Lake Park's Flanagan's finish just 'perfect'
PEORIA - There's really only one word that describes the season Lake Park's Lindsay Flanagan had this year.
"She had a perfect season," said Lancers coach Harvey Braus, after Flanagan won the individual Class 3A girls cross country title in 16:54, a full 13 seconds ahead of second-place Kelly Whitley of Geneva.
Flanagan came in chasing the course record at Peoria's Detweiller Park, but a cold and windy Saturday had her settling for the individual crown alone.
"You can't control the weather, but that was fun," said Flanagan, who placed 10th last season. "After last year's track season I wanted to come here and do better. I trained harder, and it paid off."
Juliet Vogel finished in 41st for the 14th-place Lancers.
With clear-cut favorite Geneva living up to its billing by easily taking the team title in 3A, second through fourth place was up for grabs. Hinsdale Central grabbed the brass ring, taking second thanks to a fourth-place finish by Elaine Kuckertz, Graylin Harrison's 33rd-place finish, and Rosemary Hines placing 52nd despite losing a shoe mid-way through the race.
"I feel like I did my best, and everyone did really well today," Kuckertz said.
"We knew there'd be six other teams chasing a trophy, and we were one of them," said Red Devils coach Mark McCabe. "We ran a great team race."
A week after placing fourth at sectionals, Naperville North repeated the feat downstate. Michelle Stratton earned all-state honors in placing 23rd with a lifetime-best time of 17:39.
"Two seconds better than my old best," Stratton said. "And we did everything we could have done as a team today."
"That's the way to end a career," Huskies coach Dan Iverson said of Stratton. "And we did run a really good team race today."
Jamie Schertz placed 40th for the Huskies, while Emily Grissom, Joanna Brodecki, Adrienne Schertz and Christina Rei all finished in the top 100.
York placed ninth in Peoria, paced by Meghan Frigo's 21st-place finish, Wheaton Warrenville South finished 11th led by Lauren Mordini, and Benet placed 15th behind McKinzie Schulz, who became an all-state runner thanks to a 19th-place finish.
In Class 2A Wheaton Academy came in feeling lucky to have qualified to run downstate as a team, and the Warriors made their day count by placing eighth. Sarah Daly took 10th and Alli Witt finished 21st in earning all-state honors.
Daly's finish made a two-time all-state runner for the Warriors.
"It's easy to run your hardest when you know there are six other (teammates) behind you doing the same thing," she said.
The area's best finish in 2A came courtesy of Glenbard South's Karen Lipa, who finished in 10th place.
"It feels really good," Lipa said. "I was shooting for top 10, but I knew it would be tough. Pretty much from the start I went out with the top group and maintained about 10th place."