Week Nine

Regional Meet @ Adler Park:  After a lot of stalking, I concluded that our best bet to get out of the Regional was to beat Waukegan, Stevenson and Mundelein.  Even with Stevenson's top girl back in the meet, I knew we could beat them, and Waukegan would not be a problem either.  Mundelein, however, was tricky:  they beat us head-to-head by one point, but we beat them at Conference (without their #3 runner).  So going into the meet, I knew we had work to do, but I was confident after a solid week of training.  At the gun, our group got out well.  At the 800, I was worried about Mary's placement, however; I later learned that she was pushed into a tree on the first turn.  Despite that bad luck, Mary worked back to her teammates by mile two in a great display of poise and courage!  Meanwhile, Kimmy was in a great position (around 7th), as was most of our pack.  At the mile, however, we had some significant work to do; not only was Mundelein beating us, but I was also worried about Stevenson at this point.  Ally and Ana responded to my plea and moved up in the race, while Joseline did work to catch a few as well.  In the final stretch, I was confident that we had taken out Stevenson, but I was still worried about Mundelein.  Kimmy had moved up to 4th, which helped, but our #2 and #3 runners were being beaten by theirs.  After the race was over, I was uncertain of the outcome...I knew the scores would be close.  Unfortunately, Mundelein bested us by 10 points, but we were able to beat a injury-ridden Highland Park team in order to secure the 6th qualifying spot for the Schaumburg Sectional.  Highlights from the race:  Kimmy was All-Regional, earning a medal for her 4th place finish; Ana finally looked aggressive again in a race after battling her stomach ulcer for several weeks; Mary rebounded nicely after a tree incident that could have derailed her race; everyone had solid kicks (the hill workout must have helped!); and we qualified for one more week of team racing!  Congratulations, ladies!  :)
Click here to see a GREAT slide show, courtesy of Mr. Thompson!