The first meet of the year is always an exciting one. After a summer of running and three weeks of official practice all of us, coaches and athletes alike, are eager to get started and see where we stand. We continued our tradition of strong performances in our own Hornet/Red Devil Invitational on Saturday, finishing in the top 2 at all three levels. The Varsity scored 84 points to finish 2nd behind Palatine in the field of 20 teams. The top seven finishers for the varsity were Lauren Zumbach, Roey Hines, Megan Gleason, Ashley Soltwisch, Jenny Laser, Sarah Vachlon and Emily Kane, placing 3,12,19,23,27,37,38 respectively out of 213 runners. Lauren’s time was the 7th fastest overall girls’ time on the course at KLM since the girls race distance changed to 3 miles. It was an outstanding first high school race for Lauren and Roey and a good first team race overall. Lauren took the plaque home for the weekend as Athlete of the Meet. The varsity was running without both Emily Cleary and Gina Kapusta.
The Frosh/Soph team placed 1st of 15 teams with five freshmen in the top seven. Top finishers were Heather Stevens, Holly Larsen, Niamh McCarthy, Elaine Kuckertz, Catherine Bruns, Allie Emery and Danielle D’Agostino, placing 2,3,5,11,25,27, and 31 respectively out of 135 runners. Heather Stevens was the Athlete of the Meet, and Elaine, Holly, Catherine and Niamh all had particularly impressive races. It was a great debut for the Frosh/Soph team.
The JV team placed 2nd behind Palatine in the field of 18 teams with 38 points. The JV girls race 2 miles in our first 2 meets and then will go to 3 miles the rest of the season. Top finishers were Jenny Douglas, Jennie Kuckertz, Molly Doyle, Roshni Patel, Grace Pedersen, Madeleine Hines and Stephanie Perez, finishing 2,6,7,11,12,15 and 16 respectively out of 270 runners. Jenny Douglas was the Athlete of the Meet and Jennie, Roshni and Stephanie had great first races. The JV team is excited to continue our tradition of “JV Domination.”
We use each meet as a learning experience and as a stepping stone to the meets that are most important at the end of the season. Our goal is for each of our girls to be the best that they can be. If we come to practice every day, give 100% effort, have a positive attitude, work diligently toward our goals, and contribute to the common good, our results will take care of themselves.
Each weekend we compete, we go to the most competitive meet in the state for girls cross country on that particular weekend. We pride ourselves on the strength of our schedule because we know that to be the best, we must compete against the best. This week we go to the Lake Park Invitational at the Lake Park East campus. In addition to the Red Devils, other top teams include Naperville North, York, St. Viator, Downers North and Wheeling. The first race is the varsity girl’s race at 9:30. Directions are posted elsewhere on this site.
