Naperville Central's Fox puts full effort into win

More than 20 minutes after winning the DuPage Valley Conference girls cross country championship, Naperville Central's Amanda Fox still looked completely spent.

Maybe it was just the pounding headache or maybe it was the effort needed to pull away from a pretty strong field.

"It just dragged on a little more, because I pushed it harder and more to the end, and it took more out of me," a still breathless Fox said. "That's OK."

The sophomore won in "iffy" 17:47.0, seven seconds better than last year's winner, Lauren Mordini of WW South. The Tigers' McKenna Kiple was third at 18:06.4, with Naperville North's Emily Smith and Jamie Schertz next across the line.

"I tried to go out a little bit faster, because last time I got a little bit stuck at the beginning. I tried not to slow down. I stretched at the beginning and then tried to pull away more at the end."

Naperville North's Tyler Jermann won the boys race in 14:53.7. Wheaton North's Jake and James Waterman placed second and fourth, respectively, with Naperville North's Bob Guthrie breaking them up in third place.

"I just took it out a little bit easier," Jermann said, "and kept it smooth the whole way. It felt awesome."

Jermann was in a pack of about eight for the first mile, then he pulled away.

"I was pretty much alone for the rest," he said.

Wheaton Warrenville South won both the boys and girls races. The Tigers girls outscored Naperville North 35-41, with Naperville Central third at 58 points. West Aurora (132), Wheaton North (142) were next. Maggie Angst placed 10th in 18:37 to lead Glenbard East to sixth place, with West Chicago seventh at 188 and Glenbard North finishing with 218.

On the boys side the Tigers scored 51 points to outlast cross-town rival Wheaton North, which had 61. Naperville North placed third with 74 points, followed by Glenbard East at 90. West Aurora (141), Naperville Central (156), West Chicago (164) and Glenbard North (171) rounded out the field.