St. Anne cross country team has successful season
The cross country team at St. Anne Catholic School in Barrington wrapped up its fall season Saturday, Oct. 8, when they competed at Sectionals in Fox River Grove with 11 other schools.
The team was led by head coach Melissa Ruth, along with assistant coaches Barb Rundle and Laura Lambertsen, and overseen by Athletic Director Eddie Fay.
The month of July marked the beginning of the season with outside temperatures hitting the 90-degree mark. However, that did not deter the 19 team members from attending practices and completing their training runs, not only at the school, but through the trails at Lake County’s Citizen’s Park and Cuba Marsh Forest Preserve.
As the teams’ season progressed, the outside temperatures may have cooled, but the runners were heating up as they were consistently improving their endurance, skill and running times on a weekly basis.
“I like the competitiveness of the sport and trying to beat your personal best. I just like racing,” said sixth-grade team member Joey Heffernan.
Nine out of the 19 team members were new runners, ranging from fourth through eighth grade.
The fourth-graders are considered runners in training, which allow younger students to gain experience on the cross country team. They participate in the training and in the meets; however, their times at the meets are excluded from the final team score.
“Runners in training was a good experience for my daughter to be part of a team and to participate in the meets. She was able to see how the team works to support each other during practice and during the meets, as well as how everyone was working to do better each time. It will also prepare her for other team sports that start in fifth grade,” said Wendy Case, mother of team member Maddy Case.
The fourth- through sixth-graders run at the Junior Varsity level, and have to complete a one-mile course at meets. The seventh- and eighth-graders run at the Varsity level, and have to complete a two-mile course.
“At first it was hard work, and I could only run three blocks, but after lots of practice I could run the whole mile,” said fourth-grade team member Sophia Peterson.
“I am very proud of how St. Anne performed this season. We are a relatively small team compared to many of the other schools in our conference, and yet we always had several kids finish in the top 10 or top 20 each week at the regular meets,” said Head Coach Melissa Ruth.
“We also had a strong group of young runners this season, who will continue to grow and be serious contenders in a year or two.”
The following St. Anne Varsity team members had to qualify to run in the sectional meet. They all participated in the two-mile run and ran with approximately 84 boys and 84 girls.
“I think that we have a great team,” said seventh-grader Jack Ruth.
Boys: Joey Heffernan, 36th place, 13:30; Jack Ruth, 45th place, 14:09; James Graft, 51st place, 14:34; Max Paulus, 63rd place, 16:27; John Jagmin, 70th place, 17:52.
Girls: Gabi Fier, 33rd place, 15:18; Lizzie Graft, 37th place, 15:26; Jackie Rundle, 39th place, 15:29; Maria Fier, 54th place, 16:25.
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