Hampshire's Plichta, BC's Gannon off to state

The Class 2A Belvidere sectional girls cross country meet featured a lot of acts of simple surviving Saturday.

Two of the biggest winners came in the form of Hampshire's Holly Plichta (19:51) and Burlington Central's Maggie Gannon (19:59). The duo finished ninth and 10th, respectively to advance to next week's state meet in Peoria.

The duo was locked in the middle of a pack of girls who occupied the No. 6-11 spots. Plichta figured a top 10 finish would qualify her for state, while Gannon felt she was on the bubble.

"I knew if I didn't stay in front of that pack, I wasn't going to make it," Plichta said.

St. Francis' Kelly McShea was a spectator at last year's sectional, as a stress fracture forced her to cheer on the two individual runners the Spartans had.

McShea was getting the cheers this year after she placed seventh (19:49) to help her team finish fourth with 172 points and earn a spot in next week's state meet. Woodstock's duo of Kayla Beattie and Elise Beattie set the tone of the girls field taking first (18:34) and second (18:38), respectively.

"They really set the tone," McShea said. "We were all pushing each other."

St. Francis coach Scott Nelson added: They preformed really well. This is the hardest sectional there is."

Joining the Spartans will be St. Viator, which finished third to qualify as a team for state for the first time in 8 years. Freshman Hanna Winter (4th, 19:21) paced the Lions, who also got strong efforts from Keegan Griebal (22nd, 20:23) and Ronnie Mack (26th, 20:38).

"We were pretty solid," St. Viator coach Jim Milner said. "Hanna is having an outstanding season. She has done a really good job and is coming on strong at the end."