Benet's pack leads to Royal-Cadet title
Benet made sure it stuck together Saturday at the Royal-Cadet Invitational hosted by Marmion, and that formula proved to be a winning one for the Redwings.
Junior Nina Marchese crossed the finish line first for Benet in fifth place, and right behind her came a host of her teammates - all sophomores - Audrey Blazek (sixth), Liz Johnson (seventh), Maddy Gilleran (ninth) and Peggy Flavin (10th).
That added up to 37 points, well ahead of runner-up Oswego East's 74.
"That was what our coach told us to do today because going back into the woods when there's nobody around it's all about how mentally tough your team is," Marchese said.
The Redwings improved from a sixth-place finish the previous week at the Leavey Invitational in St. Charles. After ideal running conditions at that meet, runners on Saturday worked their way through a wet course and a very light sprinkle - though they were fortunate not to start their race 20 minutes earlier when the sophomores raced through a downpour.
"I thought it was kind of fun because you get to run through all those puddles," Marchese said.
Benet's depth continued to sixth runner Daiva Siliunas in 15th and Elaine Cleary in 17th.
Batavia sophomore Rachael Spalding finished fourth and also said the conditions were a factor.
"I was kind of nervous about it because last season we had a couple really slippery races. This one I put on my game face and really felt positive and it worked out OK," said Spalding, who said she puts a bigger spike on the bottom of her shoe on days like Saturday.
As a team Batavia placed fourth. Sophomore Bari Robinson (16th) and junior Hailey Clabough (28th) followed Spalding.
"We have built up a good varsity group so I think we could be a major contender in our conference," said Spalding.
Neither Spalding or Marchese or anyone else could come close to Oswego East junior Ariel Michalek, whose winning 17:53 time was a minute better than anyone else.
Spalding started strong with the top runners and maintained the pace throughout the race.
"I wanted to go out hard and get my position and stay with that group," Spalding said. "I didn't really think about it, I was just pushing along. It was really consistent and everyone on the team did great. It was a really good day."
Host Rosary placed fifth out of the 14 teams. Coach Vic Mead got his first look at all his top runners.
"This is the first day when we tried to put the varsity kids together," Mead said. "I wanted to see what they looked like and they did pretty good. Their times were good."
Kelly Keiffer led Rosary in 12th with sophomore Kara Kalisz right behind in 13th.
"Especially in this crowd, I told them this is big time today," Mead said. "Let's get out and run. And the pack looked good today."
Geneva sent its top runners to Peoria. Sophomore Mackenzie Williams took 18th to lead the Vikings' sixth-place finish.