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!
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