This was our second year at the Lake Park Invitational. Once again, both the competition and the weather were hot! This is always a top meet both teamwise and individually and this year was no exception. Our girls know that, regardless of conditions, we want to be fully prepared. The conditions affect everyone, and those that are best prepared will rise to the occasion and be at their best when it counts.
One of our goals in this meet was to work on some race strategies that will serve us well later in the season. We accomplished that which will give us added confidence as the season progresses. On the varsity level, we placed 2nd of 18 teams (44-91) to Naperville North, currently the top ranked team in the state. York was 3rd with 174 pts. and St. Viator and Lake Park rounded out the top five. Freshmen Lauren Zumbach and Roey Hines led the way with outstanding times of 18:12 and 18:28, finishing 6th and 8th in the 2.98 mile race. Ashley Soltwisch placed 18th, a huge jump from her 31st place finish of a year ago. Gina Kapusta made her season debut in 27th place with a good first race, Jenny Laser was our fifth scorer (running a gutsy race while still battling a cold) and Emily Kane followed in 44th place in the field of 131 runners. Ashley took the plaque home as the Athlete of the Meet.
The Frosh/Soph girls placed 3rd of 17 teams behind Naperville North and Lake Park and ahead of 4th place York. Our top finishers were Heather Stevens, Holly Larsen, Niamh McCarthy, Elaine Kuckertz, Allie Emery, Danielle D’Agostino and Victoria Glatz, placing 7,8,10,19,33,34 and 37 respectively in the field of 283 runners. Maddie Metcalf took home the plaque as Athlete of the Meet as our 8th finisher, and Lindsay MacKenzie, Katie Cortopassi and Margaret Cavenagh also had great second races.
The JV team tied for 2nd of 16 teams with York but placed 3rd based on the tiebreaking 6th finisher. Naperville North placed first at the JV level. Our top finisher was Jenny Douglas in 3rd place, followed by Molly Doyle, Madeleine Hines, Roshni Patel and Jennie Kuckertz. Athlete of the Meet was Roshni. There were 175 runners in the JV race. We will have Kristie Louderman, Kristina Truedson and Grace Pedersen back in the JV races this week.
This Thursday we have our first conference meet, a triangular meet at OPRF with Oak Park and LT. The first race is scheduled to go off at 4:30. Frosh/Soph will run first, followed by Varsity and JV. Click here for directions.
On Saturday morning we travel to the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational on the state meet course in Peoria. Our bus will leave at 5am and the F/S, Varsity and JV races will go off at 9:00, 9:40 and 10:20, respectively. This is the best girls meet in the state each year outside of the state series. It will feature over forty teams, including 5 of the teams currently ranked in the top 6 in the state, including Naperville North, Palatine, Sandburg, Hinsdale Central and Lincolnway East.
