Geneva running for repeat
Cross country - truly a wonderful life.
You begin your summer vacation by waking up daily at 5 a.m. to go on your first 10-mile run before the heat of the summer sets in, and then just as the sun begins to set, you head out for another 5-mile run.
When the season begins, you run your first three races in the heat of late summer, and then your next three never knowing if it's going to be cold, rainy, muddy, or all of the above.
All for what? A chance to run at the state meet in Peoria at the beginning of November.
While this might hardly seem worth it to most people, this is what separates the average cross country runner from the outstanding - they live for this.
The Geneva Vikings girls cross country team won the Class 3A state meet title a year ago with an amazing team of six freshmen and a sophomore. Those freshmen are now sophomores and head to state with a different kind of pressure on them as the defending state champs.
"We're going down there to try to repeat, but we know we have to be more positive this year," sophomore Kelly Whitley said. "We have to really believe that we can do it and really prepare to win the race. We really had to believe we could do it last year, and this year we have to believe that we're better than last year because we've all worked so hard this year."
Whitley leads the Vikings to Peoria for the second straight season, fresh off setting a new course record at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve at the St. Charles East sectional last week.
The Vikings' second runner is senior Sarah Heuer, who transferred from Minnesota after running in the state meet there.
"It's so nice being with all these girls, and it's going to be an amazing experience going down to state with them and possibly winning," Heuer said. "They've talked about the state meet a little bit to me and how it's so fast down there."
Tess Ehrhardt, Meghan Heuer, Liza Tauscher, Kelly Shogren and Megan Brady will represent the Vikings this weekend.
St. Charles East heads to state as a team ranked No. 11 overall by Dyestat. Lizzy Hynes wasn't pleased with her third-place performance at sectionals, and plans to use that to motivate her this weekend.
"I'm glad that I have (state) to completely make up for it," Hynes said. "I haven't been meeting a lot of my goals this season, but the main one I set for myself was to win a state championship. I'm probably a very big underdog right now, but it's not over yet. I'm just going to go for first place. Maybe I'll pull it off or maybe I'll die out, but I'm still going to go for it."
The Saints' second runner is freshman Mallory Abel, who finished 11th at the St. Charles East sectional. Abel feels she's fortunate to learn from another teammate who had success when she was a freshman as well.
"Lizzy has helped me so much," Abel said. "She has helped me when I'm nervous and has told me how to run. She's been on all of these courses, so I just listen to her."
The state meet often brings pressure that coaches can't always account for. Most coaches can prepare their teams for what to expect down at the state meet, but very few have actually run the course and been a state champion.
St. Charles East coach Denise Hefferin ran on the course at Detweiller Park as a member of the Saints' 1997 and 1998 state champion teams, and finished 11th in the state in 1999, so she can share with her team her feelings as she went to the starting line.
"I didn't run the same course, but I did run there as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior," Hefferin said.
"I know what it's like to line up on that line as a freshman. I know what it's like to line up ranked No. 1, and I also know what it's like to line up not ranked in the top five, so I'm definitely going to try to share as much with them as I can about my experiences."
Dayna White, Grace Gordon, Holly Robertson, Megan Piemonte and Arielle Parker will represent the Saints.
Aurora Christian is also headed to the Class 1A state meet. The Eagles finished fourth in the sectional as a team and freshman Sarina Oleson was seventh overall. Kaitlin Bellak, Amy Berger, Danielle Gorder, Sydney Bennett, Sage Millard and Jannea Epperson will represent Aurora Christian in the Class 1A state meet.