St. Peter girls qualify for state cross-country championship
In a season of diversity and many challenges, it was only fitting that the St. Peter girls cross-country team from Geneva were faced with more of the same at their Class 1A IESA Sectional last Saturday at the Harvest Christian Academy campus in Elgin. As if the hilly course weren't enough the Rocket girls were running against arguably two of the best Class 1A girls teams in the state.
Host Harvest Christian Academy returned nearly their entire team from 2015 where they finished a strong 15th place at the IESA State Meet with a young team. Even more dominant was the team from Fox River Grove, a perennial state qualifier and trophy contender for many years.
With most of their runners graduating from 2015 when they placed fourth at state, the 2016 Fox River Grove team was a virtual unknown. As always they ran strong and dominated from the start, eventually winning the sectional with only 28 points. Not far behind them was the now more experienced Harvest Christian Academy team scoring only 35 points for second place. Their second through seventh runners finished within 18 seconds of each other for a tight and impenetrable pack.
The St. Peter Rockets knew what they had to do to qualify but found themselves further back than expected early on in the race. This is where the backup plan of "don't give up and keep racing" served them well in spite of the fact that from the team's perspective things looked pretty dire. Showing great perseverance and a willingness to keep going when things didn't seem to be going well, the girls kept their score to a reasonable 76 points and earned a trip to the IESA State Meet with a third-place finish. When the team was called to the podium at the awards ceremony you could see and feel the relief and pure joy.
The brightest spot in the day for the girls was front-runner Nora Brady's dramatic ninth place finish. Being only a sixth-grader this was Brady's first sectional and she showed sound tactics and maturity well beyond her age. With the fast start and aggressive nature of the two front running teams, Brady found herself back in 18th place three minutes into the race. Never one to panic, she held onto a good solid pace and one by one passed her opponents slowly but surely. One mile into the two-mile race she was solidly in 10th place. She held that position, and ultimately moved up one more place for ninth. When asked later about her impression of the race she just said "I had to run a little faster to keep up, otherwise I just ran the race like I usually do." Staying calm under pressure will serve her well at Saturday's state meet.
The boys race proved an ever bigger challenge for the St. Peter Rockets in spite of some season best performances. IESA newcomer Cambridge Lakes from Pingree Grove won the sectional with 52 points. Although Fox River Grove and St. Mary from Dixon both were close with 56 points, the Fox River Grove team placed second thanks to their sixth runner. For St. Peter, eighth-grader William Huber looked strong holding 12th place through the first mile. However, with a rolled ankle on the rough course shortly into the second loop, he fell well back from the lead pack. Ultimately fifth-graders Ryan Fors and Lucas Chung led the way for the St. Peter seventh-place finish. The future looks bright for the Rocket boys.
The St. Peter girls team will be competing this Saturday in Normal at the Class 1A IESA State Cross Country Championship race. There they will race against 26 of the best Class 1A teams in the state. The young and diverse team has set a goal to run personal best times on the fast and flat course with the hope that doing so will give the team a finish near the top 20 teams in the field.