Girls cross country: Overbeck paces Vernon Hills' trophy effort
PEORIA - By winning the Woodstock North sectional last weekend, the Vernon Hills girls cross country team proved it was a top-three trophy contender heading into the state meet.
But with four freshman on their team, could the Cougars really bring home their second trophy in three years?
The answer came, affirmatively, Saturday morning.
Vernon Hills locked up the third-place trophy, finishing with 143s point to better fourth-place Crystal Lake Central (204).
Yorkville rolled to its fifth straight Class 2A championship with 58, ahead of runner-up Belvidere North (122). Grayslake Central (298 points) placed ninth in its second state meet appearance.
Peoria Notre Dame senior Maryjeanne Gilbert ran to back-to-back state titles on the Detweiller Park course in 16:24 to outdistance her next closest competitor by 29 seconds.
Vernon Hills senior Vivian Overbeck became the Cougars' first three-time all-stater by leading her team with a fifth-place finish.
Lakes senior Kortney Schardt became the Eagles' first two-time all-stater with her sixth-place finish, while Vernon Hills sophomore Lauren Katz had a fantastic eighth-place finish to help the Cougars capture their trophy.
Freshmen teammates Payton Makowskyj (34th), and Hannah Ray (62nd) were keys for Vernon Hills along with senior teammate Shannon Skeoch (77th), who along with Overbeck were a part of both third-place trophy teams.
"They (Overbeck and Skeoch) were great to have with this young team because they've been here before and they knew what it would take to win a trophy," said Vernon Hills coach Suzanne Curry, whose top-seven runners also included freshmen Ryan Schofield and Vivian Tsai. "They never acted like freshmen, they never seemed inexperienced, and they always raced really hard."
After placing 11th in the state as a sophomore, and 13th as a junior, Overbeck really came through when the chips were down to finish her senior season on a high note as both an individual and a team member.
"It's definitely really special what we did today, everybody just ran awesome, and it was great to bring back the trophy senior year," said Overbeck. "It was really exciting for me to finish on that note and run such a great time (17:12). I think it's really special (being a three-time all-stater) because the number of girls who finish all-state three times is pretty small."
Curry is really going to miss her senior leaders, but the future is pretty bright with a successful program now firmly entrenched at Vernon Hills.
"Top five was her (Overbeck's) goal, and she reached that," added Curry. "And she ran her best time ever today by seven seconds."
After placing fifth at sectionals in miserable, rainy conditions, Schardt also came through big-time Saturday to place sixth in 17:26.
That time was seven seconds better than Schardt ran when she placed seventh in the state last year as a junior.
"I'm just really proud of the way Kortney ran out there today, she had a clear vision of how she wanted to run the race, and it was really exciting how well she finished the race," said Lakes coach Keith West. "I'm just really impressed with her consistency, and she takes care of all the little things that you need to have a successful career."
That career will see Schardt heading south to Nashville next fall where she will compete at Belmont University which is the same school where former Lakes standout Hannah Wittman is currently a senior.
"I just wanted to go out there and give it everything I had, and I'm happy with how I finished," said Schardt. "I wanted to finish above where I finished last year and I accomplished that."
Grayslake Central was led by junior Megan Girmscheid in 39th, senior Lura Quandt in 56th, junior Elizabeth Aho in 80th, and senior Umaiyal Sridas in 101st. Senior Sara O'Malley rounded out the Rams' scoring in 110th.
"It's the best finish we've ever had for the girls, and ninth place was awesome," said Grayslake Central coach Jimmy Centella, whose team also went downstate in 2012. "Girmscheid p.r.'d by a few seconds and the rest of the girls had 20- to 50-second p.r.'s so that was great."
Class 3A state meet: At Detweiller Park in Peoria, Lake Zurich senior Caitlin Shepard earned the ninth-place medal (16:53), while Stevenson sophomore Isabelle Sparreo (16:53) was right behind in 10th to lead the Patriots.
Grant (306) finished 11th with senior Madison Romig (14th, 16:55) leading the way for the Bulldogs. Stevenson (337) was 13th. Senior Jessica Philipp (17:29) of the Patriots was 34th.
Libertyville sophomore Melissa Manetsch (17:29) took 32nd.