saved her best for last.

Standridge had a breakthrough race at Saturday's Class 3A state girls cross country meet, earning her first all-state honors.

Standridge's highest finish at state before this season was 33rd place in 2006.

"Ever since last year my main goal has been to get all-state," said Standridge, who turned in a sterling postseason performance with four consecutive solid races. "Now that I did it, I feel great."

After the first mile, Standridge was in 20th place and she fell to 24th after two miles. But the senior turned it on, running the final mile in 5:48 to finish 11th.

"It was weird, I just felt it at the end," said Standridge of her final flurry. "I saw this whole pack that I had been running with the entire time and I said, 'I'm going to get them' -- and I did."

"Colleen had an amazing day," said Palatine coach Steve Currins of his senior leader. "She just had a great kick at the end."

Hersey's Gojney ends strong: Hersey's Megan Gojney didn't have the best start to the 2007 season. The junior finished 23rd at the Fenton Early Bird Invite and 43rd at the Peoria Notre Dame Invite in September.

But Gojney had quite the finish for the Huskies. The junior took 15th place at the 3A state meet to become their first all-state runner since Sarah Spalding finished 16th in 1997.

"For most times I've had a cramp in the last mile of each race," said Gojney. "I tried eating differently before this race and I didn't get a cramp, so I just went."

Last year Gojney ran with a stress fracture in her right ankle and missed the entire 2007 track season. But after a strong summer the junior was back in top form for cross country.

"Best of the best preparation every day, she works so hard," said Hersey coach Jim Miks of Gojney's comeback. "She ran with confidence and she ran with toughness."

Tracy picks up the pace: Junior Rebecca Tracy powered Barrington all season, and it was no different at the Class 3A state meet.

Tracy took 28th, her best finish at Peoria, to lead Barrington to ninth place.

Tracy had finished 70th as a freshman with a time of 18:33, and as a sophomore she was 54th in 18:00. This year Tracy ran the 3-mile race in a personal-best 17:43.

"She is a very consistent runner, she's very motivated," said Barrington coach Debbie Revolta. "She's been improving every year, and I think she'll continue to improve next year.

"Just a very talented runner and she is in it for the team, which is nice, too."