Wave's Lucas healthy; Bartlett's Salinas set
St. Edward senior Ashley Lucas has plenty of reasons to smile these days.
Lucas, whose sophomore and junior years were marred by injury, finished second at the recent Suburban Catholic Conference meet. But more importantly her time was 15 seconds better than her freshman time in the meet.
"I was extremely happy," said Lucas, a four-time all-conference runner. "Even in those Tuesday meets I was getting beat by a lot of the girls in the conference. I was just hoping to get into the Top 10. I felt really good during the race. Hopefully that will extend into regionals."
Lucas had been slowed previously by a number of maladies including a strained hip flexor, lower back problems, a strained Achilles heel and a strained hamstring.
"I'm healthy," said Lucas. "I haven't had any injuries this year which has been nice. It's been real frustrating because I had such a good freshman year. I had never had any injuries before. It was one after another. I wasn't performing up to what I know I could. It's a lot better not being injured. I've been able to enjoy this a lot more."
Lucas is coming off a strong summer where she took ninth at AAU nationals in the 3,000 meters in the 17-18 year-old category, missing a medal by one place.
Now, she's looking to make her mark on the big stage once again.
"I don't know a lot about the runners that will be at the regional. I know Burlington Central has had a good year," said Lucas. "I'm going to try to go out and run with the leaders and see how the race will unfold."
St. Edward and Burlington Central run in the Class 2A regional Saturday at Highland Community College in Freeport.
Burlington Central placed second at the Big Northern Conference meet and had two runners (Markelle Turk and Katie Puccio) finish in the top 6.
Hampshire, Elgin Academy and Westminster Christian will run at the Class 1A Winnebago regional.
On the local Class 3A front, Bartlett junior Sam Salinas is fresh off a fifth-place showing at the UEC meet. She'll run at the Class 3A St. Charles East regional at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.
"Last year was my first year doing cross country," said Salinas. "I had no idea what I was doing. This year, I'm more aware of my surroundings in terms of what runners to stay with and when to kick it in and really pick it up. All of that information has made me a lot stronger and faster."
Salinas has also benefited from the presence of freshman runner Alyssa Schneider. However, Schneider became ill at last weekend's UEC meet and had to be hospitalized -- something that has weighed heavily on Salinas. Bartlett coach Beth Emody said Schneider is likely out for the rest of the season.
"Alyssa has pushed me during practice and made me stronger," said Salinas, who finished 20th in the conference last year. "She pushes me harder and harder and that makes me want to go faster. I'm really upset about her. I've done a lot of thinking about it. I'm going to run an even better race for her on Saturday. I know she's going to be there at the meet, so that will make it even better."
The Elgin-Larkin co-op, Streamwood and South Elgin will run at the Class 3A Lake Park regional at the Lake Park Medinah Campus. The St. Charles East and Lake Park advancers will run in the Schaumburg sectional next Saturday.
Dundee-Crown, which finished second in the FVC (paced by Kelsey Seiler's sixth-place finish), will run in the Class 3A Rolling Meadows regional. The Chargers will see three ranked teams in the field (Palatine, Barrington and Prospect).
Huntley, which was led by freshman Haley Loprieno's fifth-place showing at conference, will compete in the Class 3A Rockford Guilford regional.
FVC individual runner-up Kristina Aubert and Crystal Lake South will join Prairie Ridge as part of the Class 3A Woodstock regional, while Cary-Grove and Jacobs will run in the Class 3A Lake Zurich regional. Aubert finished 72nd in the state as a freshman and then won the Class AA 3,200 individual track title this past spring.
Prairie Ridge won a regional title last year. The Wolves' Alex Ovington led the way at the recent FVC meet with a 10th place finish.
Cary-Grove was paced at conference by Top 10 finishes from Madeline Aufmann (7th) and Molly MacInnes (9th). Cary-Grove was ranked 24th in Class 3A by Illinois Prep Top Times.
The Rolling Meadows, Guilford, Woodstock and Lake Zurich qualifiers will head to the Palatine sectional.