Girls cross country: Glenbard West takes the fifth for win
Paul Hass has been around the sport of girls cross country long enough to understand a salient feature.
"No matter where your top runners are, it comes down to that fifth person," the Glenbard West coach said. "Our goal was to have our fourth and fifth runner close to each other."
Saturday at the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational at Katherine Legge Memorial Park in Hinsdale, the season opened in earnest with an epic encounter between the top two ranked teams in the coaches' poll: defending Class 3A champion Minooka and the Hilltoppers.
The elite programs were virtually deadlocked after their top four runners crossed the finish line on the 2.99-mile course.
Glenbard West reigning state runner-up Lindsay Payne denied Minooka ace Ashley Tutt by more than eight seconds to win the individual title in 17 minutes, 11.8 seconds.
But there was even more suspense for the schools' final counting runner. Glenbard West state veteran Janie Nabloz finished 17th to defeat her Minooka counterpart by 19 positions to accentuate the Hilltoppers' 43-59 victory in the 18-team field.
"(Minooka) gave us everything we could handle," Hass said. "As far as I am concerned, they're still the state champions until someone beats them in November."
"It was nice to come from behind, being the underdogs a little bit," Payne said. "I had absolutely no (personal) goals. My only goal was for our pack to stay together as long as possible."
Katelynne Hart made an eloquent statement for Glenbard West in her debut on a major stage.
The freshman was third in 17:28.5.
"It really isn't intimidating," Hart said. "Everyone is super-welcoming. My goal was to run my best and run as hard as I could."
Katie Hohe was sixth for the Hilltoppers; Chloe Connolly honored Hass' wish list by placing one spot in front of Nabholz for the fourth team position.
State-ranked sister schools Neuqua Valley and Metea Valley were third and fourth, respectively.
Caitlin Horn secured the final top-10 finish to power the Wildcats' 9-point edging of the Mustangs.
"Our team has trained really hard this summer and early fall," Horn said. "It's nice to see we have a really deep team."
"I think we're looking for top five in the state," said Metea Valley track all-stater Nicki Cast.
Terri Scarlett paced Metea Valley with her No. 13 finish.
Alana Austin and Carolyn Carpenter led seventh-place Naperville Central.
Sara Atkins, a returning all-stater, and senior classmate Allison McGrath were eighth and ninth to propel Wheaton Warrenville South to ninth place.
"My goal was to be top five," Atkins said. "Obviously I didn't accomplish that, but it just shows me that next time we race I need to put myself more out there."