Maryjeanne Gilbert goes wire to wire to win back to back state championships

By Michael Newman

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Peoria, Ill --- There were certainties that would happen at Saturday’s IHSA State Meet. The first is that there would be six races contested on the Detweiller Park course. The second was that Yorkville and Maryjeanne Gilbert would repeat as 2A champions. Both happened but not the way that Yorkville or Gilbert would have liked.

Maryjeanne Gilbert dominated the race from the first turn. She had big goals on this day wanting to go under 16 minutes. Early in the race, she looked like she would achieve that. She passed the mile point in 5:15 looking smooth with her stride. Gilbert had opened up a 10 to 12 second lead on the rest of the pack.

She came out of the triangle portion course with the lead but did not have the same smooth stride when she entered. It did not help that the wind from the northwest had picked up making it the strongest of the day so far. If windy on this course, it effects runners the most in that area.  

Gilbert had the race won when approached the finish line to start the final loop of the course. She passed by the 2 mile in 10:47. The lead that she had was more than 30 seconds ahead of a group with Delaney Appino (Boylan Catholic, Rockford), Jenna Lutzow (Belvidere North HS), and Alexis Grandys (Yorkville HS).

She was not going to get the record but she was going to get her second state championship on this course. She was an easy winner crossing the line in 16:24. The one runner that made the big in the final 800 meters was Lutzow. The Belvidere North junior pulled away from Appino at that point. The two had race each other for the past 3 weeks with Appino having the upper hand in each of those races. That would not happen this time. Lutzow gapped the group that she was with by close to ten seconds finishing in 16:53.

“I think I just kind of lost concentration in the final two miles. I was really trying my hardest. I guess it (the record) wasn’t meant to be today,” Gilbert said. “Going under 16 minutes was the goal but I didn’t get it. It was exciting at the end.”

“When you have driven individuals, a little bit less than your goal is unsatisfactory,” Notre Dame Coach Dan Gray said. “I know she is proud of herself of getting a second championship. She came out of the triangle and not popping aggressively like I have seen her run before. I noticed in the third mile she was starting to over stride a little bit. That is her tendency late in the race when she starts to reach a little. When you shoot for the big things like she was today, it is those little tiny things that matter.”

Yorkville’s performance was dominating as expected in winning their fifth straight 2A championship. It was not as dominating as they expected. Yorkville placed 4 runners in the top 15 and 5 in the first 32 to score 58 points. Alexis Grandys was the team’s top runner finishing third overall. She did that off of a strong kick in the final 100 meters to pass Delaney Appino to achieve that placing. Then came in Yorkville’s 2 through 4 pack. Maddie Dearborn led that group 30 seconds behind Grandys placing 10^th. Alyssa Edwards finished 3 seconds back in 13^th. Then came Summer Pierson another 4 seconds later in 15^th. Nicole Greyer was the team’s 5^th runner placing 32^nd.  Their split was over a minute at 68 seconds. It has been normally half that time most of the year.

“I thought our team ran really well. Most of them had good races,” Yorkville Coach Chris Muth said. “I think we had some top times this week. I still think there is room for improvement and I think we will do that for next week.”

Belvidere North ran a great race with their best effort of the year. The Blue Thunder placed three runners in the top 25 to place second with 122 points. Lutzow was the leader finishing second. Sabrina Elder was the team’s second runner placing 23^rd. Remy Bice was a surprise for North. The freshman placed 25^th in the final all-state position running a personal best 17:59. Vernon Hills was a solid third with 143 points led by all-state finishes by Vivian Overbeck (5^th) and Lauren Katz (8^th).

There were some surprises during this race. Dunlap, who was ranked second most of the season, finished sixth overall. They were without their #2 runner Miranda Krusiwyk. Rochester, who was a top five team at the end of the season, finished 14^th. Part of that finish was due to their #1 runner Katherine Petty collapsing just after the 2 mile mark close to the finish.

“I was at 1.25 and she was about 10th and looked ok. Apparently around 1.5 she clipped a course marker and went down. She got spiked before she could get up,” said Rochester Coach Bill Owens. “By the time I saw her again she was almost 40th. When she did get up, she kind of panicked trying to catch up and ended up hyperventilating. Eventually Katherine ran out of wind and collapsed.  Others on our team saw this and were emotionally effected as well.”