Photo: Katelynne Hart on her way to winning her second straight 3A Girls title (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Peoria – The Naperville North Girls team always has the team strategy of going out in a comfortable manner moving through the pack throughout the race finishing strong in the end.

When the race started, and the 210 runners got to the first 400 meters, five of the seven Huskies runners were in the back of the pack. Dead last.

“It is one of those things as a coach that makes you a little nervous,” Naperville North Coach Dan Iverson said. “The one thing is that they had confidence in our race plan and it worked out in the end.”

Naperville North moved during the last half of the race. Boy did they move. By the time they finished, they had 3 runners in the first 14, 5 in the top 54 to defend their 3A Girls state championship scoring 87 points ahead of Yorkville who scored 111 points.

“We were a little farther back early than we thought we would be,” their top runner Sarah Schmitt said. “But, we were confident in our race plan. That is the way were supposed to run and that worked out.”

Schmitt led her team running 16:33 to finish fourth overall. Her teammate Alex Morris followed running 16:41 to place seventh as well as Hannah Ricci earning all-state honors by finishing 14th. Megan Driscoll (39th) and Claire Hill (54th) were the team’s other scorers. Naperville North had their top five in before any other team. That is how you win state championships.

Yorkville ran a solid team race in finishing second overall in consecutive seasons. The Lady Foxes placed five runners in the top 60 with 3 all-state runners. Alyssa Edwards finished 12th with teammate Helena Kleronomos two seconds back in 17th. Emily Eberhardt also earned all-state honors finishing 22nd as the team’s third runner. Olivia Borowiak finished 48th with freshman Sara Klemm (60th) and Hailey Simmons (61st) just four seconds behind their teammate.

The surprise of the day in this race was the third-place finish from Lyons Township. The team had run without all-state runner Sarah Barcelona who missed the season due to a series of injuries. This team earned a trophy scoring 184 points with no all-state runners and a 33 second split on their top five. Juniors Martha Kogucki (29th) and Emily Henkel (32nd) led the team that was not even in the conversation for a trophy half way through the race. They moved dramatically in the final mile to capture the third position.

Wheaton-Warrenville South ran a good race but missed out on a trophy by nine points (193 points) to finish fourth. Freshman Samantha Poglitsch led the team finishing in a 11th place all-state position. The Tigers had only a 19 second split on their second through fifth runners. Their overall five-runner split was 65 seconds.

Downers Grove South finished fifth (194 points) just one point back of Wheaton-Warrenville South. Brenna Cohoon led the Lady Mustangs placing 19th overall. Their pack behind her was amazing as only four seconds separated their second through fifth runners 43 seconds behind Cohoon.

Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West and Enyaeva Michelin of Evanston Township seemed to have run this race before. The two ran side-by-side the week before at the Lake Park Sectional before Hart pulled away in the final half of the race for the win.

It was the same story on the soggy grounds of Detweiller Park as the two led the pack passing by the mile in 5:20 with Argo’s Abby Lopez leading the pack three seconds back. The two runners stayed with each other passing two-miles in 10:51. The pack was within reach only six to seven seconds back now led by the charging Lindsey Payne of Glenbard West making her move towards the front.

Hart looked to the side just before the turn around the finish line and could sense that Michelin was starting to struggle. She made her move starting to separate herself from the Evanston senior.

That was all that needed to be done. The times were slower than expected but it was the championship that Hart wanted as she repeated her title from a year ago running 16:22. Michelin was next finishing a fantastic season by running 16:30 holding off Minooka’s Emily Shelton who moved the last mile to finish third for the second year in a row. Consider the race that Michelin ran. The week before at Lake Park, she finished 26 seconds behind Hart. This week, it was only eight.

“I knew she (Michelin) pushed me through the race last week, so I just had to stay sharp and stay relaxed,” Hart said after her win. “The last mile I just had to push. It is definitely cool to win again. I think both years were something special.”

Other IHSA State Recaps – 1A Girls | 2A Girls