Ehrhardt, Geneva claim Eddington titles

On a course that has never been a personal favorite, Geneva senior Tess Ehrhardt got the last laugh.

Ehrhardt covered the Elburn Woods course in 18:41.8 to win the Larry Eddington Invitational hosted by Kaneland on Saturday.

The course features the steepest hill Geneva sees all year. Ehrhardt has never enjoyed that during her four years on varsity running this meet. Ehrhardt had to deal with the hill again Saturday but she did it in the lead. She was the front-runner going up the hill and coming down on her way to winning by 8 seconds.

"I don't like this course, the hills are really hard," Ehrhardt said. "I like the back part but the rest of it is really hard. I can't remember (my) best finish, I just remember the hills."

Ehrhardt led five Vikings in the top 18 to give Geneva the team championship. Rachel Hammond and Liza Tauscher weren't far behind in fourth and sixth. Megan Brady (13th) and Cory Mclauchlan (18th) rounded out the top five.

Just after the girls race finished the skies opened up. Lightning forced an hour delay before the boys race and sent the victorious Vikings to their team bus to stay dry.

"I'm glad we got it done with before the rain because I know a lot of other guys were freaking out because it threw off their game with the conditions," Brady said. "I'm happy we were still mentally strong."

Host Kaneland finished 14th. Doug Ecker said this was the third time in 20 years of coaching cross country he could remember a weather situation like Saturday.

Ecker let his seniors run in their final Eddington Invite. Andie Strang led the way in 25th despite being about 70 percent according to Ecker. It was her first race after winning the Oregon Invitational two weeks ago.

"I was hesitant to run her but she did well," Ecker said.

Strang is just one of numerous Knights who have been battling a bug that has made it hard for Ecker to field his top lineup.

"I'm very happy with how the seniors ran," Ecker said. "We still have four or five recovering from being sick. Hopefully in a couple weeks they will all be back."

Burlington Central coach Vince Neil found both good and bad in the Rockets' ninth-place finish. His main concern is keeping his pack together.

"We've got to come together as a group," Neil said. "We are too individualized right now. We have to make sure all five of us are together. We are breaking up way too much. We have to have that identity (of a strong pack) and we just don't have the identity yet. There's still a lot of season left and I think we'll be all right. There's some work we have to do."

Markelle Turk (11th) and Katie Puocio (26th) led the Rockets.

Crystal Lake Central's Kelly McNeely provided Ehrhardt her toughest competition finishing second.

Glenbard East's Maggie Angst ran right with McNeely for most of the race. Angst wound up in third after cramping with about a half mile to go.

"I was trying to stay with the girl in second but she is very good," Angst said. "We pushed each other."

Angst started the year placing sixth at Hinsdale and took third at the Wauconda Invite. She was encouraged by Saturday's race as another progression heading to Oak Park next weekend.

"It was a pretty good race, I was happy," Angst said.

Crystal Lake Central's 66 points were second to Geneva's 42. Angst and Lindsey Rakosnik (seventh) led Glenbard East to third.

Jacobs (fourth) and Dunde-Crown (fifth) rounded out the top five.

Benet's Audrey Blazek placed ninth to pace Benet's eighth-place finish while Rosary kept its pack between 35 and 70 to take 10th.