|
Palatine Invitational
Recap
September 27, 2008
Photos
Results
After heading to the Culver Academies
Invitational in Culver, IN for the past two years, we
stayed in-state and travelled for the first time to the
Palatine Invitational, the most competitive meet in
Illinois this past weekend. It was a great meet and was
well organized, exciting and fun. It featured a great
course, with races of 2.92 miles for the Varsity and
2.45 for the F/S and Junior Varsity. The meet in many
ways reminded us of a “north suburban Hornet/Red Devil
Invitational”. The weather was very hot, approaching 85
degrees by the Open Race, with no wind and dry
conditions. It felt like a July day. The course was in
great shape.
The Lady Devils placed 2nd to Palatine at the Varsity
level, 63-95, and were followed by Buffalo Grove, LT and
Barrington. Elaine Kuckertz led the Devils in 8th place
with a time of 17:33. Elaine was comfortably in 2nd
place with about 600 meters to go when she missed a turn
on the course and lost about 20 seconds retracing her
steps. Heather Stevens and Katie Kummerer placed 16th
and 17th and were followed by Niamh McCarthy and Lauren
Zumbach in 25th and 29th places. Graylin Harrison made
her Varsity debut, placing 37th, and Grace Hucek placed
48th in 18:39. We were racing a little tired and flat
after Thursday’s excellent race with York, but it was
great preparation for the big meets to come. Palatine
ran a great race at Deer Grove East and we have a great
deal of respect for them and their program.
The Frosh/Soph team placed 5th in the 28 team field with
159 points. Grace Klein was standing up in her sister’s
wedding in North Carolina so wasn’t able to attend the
meet, and her teammates stepped up nicely in her
absence. Rita Kuckertz showed that she is rounding into
top form as she placed 2nd overall in 15:11 on the 2.45
mile course. Nicole Lang and Allison Sulouff followed in
24th and 38th places. Ariel Leung and Maddie Pound had
their best races of the year in closing out the team
scoring in 48th and 50th places. Tess Oetter and
Caroline Hurd rounded out the Top 7 for the Devils.
In the 2.45 mile Open Race, the Lady Devils placed a
close 4th in the large field with 102 points behind
Wheaton Warrenville-South, Palatine and Prospect. Hailey
Krzyston set a JV Course Record in winning the race in
15:19, and Colleen Leahy was close behind in 15:26.
Kelsey Chetosky and Victoria Glatz packed it up nicely
together to finish 16th and 17th. Lauren Emery,
suffering from dehydration in the conditions, struggled
in the heat but still came in as our 5th finisher in
78th place. Rounding out the Top 7 were Victoria Andros
and Cristina Mann, the first Top 7 finishes for both
girls.
This week we host Downers Grove North at KLM in
Conference dual meet action on Thursday at 4:30pm. We
will run a F/S race first followed by a combined
Varsity/JV race. On Saturday we look forward to the
Wheaton North Classic, a flight meet which this year
feature 6 of the Top 10 and 15 of the Top 25 teams in
the state. Directions for both meets are elsewhere on
this site. Come out and support the Lady Devils!!
|
