Geneva takes top five spots at West Aurora regional
For all the Geneva girls cross country team has accomplished the last few years, coach Bob Thomson said his squad did something it has never done before in winning the Class 3A West Aurora regional Saturday at Waubonsee Community College.
The Vikings captured the top five spots to win with a perfect 15 score.
"(Bartlett's Alyssa) Schneider probably would have broke up the top five but hey, she wasn't there," Thomson said of the Hawks' top runner who missed with a fever.
"Hopefully our girls have confidence going into next week. I know I feel better. But it's not about me."
The Vikings have had their ups and downs so far as they chase their third straight state championship. They hope they are headed for two ups in a row the next two Saturdays, starting at the Class 3A St. Charles East sectional.
"We feel our team is kind of in a rut now, so I feel this brings us out a little more," said Tess Ehrhardt, who finished second for Geneva. "We still have to bring our times down but we're feeling pretty good right now. This definitely boosts our team spirit so that's good."
Ehrhardt was glad she stayed so close to teammate Kelly Shogren, finishing in 19:08 to Shogren's 19:11.
"I stayed with Kelly and I usually can't do that," Ehrhardt said. "She pushed me throughout the whole thing so that helped me a lot."
Kelly Whitley, who placed eighth on the same course two weeks ago at the West Aurora Stampede, won in 18:54. Thomson held out Liza Tauscher to let her rest her shins. Rachel Hammond, who has been sick, almost didn't run but did and finished fourth.
"That had to boost her (Whitley's) confidence to see she can win on this course," Thomson said.
Bartlett's second-place finish pleased coach Beth Emody, whose team ran well even without Schneider. The Hawks' top runner attended school Friday but didn't practice.
"She feels better now but we wanted to be safe and not run her," Emody said. "By next week hopefully she will feel 100 percent. We had a lot of girls step in and run well."
Bartlett edged West Aurora, 78-81. A pair of freshmen, Megan Seidl (21st) and Nicole Watkins (seventh) impressed their coach, while sophomore Taylor Crawford led the Hawks in sixth.
"Our main goal was to get out as a team," Emody said. "Put Alyssa back in the mix and our top five has got a lot closer."
The Hawks will need to close that gap next week at LeRoy Oakes against the likes of Geneva, Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South.
"It's going to be very challenging to get out of there," Emody said. "Our goal this week is to fine tune some stuff, make sure everyone stays healthy and give it the best we've got next week."
West Aurora's third-place finish came from three freshmen - Rachel Cavender (15th), Nicole Bartell (16th) and Greta Meyle (17th) - and sophomores Elisia Meyle (eighth) and Ytai Flores (25th).
Waubonsie Valley, coming off a sixth-place finish in the Upstate Eight meet, also advanced to sectional in fourth place with 108 points, one better than Batavia.
"I think we did excellent," Warriors coach Liz Albert said. "Conditions were tough. We got on the bus this morning and it was snowing. We were a little worried it was going to be really cold but it got warmer."
Albert said a practice run at Waubonsee Tuesday really helped her team. Freshman Ashley Bruner's 11th-place finish led the team.
"The last couple weeks that's how it has been," Albert said of the top five. "We started the season really fluctuating our top seven."
Batavia coach Chad Hillman's team had its own health problems with three of their top six missing at least a day of school this week. As a result, the Bulldogs didn't run quite as well as their third-place finish last week at the Western Sun.
"We looked how I thought we'd look," Hillman said. "We ran well enough to get through. We didn't run bad especially considering we've been banged up and a little sick this week."
Dana Landem continued "looking great" according to Hillman, finishing 18th behind only teammate Alexis Sampson (12th). Hillman also liked Rachael Spalding (19th) and Kelsey Lenkowski's (34th) races.
"Definitely wasn't our best," Hillman said. "When you are dealing with that kind of (sickness) you just get through and move on."