Depth spells success for Vikes' runners
Pick a fall sport, any fall sport, and Geneva seems to be excelling in all of them these days.
Coach Rob Wicinski's football Vikings are off to a fabulous start this season, fresh from their second 20-points-plus triumph in 10 months over neighboring St. Charles East and a blowout over Yorkville Friday.
While the Vikings appear to have most of the ingredients needed to make a deep postseason run come November, there's a pair of Geneva cross country teams that could make some noise of their own during the next-to-last month on the calendar.
One of the teams has already served notice to the rest of the area - and state - that it means to repeat as Class 3A state champions. Last Saturday, Geneva's girls cross country team opened its 2008 campaign by winning the St. Charles East/Leavey Invitational for the first time in school history.
Led by individual champion Kelly Whitley, who rallied over the race's final stages to hand St. Charles East senior Lizzy Hynes her first home course defeat, the Vikings displayed their superior depth at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.
With 5 runners cracking the top 12, including 3 of the first 9, the Vikings are taking a simplistic approach this season.
"We just want to have a better season than last year," said Whitley, a sophomore who placed second in last year's state meet. "We've been working all summer to get faster and to prove that we're good."
Just how deep are the Vikings? Thanks to the improved health of senior Sarah Cable (11th at the Leavey) and addition of Minnesota transfers Sarah (eighth at the Leavey) and Meghan (12th at the Leavey) Heuer, Geneva's lineup had somewhat of a different look than the one that took Peoria's Detweiller Park by storm last November.
"We had three girls (Megan Brady, Kat Yelle and Rachel Hammond) who ran state last year running at the frosh-soph level (Saturday)," said Geneva coach Bob Thomson, who has many options at his disposal as he tries to mix and match his starting seven this season.
"It's nice to have that kind of depth."
Incidentally, Brady, Kat Yelle and Hammond finished second, third and seventh, respectively, in the frosh-soph race last weekend.
"Our team is very competitive and very deep so practicing together helps a lot," said Whitley. "It was a good way to start (the season) and I think we're all relieved that it has finally started."
Thomson realizes that the opposition will use his team as a barometer of sorts to their own advantage.
"Before meets teams are going to be saying, 'Hey, they won the state title last year - you can run with those guys,'" said the coach. "They're going to look at it and say, 'We beat the state champs today or we beat an all-stater.' It's a motivation for coaches to use."
St. Charles East will likely get at least two more opportunities to knock off the Vikings, including a late-October showdown at its own sectional.
The Saints should also get a boost from Mallory Able, who won last weekend's frosh-soph race and whose time would have been good enough for a seventh-place finish at the varsity level.
Before you begin to think that a young runner can't make an immediate impact at the varsity level, just remember that the same path was taken by Whitley and several of her teammates a year ago, as the freshman group opened the 2007 season competing in the frosh-soph race at the Leavey Invite.
On the boys' side, Geneva also earned its first St. Charles East/Leavey Invite title last weekend - and did so in even more impressive fashion.
With 3 runners cracking the top 7, paced by second-place senior Andrew Nelson, the Vikes scored a 65-point (38-103) victory over Lake Forest.
"I've told people that we've never won the varsity girls or boys meet out here (at St. Charles East), and they're like, 'You're kidding - you've had such good teams over the years,'" said Thomson, who enjoys the dual role as boys and girls head coach at Geneva.
"The thing is that on the boys side we've had good teams but so has everybody else."
With the addition of Chris Higgins (11th at the Leavey) from the soccer squad to go with experienced returnees Kevin Sparks (sixth at the Leavey) and Greg Adelman (7th at the Leavey), Geneva could enjoy a memorable November.
But it's still early.
Keep in mind that the first official day of fall is Sept. 22.
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