Palatine girls take their show on the road

Palatine's girls cross country team has had quite a ride this fall.

The Pirates won the Class 3A state title on Nov. 7 and followed it by qualifying for the Nike Cross Nationals with a second-place finish at the Midwest regional in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 15.

Now Palatine will compete at the Nike Cross National 22-team field finals in Portland, Oregon at 1:35 p.m. Saturday.

Illinois will also be well represented on the boys side with Class 3A state champion Neuqua Valley, second-place York and third-place Loyola all qualifying for the national meet.

It has been a long ride for the Palatine girls, who will compete as the Palatine Peacocks at the National meet.

The girls began their journey back in June with summer workouts and now find themselves ending it at the Nationals in Oregon.

"If someone would have told me back in June we would end the season as state champions and then make it to nationals I would have laughed," said senior Ruth Allen of the journey. "We've really have worked so hard and it's a blessing to be a part of such a group."

Junior Sarah McIntosh took 10th at the regionals and was followed by junior Courtney Brown and Allen, who finished 15th and 16th, helping the Palatine secure second place with 93 points.

Sophomores Laure Schweikert, Emily Schulte and Ellen Smith combine with freshman Tess Wasowicz to make up the Palatine squad.

The top two teams from the nine regionals automatically qualified for Saturday's national race.

The initial results from the regional race had Palatine finishing third, but there was a scoring glitch and after further review the Palatine club was awarded second place.

Palatine head coach Joe Parks is not allowed to coach the team per IHSA rules so 1979 Hersey graduate Steve Johnson is coaching the Palatine club in Oregon.

Palatine lost sophomore Becca Sund at the Mid-Suburban League meet due to injury, but didn't flinch, going on to win regional, sectional and state titles.

"I am obviously a supporter and I'm going to go watch them," added Parks of his squad that added to the Palatine legacy by winning its seventh state title this year. "They were definitely very consistent all season, that was the big key.

"When Becca went down that could have been a big hit to us, but they didn't let that affect them too much. The most impressive thing to me was just how steady they were."

Now Johnson gets to take over the reigns of the state champs.

"I feel like I got the keys to a red Mustang convertible that has just come off the assembly line," added Johnson of the Palatine squad. "It's fine-tuned and it's ready to go."

Palatine enters the meet ranked 20th nationally on a course that is set up as a European style with bales of hay and water holes.

Palatine has come a long way since the early June workouts, but on Saturday it will have one last chance to put an exclamation point on an already successful journey.

"This season has brought us so much closer as a team and has brought everyone together," added Brown of the Pirates' journey. "It's been a lot of fun."

"We worked so hard to get to this point," added McIntosh, "Now we just want to show everyone."

For Palatine, the hard work has paid off pretty well.