Kuckertz sixth, Red Devils fourth at state

November 8, 2007
By Bill Stone | SPORTS WRITER

Hinsdale Central junior Roey Hines sat out sectionals Oct. 27 so that the onset of plantar fasciitis in her left heel wouldn't stop her from competing at Saturday's Class 3A girls cross country state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

"I didn't want to think about the possibility of not racing because that would have taken away from the focus of the week. I wanted to be out there and contribute," Hines said.

Like the 2005 state meet, Hines gave her teammates inspirational notes as well as compact discs of the team's favorite songs. The team all wore purple ribbons to sport color they feel represents speed.

The Red Devils did everything possible, but they still wished for more after taking fourth at Peoria's Detweiller Park with 181 points on the heels of winning last year's state title for the first time in program history.

Junior Elaine Kuckertz finished sixth (17 minutes, 23 seconds for 3.0 miles) to become the second two-time all-stater in program history with top-25 finishes. Junior Lauren Zumbach was 29th (17:47), five seconds shy of 25th, followed by junior Heather Stevens (61st, 18:23), sophomore Katie Kummerer (69th, 18:31), senior Emily Cleary (93rd, 18:46), Hines (125th, 19:02) and sophomore Grace Hucek (139th, 19:19).

Kuckertz, Zumbach, Stevens, Cleary and Hines were part of last year's state lineup that won Class AA with 123 points. This year was the debut of a three-class format.

"We didn't accomplish everything we set out to do, but we set our goals really high," Hinsdale Central coach Mark McCabe said. "Fourth in the state is a great accomplishment. The girls should be happy, but none of us are satisfied, and that's what makes a great athlete, somebody striving for more."

The Red Devils had a painful race in many regards. They were only five points behind third-place Naperville North and the program's second team trophy. Geneva (119) became the first state champion with five freshmen accounting for the team score, and conference rival Lyons Township (131) was a program-best second.

An all-state 24th in 2005, Hines started like her usual self, but she said by the one-mile mark her heel began hurting progressively worse.

"Roey had a heroic effort. If she was able to get through the race without pain, she would have run a great race," McCabe said. "The big loss with Roey is she is this year's emotional leader and we were missing her the last three weeks (at practice). She was there but doing different workouts. Those are intangibles that make a big difference."

After taking ninth at state in 2006, Kuckertz improved the Red Devils' second-highest state finish to Diana Hill's fifth in 1987. Hines, Zumbach (20th in 2005) and Cleary (17th in 2004) also are among the program's eight all-staters.

With another furious finish similar to one that edged Oak Park sophomore Katherine Rack to win the conference meet Oct. 13, Kuckertz passed nine runners in the final 800 meters. Two seniors beat Kuckertz Saturday with Rack fifth in 17:19.

"That's what my strategy has been all season so I guess I just did it again," Kuckertz said. "I am excited. (Fourth as a team is) disappointing, I guess, but you always learn from every single race, and I feel like I'm going to learn a lot from today."

Zumbach was 29th at state for the second year in a row. In 2005, Zumbach, Hines and Stevens helped the Red Devils also finish fourth at state (224 points), then a program best.

"There were a lot of things that hadn't gone well up to that point so we were really happy with that," Zumbach said. "This year, I guess we feel we could have done a little bit more, but at the same time we're looking forward to next year."

Hines will do absolutely no training the next two weeks with hopes of being ready for the track season.

"I'm definitely happy (I ran) because if I hadn't, I would have always wondered what I could have done," Hines said. "(State is) just a bump in the road and it will make us a stronger team. Our goals will be the same next year, but I think we'll want it even more and this will make us even more determined."

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