The Peoria Notre Dame Invitational is typically the most competitive meet in the state each year outside of the state meet for both boys and girls and the 2005 edition was no exception. Five of the six top ranked teams in the state were there, as well as many other strong programs, in the 44 team field. The weather was ideal, the course was in great shape and the times were fast. Running in this meet, on the state meet course, is great preparation for the state meet in November. Our girls love running on this course and look forward to going to Peoria each year. As far as race courses go, we view Detweiler Park as our “home away from home”.
A goal that we had this weekend was to mix it up with most of the best teams in the state and to see where we stand. We did that and are excited about what lies ahead in the seven weeks leading up to the state meet on November 5th. On the varsity level, we finished 4th of 44 teams with 158 points. Palatine (84), Sandburg (101), and Naperville North (118), currently the top 3 ranked teams in the state, took the top three spots and St. Charles East (240) was 5th. Lauren Zumbach and Roey Hines continued their outstanding rookie seasons by placing 12th and 19th in 17:58 and 18:09 respectively on the 2.99 mile course. Ashley Soltwisch was 26th in 18:22, a huge lifetime PR, and Gina Kapusta was 41st in 18:45 in only her second race of the season. Jenny Douglas stepped up to the varsity and was our fifth scorer, placing 70th in 19:10, and Jenny Laser, still recovering from illness, was right behind in 19:12. Jenny Douglas took home the trophy as the Athlete of the Meet. Emily Kane continued to contribute to the varsity in her first year of cross country with her finish of 19:46. We are happy with our performance, especially knowing that we are not yet at full strength, but at the same time know that there is “more fuel in the tank”. We are on track to be “the best we can be” when it counts most in October and November.
The Frosh/Soph girls placed 3rd of 27 teams and gained valuable experience by competing on the state meet course. We scored 139 points in 3rd, behind Naperville North (69) and Sandburg (76) and ahead of 4th place Lake Forest (147). Our top finishers were Heather Stevens, Niamh McCarthy, Holly Larsen, Elaine Kuckertz, Allie Emery, Catherine Bruns and Victoria Glatz, placing 9,16,20,27,70,74 and 78th respectively in the field of 281 runners. Elaine took home the trophy as the Athlete of the Meet. We are very proud of our F/S girls and are excited about the progress they are making. They are a large and talented group and are the future leaders of HC Girls Cross Country. The future looks bright indeed!
The JV race is an open race with no team scores kept. We scored the meet anyway and, while we were not able to defend our first place finish of a year ago, placed 5th out of the 40 schools at the meet. Our JV group is eager to continue “JV Domination” and is confident that will happen in the weeks ahead, especially when we have everyone back in the lineup. Our top finishers were Kristina Truedson, Molly Doyle, Jennie Kuckertz, Grace Pedersen, Kristie Louderman and Madeleine Hines, placing 21,23,24,38,47 and 56th respectively out of 363 finishers.
We have one meet this coming week, on Thursday at Downers North with DGN and Proviso West. The F/S race is scheduled to go off at 4:30, followed by Varsity and then JV.
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