Girls cross country: Barrington's Long is first in Finish
Barrington's Jocelyn Long started her season by cruising to a first-place finish at the Leavey Invitational in St. Charles, crossing the line in 17:26.1.
On Saturday, the Fillies junior continued to impress in a tough field at the First to the Finish Invitational at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Long cruised through the first mile in first place and continued to widen the gap in cruising to a first-place finish on a sloppy state course, punching across the line in 17:19.3.
Minooka junior Emily Shelton (17:43.1) finished 23 seconds behind Long.
"She did a great job," said Barrington coach Deb Revolta of her junior's performance. "She's stronger than she was last year and she has a really good mindset."
Naperville North nipped Yorkville for first place in the team race 81-82, with defending Class 3A state champion Minooka (118 points) finishing third.
Long has set the tone in both of her early races, her winning margin at the Leavey Invitational was 38 second over St. Charles North junior Audrey Ernst.
"She was a little bit worried about taking the lead, but she is getting more comfortable," said Revolta. "I told her, 'No matter where you are at, you will have that target on your back - so just go for it.' "
Fremd senior Linda Varela (18:38.6) also took another step forward, taking 15th place and helping a surging Vikings squad to a 12th-place team finish. Freshman Rebecca Markham (71st place), junior Fiona Jordan (76th place), junior Hannah Ban (77th place), and junior Nupur Pokharkar (83rd place) packed it together for Fremd.
Sophomore Anna Miller (84th place) and junior Megha Ramanathan (87th place) paced the attack for Hoffman Estates.