Bartlett runs to sectional berth
Bartlett's Alyssa Schneider and Nicole Watkins led the Hawks to a fourth-place finish at the Class 3A West Auora regional, which was run in rainy conditions Saturday.
Bartlett coach Beth Emody said her team had experience in wet weather at a race at Lake Park earlier this season.
“Everybody is dealing with it so you are not at a particular disadvantage,” Emody said. “Focus on what you can control, that is what we always talk about.”
Schneider, a winner on this course two weeks ago at the West Aurora Stampede, saw Geneva's Kelly Whitley for the first time. Whitley won the race by 21 seconds over Schneider.
“We talked with Alyssa to stay with that lead pack and whatever she is comfortable with is fine,” Emody said. “She has seen what Kelly can do and next week if she wants to take it out faster, that's something she can do. We'll see how the week goes.”
Bartlett sophomore Watkins continued her climb from someone in the top seven mix as a freshman to a runner who can stay with Schneider for at least half the race. Watkins wound up in fifth in 18:34.
“We were pretty happy, I think they ran really well,” Emody said. “Nicole especially moved up. We saw some good things out there. We told Nicole to learn everything you can from (Schneider) because it's her last season. Soak it up and next year people will look at you in that same light.”
At St. Charles North: The St. Charles North Regional girls cross country meet began in a torrential downpour, but by the time it ended the girls from St. Charles East were sporting large sunglasses, perhaps due to their shining performance.
The Saints placed three girls in the top 10 to win the St. Charles North regional by 2 points over host St. Charles North, 44 to 46. Jacobs and Prairie Ridge tied for third with 108, and Streamwood (129) also earned a chance to compete in next weekend's St. Charles East Sectional to be held at Leroy Oaks Forest Preserve.
Saints head coach Denise Hefferin has always coached her teams to run in a pack in order to be successful, and this year has been no different.
“We had a great pack today,” Hefferin said. “We always say that the pack is going to win it, and we know that no individual runner can win it for the team.”
The Saints were led by sophomore Jessica Evans, who finished second on the muddy course in a time of 18.09.9, and sophomore Sarah Hill, who finished fifth (18:51).
“Jess and Sarah ran together last year as freshmen and were our 5 and 6 runners, but this year they've both really stepped up and had a great year this year,” Hefferin said.
“We really wanted to win as a team today,” Evans said. “Coach (Hefferin) always tells us to work on packing up, so that's what we tried to do today. It helps running on our home course because we know where to make our move.”
Colleen Earl was sixth (18:51.6), Gina Bartindale 13th (19:16), and sophomore Kaitlin Guerin 18th for the Saints.
Crystal Lake South's Marianne Collard was the individual winner of the regional in a time of 17:48.8. Collard finished 53rd at the state meet last year as a junior, so she's hoping to make it back to place better in her senior year.
“I had a bad race at state last year, so I'm really hoping to get back to make up for my performance this year,” Collard said. “Last year my goal was just to make it to the state meet, so I don't think I took it very seriously, but I'm taking it very seriously this year and I've made it my goal to get back to state and run well.”
Gators head coach Nikki Lydon indicated that the weather had no effect on her star runner.
“I knew she would have great competition today, but I was confident she would win,” Lydon said. “We ran here last year and it was extremely muddy, but she looked good and I'm really happy with how she ran today.”
Junior Jordan Tuin (11th), senior Katie Goplerud (17th), and Abby Kenny (27th) advanced to next weekend's sectional for South Elgin, and sophomore Fabiola Ortiz (20th) advanced for Larkin.
Eric Bridges
At Hoffman Estates: Senior Claire Himmel (19:00) took 18th place, helping Dundee-Crown secure the final team spot im next week's sectional.
“The key was running as a pack and finding each other,” Dundee-Crown coach Amy Burns said of the Chargers attack that also featured sophomore Jade Franz (19:13) and senior Katie Gross (19:29) finishing 21st and 25th.
At Wheeling: Cary-Grove finished sixth as a team, just missing a qualification in next week's sectional. However, two Trojans did qualify individually: senior Megan Cummings finished 18th (18:54) and junior Kathie Wolney finished 27th (19:23).
Class 2AAt Sycamore: Hampshire's Cassie Kruse won the regional title by more than 16 seconds, finishing the 3-mile layout at Kishwaukee College in 18:18.78. Crystal Lake Central junior Kelly McNeely finished in 18:35.41.
Burlington Central finished with 113 points to nab the fifth and final sectional team qualification for next week's sectional. The Rockets were led by senior Markelle Turk, who finished fourth oveRall in (19:05.68). Rockets senior Katie Puccio finished 17th (20:20.77).
John Lemon and Mike Eaken contributed to this report.