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IHSA Sectional
Championships Recap
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Photos
Results
The Sectional Meet is the second of
the three State Series meets each year which culminate
with the State Championships. This year, with the advent
of the 3 Class system in Cross Country, there are four
Sectionals in each class. We are in Class AAA, the
largest and most competitive class. Five teams qualify
for State out of each Sectional, as well the top seven
individuals not a part of those five top teams. Thus,
there will be 20 teams and an additional 28 individuals
at the State Meet for a total of 168 runners. As usual,
our Sectional was by far the toughest in the State. This
year it was even tougher than usual, featuring six of
the top seven and nine of the top eleven ranked girls
teams in the state. While we prefer a tough Sectional,
it is a shame that such high ranked and deserving teams
such as Wheaton North, York, Downers South and Wheaton
Warrenville South will not move on to State. Our hope as
coaches is that the IHSA will listen to proposals that
will be submitted after the season ends that would help
remedy this situation while still upholding the
guidelines of the IHSA. It is time for the leaders of
our sport to do the right thing and to act in the best
interests of the athletes and the sport.
Conditions on race day were blustery but better than
expected. Rain the night before left the course a bit
wet but only in spots. Temps were in the mid 50’s and
there were chilly northwest winds. The grass was long.
The course was not running fast but it was pretty good
cross country weather. The Lady Devils finished 3rd in
the highly competitive field with 132 points, behind
Geneva (83) and LT (118) and ahead of Naperville North
(141) and Lake Park (153). Elaine Kuckertz led the way
again for the Devils by finishing 4th overall in 18:15
on the 3.05 mile course. Following close behind was
Lauren Zumbach, also achieving All-Sectional recognition
with her 9th place finish in 18:34. Katie Kummerer had a
very strong race, finishing 3rd for the team and 39th
overall in 19:08. Emily Cleary was right behind Katie,
finishing 43rd in 19:10. Grace Hucek, Heather Stevens
and Niamh McCarthy, running her first traditional format
Varsity race, finished things off for the Devils, ending
up 61st, 63rd and 91st overall in times of 19:27, 19:28
and 19:49 respectively. We held Roey Hines out of the
meet because of her heel (plantar fascia) injury that
surfaced during the Regional meet. She has been cross
training and getting treatment and doing everything
possible to be ready for the State Meet next week. We
are all excited about next week and moving on to the
State Meet.
The State Meet is this Saturday in Peoria. We consider
the course at Detweiler Park as our “home away from
home” and look forward to racing well there as always.
As we move into the final weeks of the season we
continue to “Dream Big Dreams”, “Believe In Our Dreams”
and know that we will do our very best as long as we
continue to be “All For One”. Directions to the meet are
listed elsewhere on this site. The AAA Girls Race goes
off at 1:00pm and the AAA Boys at 2:00. Awards are in
the usual spot at 3:00pm. We will have a fan bus for
students that will leave at 8:30 on Saturday morning and
students can sign up in the Athletic Office up until
Friday morning. Come out and support the Lady Devils in
Peoria!
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