The Girls Cross Country team had major success at the Western Suburban Silver Conference Division Meet. The varsity race took place at the Lyons Township course on Mon., Oct. 16; while the junior varsity and freshman/sophomore races took place at Glenbard East on Wed., Oct. 18. Despite the cancellation of the original date, the girls didn’t let the switch up get in their way.

The team ended strong on all three levels facing some of the toughest competition in the state. Varsity placed fourth beating Downers Grove North and Oak Park River Forest. The JV team placed second overall, and the freshman/sophomore team placed second, missing first place by only three points to Lyons Township.

Varsity didn’t perform as well as they hoped, but the girls were still in high spirits and reflected on the positive things that took place in the race.

“We did pretty good but it wasn’t our strongest performance,” says Sarah May, one of the varsity runners. “As a team, we didn’t place as well as we wanted to, but Emma Kern and Katherine Tomaska got All-Conference which is very impressive since our conference is so competitive. Also Kelly Leonard and Grace Moriarty ran amazing and were our seventh and eighth for York”.

May, a junior and varsity runner, was also an All-Conference runner placing ninth, with Kern following at eleventh place, and Tomaska following at sixteenth place. The positivity May radiated permeated throughout the JV and freshman/sophomore races as well.

“The conference meet is the last time to give it your all, so everyone did a really good job giving it all they got. It was a great way to end the season,” said Lily Kilgast, senior.

Kilgast got second place in the JV race. Many girls in the freshman/sophomore race ran extremely well as well, including sophomore Abby Moriarty who placed first and Kelsey Devereux who placed third.

“It was definitely tough going into it having conference cancelled Saturday and rescheduled for today, but I think everyone really showed their ongoing commitment for the team for having a really great last race,” said Devereux. “Everyone finished really strong, and I would say ended on a high note.”

While for many this successful season is coming to an end, the top twelve runners will continue on to compete in regionals, sectionals, and state. The girls are now looking forward at the intense meets to come and using all they have accomplished this season to keep their momentum going.

“I do feel prepared for regionals, sectionals, and state. Our team has trained so hard over the season and we have a good pack of girls in the top 7,” said senior captain and varsity runner, Erin Davis. “My goal is for our pack to stay and work together through each regional, sectional, and state race”

This goal is carried throughout the top twelve, a group of varsity runners that will continue on through regionals, sectionals, and possibly state,  and this highly competitive conference meet was great preparation for their future meets.

“You want to be running at the high level and that will give us experience with all those teams going into that state meet,” said Head Coach DeAngelis. “If we can have a fifteen second or less split we will be achieving a lot of the goals and we will have success along the way.”   

A lot is in store for the varsity runners in the next three weeks, and they have done the preparation necessary to continue on with their success.