Girls cross country: Grant's Negovetich, Barrington take titles at Palatine regional
Teamwork can manifest itself in many ways.
Especially in cross country, which in so many ways can sometimes seem to be an individual endeavor.
Saturday at the Class 3A Palatine girls cross country regional at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve, the runners had to make a tight, hairpin turn around a tree about halfway through the course.
And when the three leaders - Aly Negovetich of Grant and Allison Drage and Molly Fitzpatrick of Barrington - made the turn, Fitzpatrick stumbled a bit around the bend in the cold conditions.
"When I make a turn I usually try to take a couple of hard steps around the turn," said Fitzpatrick. "I went down a little bit but Allison, who was right next to me at the time, gave me a pat on the back, and I was right on my feet."
The subtle bit of sportsmanship from Drage, and the outstanding performances from Drage, Fitzpatrick and Alyssa Norris helped the Fillies win the regional.
Drage (time of 17:20), Fitzpatrick (17:30) and Norris (17:34) finished 2-3-4 individually to send Barrington (37 points) to the victory and on to next Saturday's Hoffman Estates sectional.
"We wanted to come out here and keep doing what we've been doing," added Fitzpatrick, a junior. "We wanted to keep things the same as our other races and just kind of see what happens."
Negovetich took individual honors in the time of 17:06. It's the second year in a row the sophomore has won a regional.
"I really wanted to stay patient today and focus the first mile," said Negovetich, "and have a progressive second mile. That's been my strategy so far this season."
Palatine (85) points grabbed second place as the Pirates were led by junior Anne Marie Jordan (7th, 18:14).
"I personally would rather run in cold weather than warm weather," said Jordan of Saturday's cold and wind. "I felt pretty comfortable. We make a point of coming out and doing workouts on this course and we have a fair amount of meets here. We really get to know it.
"Honestly my plan today, along with my teammates, was just go out and do what we could do, and run hard," added the junior, "and run without fear."
Cary-Grove (3rd, 96), Lake Zurich (4th, 122), Grant (5th, 140), and Jacobs (6th, 148) all advanced to sectionals as the top six teams in the regional moved on to Hoffman.
Delaney Blohm paced C-G with a ninth-place individual finish in the time of 18:35; the top placement for Jacobs was by Elisabeth Kania (19:12); while Lake Zurich was led by freshman Brooke Johnston, who was fifth overall with a 17:42.
Palatine's Ellie Roy (18:37) was 10th while Anne Berquist of Barrington (18:39) took 11th place.
Two Cary-Grove competitors, Morgan Dieschbourg (18:40) and Maggie Mason (18:45), finished 12th and 13th respectively.
There were also five individual sectional qualifiers on the day - Fatima Giron from Round Lake (6th, 17:43), Lydia Zancho of McHenry (8th, 18:15), Kaylee Brodie of Dundee-Crown (19:01), Jenny Cortes of Round Lake (19:36) and Alyssa Moore from McHenry (19:45).
"Our team was only a few points away, but we're thrilled to have two individual qualifiers," said McHenry coach Kevin Horst. "Alyssa and Lydia are two of the hardest workers on our team. Lydia (a sophomore) is our top runner, she ran the most in the summer, she always works hard and works out in the weight room every day. Alyssa (a freshman) does a great job and ran a personal best today."
Zancho was another runner who said she didn't mind competing in the less-than-stellar conditions.
"You just have to make sure you warm up properly," said the sophomore. "The race today was really fast so I just tried to settle into my pace and stay smart. I tried to keep pushing and do my best at the end."