Huskies surprise themselves with third-place showing

PEORIA -- Naperville North and coach Dan Iverson have had their share of glory, having won four state titles in girls cross country, including winning back-to-back title in 2004 and 2005.

But this year's team may have surprised Iverson the most.

No, Naperville North didn't win the title, but the Huskies put on quite a performance in Saturday's Class 3A meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

Naperville North used a tight pack with an 18-second split between its top five runners in securing the third-place trophy with 176 points.

So did the trophy surprise Iverson?

"It does," said Iverson whose team won its 10th trophy in 17 trips to the state meet. "Other years you kind of knew even if you didn't win you were kind of up there. This year there were five or six teams that all thought they were up there."

Freshman Kelly Whitley finished second, leading Geneva to its first state title with 119 points, followed by Lyons Twp. with 131 points.

Kristen Sutherland won the Class 3A title with a time of 16:50, as St. Charles East Lizzy Hynes took third with Stagg's Annette Glaz and Oak Park-River Forest Katherine Rack rounding out the top five.

Junior Michelle Stratton led Naperville North, finishing in 40th place, but Joanna Brodecki, Elle Metz, Jamie Schertz and Adrienne Schertz were in hot pursuit.

"You have to do that," Iverson said of the 18-second split between Stratton and Adrienne Schertz. "We've had some difficulties here and there, if one person doesn't run that well it kind of blows things up.

"But we had seven people run well today."

That's pretty good for a team that didn't even think it made it out of the Schaumburg sectional.

"We thought our season was over," said Stratton, whose team finished fourth at the one of the most difficult sectionals in state history. "We wanted to show we belonged here. We've been working all season to get that split down."

Hinsdale Central won the now defunct Class AA title last season, but the Red Devils (181 points) finished fourth Saturday.

Elaine Kuckertz led Hinsdale Central finishing in sixth place.

"We're disappointed," said Hinsdale Central coach Mark McCabe of his team that had Roey Hines back but not at full strength. "That certainly didn't help us, but we had high goals this year, we didn't get it done when we needed too."

Sarah Hartley, Megan Taylor and Casey Thomson finished 18th, 23rd and 32nd leading Neuqua Valley to fifth place with 190 points.

"I think we really pulled together this season," Hartley said of her team that had its best finish at state. "We've all been dedicated to the team. Everyone was running for the team. Our top three were very strong today."

"We all had confidence in our team and ourselves," added Taylor, whose teams top three runners had a 17-second split. "It was just like any other race and we trusted each other."

Lindsay Flannagan took 10th place, leading Lake Park to 10th place with 243 points.

"It's like everything changes here," Flannagan said of the pace of the race. "The first mile was really fast. I didn't want to take it out that fast, but I got caught up in all the excitement. But things settled down in the second mile."

Naperville Central's Shelby Pealer finished 16th for the Redhawks.

"I felt a lot of pressure earlier this season, but I was more comfortable in the postseason," Pealer said.

Sarah Daly finished 24th leading Wheaton Academy to seventh place in Class 2A.

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin won the Class 2A title, and Limestone's Nicole Benson captured the 2A individual title.

Immaculate Conception's Natalie D'Agostino surged the final mile to secure ninth place in Class 1A.

"All the excitement … every person being here just drives you to go more and more," D'Agostino added.

Winnebago won its 10th team title in Class 1A with Eureka's Olivia Klaus winning the individual title.