Naperville North girls close out season with sectional championship
In the storied history of Naperville North girls cross country, seniors Maggie Gamboa and Audrey Mendrys hoped to add an artbook-sized page this season.
If Naperville North had won a fifth consecutive Class 3A state title, they could have been the first two Huskies who were part of four state championship lineups. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, led to the state meet being canceled.
"At first, honestly, it's disappointing but at the same time I'm just grateful to have a season," Mendrys said.
"Last year I'm like, 'Wow, we're not losing any seniors,' and then all of a sudden, the pandemic. Maggie and I have been working together in practice from the start so it's fun to watch each other grow and get better."
They still finished as winners Saturday.
The Huskies captured the Class 3A Whitney Young Sectional at Lincoln Park with 41 points in the last IHSA-sanctioned event. The teams' seven runners were spread out over four flights.
Gamboa and Mendrys finished second and third in 17:13.35 and 17:34.21 for 3.0 miles to earn top-10 all-sectional honors.
"There's a lot of great runners that go (to state) and we get good times, but we take what we can get and this was a really good mock state meet," Gamboa said.
Under the new IHSA postseason format, Saturday's top-seven teams would have qualified for state as well as the top 10 individuals not among those teams.
Downers Grove North, Oswego East, Downers Grove South, Neuqua Valley and Oswego finished third through seventh.
Many 3A teams hope for berths to the Shazam Racing Championships, an unofficial state meet Nov. 7 in Chillicothe. It's non-school affiliated and invitation only for 20 teams and 30 individuals.
"We'll run it," Naperville North coach Dan Iverson said. "It's a weird year. I think every meet is kind of our state meet this year because you never know if it's going to be your last one."
Downers North's Melissa Jachim, Neuqua Valley's Maria Widmann and Carissa Hamilton, Hinsdale Central's Carie McCabe, Oswego's Audra Soderlind, Oswego East's Naylah Allen and Naperville Central's Liv Phillips were fourth through 10th.
Widmann and Hamilton finished just 3.57 seconds apart.
"The momentum we had together was so strong and every step we tried to get faster and faster. When I crossed the line, I wanted there to be nothing left inside of me," Widmann said.
In the boys race, Naperville Central senior Arthur Graham won in 14:45.85 over Hinsdale Central sophomore Dan Watcke in 14:54.16 and Neuqua senior Nicolas Dovalovsky, who ran 15:03.90 entering the race undefeated this season.
"It's really awesome (to win), especially this season with COVID being so crazy and just wild," Graham said. "This is really only the second real meet we've had with all of the spectators and a big atmosphere."
"Kudos to Arthur Graham. He was flying up top and he's super talented," Dovalovsky said. "He was on a level of his own today. Honestly, I'm super happy for him. We've gotten closer as friends this season."
Downers North won the sectional title 77-82 over Neuqua with senior Evan Cummins and junior Roy Llewellyn finishing seventh and ninth. Naperville North was third and Hinsdale Central and Waubonsie Valley fifth and sixth.
Naperville North junior Gabe Ryan and senior Tommy Paltzer were sixth and eighth after their 1-2 finish out of the third race for No. 3-4 runners.
"I've ran in sectionals all four years and I think this one was the most special by far. Individually, this is one of my better races of the year," Paltzer said.
In the earlier 2A Latin Sectional at Lincoln Park, the Benet girls, the defending state champions, won the showdown over top-ranked Latin 32-40. St. Francis was sixth.
Latin had the top three overall finishers, but Benet's Louisa Diamond, Kelly Andrews, Elisabeth Camic and Joy Jackson were fourth through seventh and Amelia Parisi 10th with her winning time in the No. 6-7 race.
"This was the matchup everybody was talking about with us being No. 2 and they being No. 1," Jackson said. "Since our varsity has four seniors, this is our last race of our high-school career. It's just kind of lights out. You're going against the No. 1 team. No point leaving anything in the tank."
St. Francis and Benet were second and third in the boys race with Glenbard South sixth.
Hinsdale South senior Julian Watson won in 15:21.25 with Benet senior Niklas Anderson second in 15:28.94.
"Of course coming in I want to win but it also feels good to get a (personal record) for sure," Watson said.
"I was glad I was able to have the competition I had, so much fun," Anderson said. "I've been struggling with some mental stuff. I just started to hurt after that first mile and I'm like, 'I'm not going to quit.' "
St. Francis senior Luke Orwig was sixth and Glenbard South senior Gabe Alcala ninth.