Naperville North again on top in close 3A Girls team race

By Michael Newman

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Peoria --- A fast start was not needed by the Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart and Lindsey Payne in Saturday afternoon’s 3A race at Detweiller Park. They were comfortable to let Jocelyn Long (Barrington HS) and Audrey Ernst (St. Charles North HS) push the pace to a 2:32 opening 800. The Glenbard West runners were in a comfortable positon between 50^th and 60^th place. Long had the lead at the mile at 5:25 but Payne and Hart were just a couple steps behind her waiting to make their move.

Payne and Hart had lead coming out of the triangle with Minooka’s Emily Shelton close by their side. In the final 400 meters, the two Glenbard runners took off with Hart the slight lead. That grew in the final 200 meters and Hart began to lengthen her stride and the margin between her and Payne. Hart, only a freshman, captured what could be the first of many state titles as he ran a personal best 16:31 in the process. Payne crossed the line in second (16:34) running her best race of the season.

“We talked last night about how hard they (Hart and Payne) have worked this year. The reason why they were where they were at was because of each other,” Glenbard West Coach Paul Hass said. “They ran the strategy perfectly working together and being patient in the process.”

“I think it was so cool that we finished 1-2. We were ready for whatever pace there was today,” Payne said. “It not matter what place I got today or what time I ran. I just wanted to feel good and I did.”

The team battle was just as close as it was a month before when Naperville North, Yorkville, and Minooka were only separated by ten points at the finish. It looked that way through two miles of the race as only 8 points separated the three teams. It was Naperville North that had the final move that was the difference. The Lady Huskies had three all state runners along with their top five in the top 51 to win the state championship with 111 points.

“We moved up during the race. We executed our race plan perfectly,” Naperville North Coach Dan Iverson said. “That is the type of race that we try to run normally. I never tried to abandon the plan and do something different in this meet. You want to practice what you do all year long. This is the race that we had been preaching for. I think it worked pretty well.”

Sarah Schmidt was towards the front most of the race as she led Naperville North with a sixth place finish. All-state performances also came from Hannah Ricci (18^th) and Alex Morris (19^th) as they were separated by only one second. Clare Hamilton (39^th) and Gabby Champion (51^st) were the Huskies other scorers. The team had a split of 57 seconds on their top five.

Yorkville’s streak of five straight state championships ended but they still finished second overall in their first season in 3A with 130 points. Nicole Greyer led the Lady Foxes finishing 13^th. Alexis Grandys also earned all-state honors finishing 25^th. Yorkville only had a 47 second split in their top five. Minooka finished third despite the fact that they had four all-state runners. It was the 111 second split that they had on the top five that hurt them. Emily Shelton led Minooka with a 3^rd place finish followed by MacKenzie Callahan in 4^th six seconds later. Ashley Tutt (17^th) and Vivian Van Eck (23^rd) also earned all-state honors.