Naperville Central’s Fox wins third DVC title
Amanda Fox likes the DuPage Valley Conference cross country meet.
A lot.
Fox cemented her place as one of the best cross country runners in conference history by winning her third consecutive championship Friday afternoon at St. James Farm in Winfield, defeating a strong field in 16:35.8.
“It’s been good. It’s been a lot of fun,” the Naperville Central senior said. “I’m sad to see it end.
Glenbard East senior Lindsey Rakosnik placed second, 40 seconds behind Fox, and Naperville North sophomore Maria McDaniel took third in 17:43.2.
Fox was very happy with her time, as well as the size of her lead.
“I just wanted to go out as fast as I could to get me ready for the state meet, because I know I’ll go out fast then,” Fox said.
Fox impressed Rakosnik, a state contender herself.
“I knew Amanda was the best competition here,” Rakosnik said. “I ran against her at the Hornet Invite the first meet, and ever since then I’ve been by myself, so I knew I could use her this race.
“I tried to go out in front and just keep her right behind me or with me. We did that for the first mile and then she broke off and I faded back. I think I just went out too hard in the beginning. ... I tried to keep her in my sight and keep chasing after her, but it was a little harder than I expected.”
Wheaton Warrenville South won the team title, with 34 points, in typical Tigers fashion — as a team. Junior McKenna Kiple led a pack of Tigers across the finish line, seven of them placing in the top 14 spots to claim all-conference honors. “Selfless,” was the word coach Rob Harvey used to describe his DVC champs.
“It was a great day,” he said.
“It was a really interesting race,” added junior Kayla Kightlinger, eighth in 17:56.6. “There were really good teams here, and we all stayed as a pack the whole time. We really worked. Everybody took a chance, everybody took turns leading. It was really just a fun race.”
Naperville North was second with 58 points, Naperville Central third with 73 and West Aurora fourth at 119.
Boys:Luke Schroer had a simple answer to the question of how he came out of obsurity to win the DVC varsity race.#147;I don#146;t know,#148; the sophomore from WW South said. #147;I just ran.#148;Schroer won in 15:08.4, outdistancing Wheaton North junior Paul Steeno, second in 15:15.7. West Aurora junior Omar Gomez took third in 15:18.0, and Naperville North junior Griffin Haugen was fourth in 15:24.4, a second faster than West Aurora senior Calvin Robinson.#147;I just felt good near the end,#148; said Schroer, whose best previous finish was third at the West Aurora Stampede and 19th at Peoria Notre Dame#146;s invitational. He placed 30th in the DVC frosh-soph race last year.#147;I was not expecting this at all,#148; he said.Naperville North won the team title with 49 points. West Aurora#146;s 60 points were good for second place, 1 point better than third-place WW South. Host Wheaton North took fourth with 71 points.Coach Matt Sinnott was thrilled with West Aurora#146;s finish.#147;I#146;m very pleased with this,#148; Sinnott said. #147;It ties our highest place for the conference ever. Obviously, we were trying to shoot for the win, but Naperville North is a tough team to beat. I#146;m really pleased with how the boys ran today. They really stepped it up.#148; 7651665Luke Schroer of Wheaton Warrenville South wins the DuPage Valley Conference cross county meet race at St. James Farm in Winfield Friday.PAUL MICHNA/Pmichna@dailyherald.com