Vernon Hills second at Burlington C. regional

Vivian Oberbeck just ran her race.

That was good enough for first place while leading her Vernon Hills teammates to a second-place overall finish at the Class 2A Burlington Central girls cross country regional Saturday.

The Cougars totaled 60 points, just behind Crystal Lake Central, which won the team title with 47 points.

Kaneland finished fourth. The top 6 teams advanced to next Saturday's Belvidere sectional.

The host Rockets didn't advance as a team, but sent two individual qualifiers, Courtni Neubauer and Katie Bush, on to sectionals. The top 5 runners not affiliated with one of the qualifying teams also advanced.

“I knew it was going to be tough, and with this I'm where I want to be for the rest of the postseason,” said Overbeck.

She‘s glad the rest of her team will be moving on with her.

“We've come a long way,” she said. “We had a rough spot in the middle of the season but we're where we need to be to try to make the state meet in two weeks.”

Overbeck pulled away from the pack late and easily outdistanced the field, finishing with a time of 18:18.5, more than 8 seconds ahead of Lake Forest's Clair Yandell. CL Central's Maddie Dagley was third, another 7 seconds back.

Vernon Hills' Cassie Lira finished fourth overall.

Kaneland was paced by Brianna Bower, the sixth overall finisher, and Victoria Clinton, who finished in 11th place.

Vernon Hills came in ranked No. 9 in the state and lived up to that billing. Shannon Skeoch (16th) and Samantha Hershman (18th) were also among the top finishers for the Cougars.

Hampshire will send one runner to the sectional, Natalia Szutkowski.