Geneva's back at full strength
If the Geneva girls cross country team was looking to make a statement at the 40th annual Larry Eddington Invitational Saturday morning at the Elburn Forest Preserve, the Vikings succeeded - with a capital S.
Finally running with its full lineup, Geneva's top five placed first, second, fourth, ninth and 11th to win with 27 points, a runaway victory over runner-up Benet (91), who lost their star McKinzie Schulz to a knee injury at the two-mile mark.
As for whether that convincing win sends a message about the two-time defending state champ Vikings, depends who you ask. Kelly Whitley, who won the race in 18:49, certainly thought so after the short-handed Vikings lost to York two weeks ago at LeRoy Oakes.
"We worked really hard at practice this week because we knew we had to prove a point," Whitley said. "It felt so good.
"Some people were saying we were not back this year, we might not win a trophy, and we just wanted to prove we're still in it, we're still here and we're still ready to go out and give it our all."
Geneva coach Bob Thomson said he knew his team that ran the first week, missing Liza Tauscher (shin), and last week at Peoria missing Whitley, wasn't his real team. The Vikings don't have the depth they did last year to overcome those kind of losses.
"We weren't concerned," Thomson said. "Everyone else was more concerned. Early this week we told the girls everyone is back, we need to come to play. No message to be sent, just this is who we are. We'll just continue to work hard."
Kelly Shogren passed Benet's Katie Porada at the last second to take second, 18:57.42 to 18:57.69. Tess Ehrhardt finished fourth, Tauscher ninth, Rachel Hammond 11th and Megan Brady 15th.
Hammond started the race much further back but symbolized how well Geneva closed with her final two miles.
"Everyone really pushed the third mile and made their moves there," Whitley said. "Everyone had a phenomenal race today."
That was the opposite of how runner-up Benet saw its race go, according to coach Scott Brooks.
"It looked like we faded a lot in the second half of the race," Brooks said. "We were real good shape when we came by the first time. The next time I saw them we were all over the place."
Benet's Schulz and Porada ran with Whitley at the front for the first two miles before Schulz - the reigning state track champion in the 800 - had to exit the race with a sore knee.
"My knee has been hurting me all week," Schulz said.
"It was kind of weird but I was just focused on getting to the finish as hard as I could," Whitley said.
Schulz leaving the race seemed to have the biggest effect on her teammate Porada.
"I think McKinzie dropping out of the race, I know it bothered her (Porada) because she said it freaked her out a little bit," Brooks said. "I think that changed her mental plan a little bit but what are you going to do. That's got to be traumatic when you see one of your teammates (exit) in a middle of a race."
Porada, an excellent 800 runner in track, is continuing her climb in cross country by testing herself running with Whitley.
"She knew Whitley was going to be in the race and she wanted to run with Whitley and see how much she had in her tank today," Brooks said. "She's just now starting to understand she can be good in cross country. She's just starting to understand what she can be in this sport."
Maddy Gilleran was second for Benet in 19th overall.
Andi Strang led the host Knights by placing 17th in 20:23 on her home course.
"We run it all the time at practice," Strang said. "This is our big meet. We know it, we practice it, we know it inside out."
A recent cold kept Strang from finishing quite where she wanted. The Knights took ninth overall, with freshman Abby Dodis and junior Kris Bowen following Strang in 29th and 36th, respectively.
"Not the best I could, but no excuses," Strang said. "It was an OK race."
Burlington Central, despite missing its normal No. 2 runner Markelle Turk (hamstring), finished sixth. Maggie Gannon paced the Rockets by finishing sixth.
Assistant coach Dan Palmiter filled in for head coach Tom Miller, who was the best man at brother's wedding Saturday.
"Even without her (Turk) running our one and two were strong and our three, four, five, six and seven were a nice pack," Palmiter said. "There wasn't the gaps we had at Peoria (last week) between three and four weren't nearly as big. A good effort from the girls, and we had a really tough workout this week."
Katie Puccio (21st), Katie Flannery (44th), Alexa Tovsen (53rd) and Rhiann Owen (61st) rounded out the Rockets' top five, and Gannon covered the course in 19:22 to take sixth.
"Her (Gannon's) goal was to stay in second lead pack and for the first two miles she was with the 3A leaders," Palmiter said. "She ran great today, everyone ran great today."