Scouting Tri-Cities girls cross country

Kaneland's girls cross country team has established itself as a consistent force not only in the area but also the state.

The Knights took second in the Northern Illinois Big XII last year, won a pair of invitationals and capped the season taking fifth in the Class 2A state meet.

Kaneland comes into the 2014 season with big goals again.

Junior Brianna Bower returns after taking 37th in the state meet last year.

Senior Victoria Clinton, who won the state title two years ago, is healthy again after recovering from last year's triathlon bicycle fall.

Senior Aislinn Lodwig placed 54th at state and sophomore Abby Shaw was 88th.

Senior Jessica Kucera was the team's seventh runner until the state series when an injury ended her season.

Newcomers like sophomore Sarah Daley, freshman Andrea Wells, junior Carly Bartholomew and sophomore Becca Richtman will compete for a position in the lineup.

"We will be similar to last year's team in some ways," Kaneland coach Doug Ecker said. "Brianna will be back by September recovering from a summer injury and with Victoria healthy again they should give us a solid one-two at the top by mid-October. The girls have the talent and potential to be pretty strong three through seven for the 2A level if they continue to improve throughout the season and avoid injuries. We will see what happens come mid-October."

Kaneland will see plenty of strong teams during the season to get ready for the state series. At last year's sectional the five qualifying teams all finished in the top nine in state.

"Yorkville will be team to beat and if LaSalle-Peru can find some depth to go along with their top two runners they could be very strong," Ecker said. "Our sectional will be very strong again this year as always."

St. Charles East welcomes a new coach for the second straight year. Mike Arenberg has a long background in the sport under U.S. distance coach Joe I Vigil.

Arenberg has 30 years of coaching experience most recently at Downers Grove South. He worked with the St. Charles East girls track team last year including the 3,200 state championship relay as the Saints took third as a team.

"Things are going well," Arenberg said. "We had a good summer and are looking forward to seeing where it gets us."

Arenberg takes over a team that finished second in the conference and sixth at sectional. They bring back senior captain Torree Scull, an all-stater as a junior who placed 18th in the state, then in track ran the lead leg of the state champion 3,200 relay and finished fourth in the mile.

Sophomore Hannah Ewald also returns after "making huge gains in track last year running 11:25," Arenberg said.

Junior Anastasio Honea also ran on the 3,200.

"She enjoys track more but is looking to make a statement in cross country this fall," Arenberg said.

Senior Jordan Luedtke is another of the team captains. Sophomores Anna Arrick, Lauren Woelffler, Alison White, Emma Battin and Lexi Scull, and senior Maddie Phillips, are all working for spots in the lineup.

"We've got a nice-sized pack running for that five-six-seven spots," Arenberg said. "We hope to qualify for state."

On the other side of town St. Charles North did qualify for state last year, taking 17th. The North Stars were third in the River behind the Saints and Geneva, second in regionals and fifth at the sectional.

While she loses No. 1 runner Ashley England, coach Shari Hayes returns sophomore Allie Chen, junior Katie Francissen, sophomore Madison Kaufmann and junior Nina Olshever.

Freshmen Audrey Ernst and Ally Suyak, seniors Morgan Lain and Jacelyn Maher and junior Alexa Pappas are among the newcomers Hayes has an eye on. Ernst already got her season off to a great start on Tuesday by winning the Elgin Invitational.

"We should have a similar team to what we had last year," Hayes said. "We graduated Ashley England, but Audrey Ernst should be able to fill her shoes this season. We have girls that did a lot of training this summer and should be fighting with my returning runners for a top seven position. We are hoping to be competitive with Geneva and St. Charles East at the Upstate Eight Conference, regional and sectional meets. Our ultimate goal is to return to the state meet and improve on our finish."

Showing just how strong the Upstate Eight is, Batavia took fourth in the River a year ago. The Bulldogs also placed eighth at the sectional.

No. 1 runner, junior Dakota Roman, is already a two-time state qualifier. Senior Miranda Rea also qualified for state last year.

Freshmen Mary Grace Golden, Emma Stephens and Daphne Kolody all could make a quick impact.

"We have good balance among our classes from freshmen through seniors," Batavia coach Chad Hillman said. "A lot of returning varsity experience mixed with a very strong freshman class. Our goal is to be competing for a conference championship and competing at the state meet."

Everyone in the Upstate Eight River is looking up at Geneva. Not only did the Vikings win conference, they won a regional championship and ended up peaking as the season finished - as coach Bob Thomson always emphasizes - with an eighth-place finish in the Class 3A state meet.

Junior McKenzie Altmayer, senior Brooke Nusser, junior Emma McSpadden, sophomore Emma Ehrhardt, sophomore Gabby Thomson and sophomore Mary Grace Neville all return.

Thomson also said he has a few freshmen he hopes can make an impact at some point this season.

"We feel like we will contend for the conference championship and would like to qualify and improve on our finish at state from last season," Thomson said.

West Aurora makes the move from the DuPage Valley to the Upstate Eight Conference. The Blackhawks finished sixth in their final season of the DVC.

Senior Miranda Gollwitzer is the top returnee from that team after qualifying for sectionals. Senior Gabriela Aguilar also returns.

Coach Angela Cassetto said juniors Graciela Garcia, Jennifer Aguilar and Lindsay Muth will be part of the top seven.

"We're working on rebuilding the team but we had a good turnout for the summer," Cassetto said. "We have a good group of developing freshmen."

Aurora Central Catholic qualified for the Class 1A state meet last year, taking 17th, after winning regionals and finishing third at sectionals. The Chargers were fourth in the Suburban Christian Conference.

Junior Karina Liz, who won the Class 2A 800 state championship during the track season, leads the returnees. Aurora Central also brings back senior Irene Crown, sophomore Amy Brouch, senior Sarah Brouch and senior Emily Ziegler.

Chargers coach Troy Kerber said sophomore Abby Fioresi, a transfer from Oswego, is awaiting IHSA clearance, as is Olivia Saucedo, a sophomore transfer from Rosary. Other newcomers to watch are freshmen Toriana Turk, Therese Hein and Shannon La Presti, and junior Carolina Rincon.

Aurora Central will move back to Class 2A this season.

"If and when Fioresi and Saucedo become eligible they will take ACC to another level," Kerber said. "Regardless, there is enough back for ACC to be formidable with contributions from Brouch, Turk and Hein. We will be strong up front and look to form a nice chase pack that can make us tough by the end of the year."

Rosary is coming off a second-place finish in the SCC and also qualified for state. No. 1 runner Madison Ronzone returns along with Emily Martin and Shea Vero.

"Our strengths is we have our one, two, three back, our weaknesses we graduated four, five, six, seven and eight," said Rosary coach Vic Meade.