For Flanagan the cross country season keeps going

And we thought the football season was a long one around here ...

Lake Park junior Kaylee Flanagan won’t be done running cross country until Dec. 11. She qualified out of the Nov. 26 Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wis., for the Foot Locker National Championships in San Diego on Dec. 10.

First, though, Flanagan leaves Thursday for Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore.

On Nov. 13 in Terre Haute, Ind., she qualified for the Nike meet as an individual entrant along with Naperville Central’s Amanda Fox, who won the Class 3A state meet on Nov. 5. Fox won the Nike regional, Flanagan taking fourth.

The Elmhurst Cross Country Club — York runners Carlos Vega, Evan Fabry, John Libert, Kyle Mattes, Chris May, Nathan Mroz and lead runner Scott Milling — qualified as a team in the Nike boys competition.

The week leading up to the Foot Locker regional, Flanagan got some good training from a friendly and familiar face. In similar fashion to what we reported last week with the Derrick brothers, Neuqua Valley senior Mark and Stanford All-America Chris, Kaylee Flanagan was helped by her older sister Lindsay, now a top-seven runner for Division I women’s national runner-up Washington.

“I told her to relax, have fun, that she’d had a great season so far,” said Lindsay Flanagan, a 2009 Lake Park graduate, who ran with her younger sister over Thanksgiving break. “She’s already made it to Nike, so this was like just one more step.”

Kaylee Flanagan, cheered on in Kenosha by her brother Ryan, a Lake Park swimmer, her mother, Becky, and her grandmother, had already run the Foot Locker Midwest Regional as a sophomore.

“I didn’t do that great, but it was good for the experience,” said Flanagan, who placed third in 3A behind Fox on Nov. 5 and placed ninth in state in 2010. In track and field Flanagan has two fifth-place state finishes to her credit in the 3,200-meter run.

At the Foot Locker regionals this time she placed 10th, the last qualifying slot for the Nationals in San Diego. She had to pass a runner with about 600 meters left.

“I can’t get 11th,” she thought. “Like, if I’m going to lose I can’t lose by one person.”

This week it’s leaping the Nike course’s signature hay bales in Oregon. Next, Balboa Park in temperate San Diego.

Then, a well-deserved rest from training for the first time since the summer — until indoor track practices begin Jan. 16.

“I’m just looking forward to having a mental break,” Kaylee said.

Then she reconsidered.

“You always say you’re excited, but then when the break comes you say, ‘Oh, I want to run. I don’t want to sit around anymore.’”

This just in

When he returned to Montini, football coach Chris Andriano fielded 63 emails and 20-odd phone messages congratulating him on the Broncos’ 70-45 victory over Joliet Catholic in Saturday’s Class 5A championship.

The longest message was 3 minutes, 11 seconds; the shortest, eight seconds.

Or was that scoring drives?

All-star volleyball

A group of local girls has been selected to play in the second annual High School Girls All-Star Volleyball Game, Dec. 3 at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills.

Benet’s Jenna Jendryk and Megan Haggerty, Hinsdale Central’s Ally Davis, West Chicago’s Julia Conard, St. Francis’ Daiva Wise, Downers Grove North’s Jessie Tulacka, Hinsdale South’s Melissa Nava and York’s Caroline Rose are among the 36 players involved.

Last year 600 people attended the match. Proceeds to go A Silver Lining Foundation, a cancer support organization.

Lions of the hard court

If so inclined to hear local boys basketball coaches assess their teams Thursday night, the Aurora Noon Lions Club is hosting its annual Aurora Basketball Coaches Night starting at 6:30 p.m. at Luigi’s Pizza in Aurora.

Waubonsie Valley’s Steve Weemer is on the bill, as is West Aurora’s Gordie Kerkman, East Aurora’s Wendell Jeffries, Aurora Central’s Nathan Drye and Aurora Christian’s Steve Hanson. So too are college coaches James Lancaster of Aurora and Dave Heiss of Waubonsee.

After a pizza and pasta dinner at 7 p.m. the coaches will speak starting at 8. Cost is $10, which is certainly a cheap price to hear from a hall of famer like Kerkman and Weemer’s homespun witticisms. Proceeds will benefit the Lions’ vision- and hearing-impaired charities.

In the know

Awareness about concussions, and their symptoms and severity, has been rushed to the forefront of sports medicine and treatment over the past few years. On Dec. 7 there will be a great opportunity to learn about these brain injuries from a doctor on the front lines.

Dr. Hunt Batjer, a Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation neurosurgeon and co-chair of the National Football League’s Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee, will address concussions in a free program at Neuqua Valley High School 6:30-8:15 p.m. Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates as many as 3.8 million sports and recreation-related concussions occur each year in the United States — and almost half of them go undiagnosed and untreated.

Dr. Batjer will discuss the signs and symptoms of concussions, explain laws protecting athletes, and the evaluation process used before the athlete can return to action.

Registration is required. Call (630) 527-6363 or visit edward.org/concussion.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com