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Adams, Poss lead the way at Harland

The hilly Fox River Park course proved to be a real battle for area girls cross country teams and individuals Saturday morning at the Pat Harland Invitational in Burlington, Wis.

But when all was said and done, it was Marengo freshman Katie Adams (18:38) that pulled away from Antioch senior Erin Poss in the final mile to win the 3-mile race hosted by Antioch by 11 seconds.

State-ranked Benet rolled to the championship of the 16-team meet with 31 points as the Redwings easily toppled runner-up Prairie Ridge with 104 points.

Led by junior Gabby Nystrom's sixth-place finish, Warren placed third with 150 points despite being without the services of key senior Annie Brandes who is out with bronchitis.

"The hills were hard to run, but I had my best time on this course today so I felt good," said Nystrom. "It was a good challenge with the hills, and it was a good experience for the team."

As is the case with the boys cross country team at Warren, the Blue Devils' girls team is also trying to replace some key runners from graduation including three-time state qualifier Heather Olson (Rice University) and all-conference runner Sarabeth Jones.

"She (Nystrom) looked very strong and we knew she would have plenty of people to run with," said Warren coach Cheryl Anderson. "It's a true cross country course so it's good to see what she can do here on hills because I can not duplicate this on the flat course in Gurnee."

Vernon Hills was another North Suburban Conference team to have a good showing Saturday as Vernon Hills placed fourth with 168 points. The host Sequoits (190) placed seventh followed by Jacobs (215) in eighth, Grant (217) in ninth, and Grayslake North (250) in 10th.

First-year cross country runner and former soccer player Kelley Gallagher led the Cougars' push in ninth place after Gallagher qualified for the state track meet in the mile run as a sophomore last spring. Freshman Ali Marks (16th place) gives Vernon Hills a strong duo to build around.

"This is the second time she's (Gallagher) run this course this year so she's still learning how to run the three miles, but she's just had a great attitude and she gives a great effort every time," said Vernon Hills coach Suzanne Richert. "She (Marks) is just a terrific kid, she works hard in practice, and her and Kelley are leading the way so it's nice to have both of them out there."

Despite leading by a narrow margin at the 2-mile marker, Poss was unable to hold off Adams as Adams has become a major force for a freshman runner this fall.

"That was the second time she (Adams) has done that to Erin this year so that is something she just has to work on for the future so we can see how we are going to respond," said first-year Antioch coach Chris Cassidy. "There are still some positives we are going to take from this meet and there is always room for improvement."

Lakes did not use No. 2 runner Hannah Wittman or No. 3 runner Amanda Timmerman in the meet, but sophomore Kathryn Dean had a strong 12th-place showing for the Eagles.

"All we had from our top five today was our No. 1 runner and our No. 5 runner," said Lakes coach Keith West, whose team can clinch the NSC Prairie Division crown Monday at Grant. "But Samantha Detterbeck had a pretty good day for us today."

Prairie Ridge was led by Amanda Marvoitz in seventh place while Susan Piorowski led Jacobs in 14th. Grant's duo of Audrey Carrothers (22nd) and Kacie Wodek (25th) led the Bulldogs' squad. Grayslake North's Kimmy Denikas placed 26th despite still not being at 100 percent.

"They ran well and they all improved their times here from two weeks ago," said Grant coach Jeff Durlak. "I was pretty happy with how they ran, and that was the closest Wodek has been to Audrey all year."

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