Story: DGN at Silver Meet (varsity)

Downers Grove North sophomores Kaitlyn Bonfield and Grace Maletich have improved this cross country season, but so has the West Suburban Conference Silver Division.

Both runners earned varsity all-conference honors for the second year in a row at the Silver Meet Saturday at Proviso West as she Bonfield finished 11th after being sixth at the 2012 race and Maletich was 14th for the second year in a row. Top-16 finishers earn all-conference honors.

”I think everyone’s goal is to get all-conference. It’s just a really competitive conference so it was tough, but it was good (for me),” Bonfield said. “(This Silver Meet) was pretty similar, except I didn’t get sixth this time. This course is longer.”

Freshman Emma Moravec was 18th (19:19.9), 7.8 seconds from 16th place, followed by seniors Katie Portman (24th, 19:41.2) and seniors Stephanie Urbancik (19:53.7) and Meghan Bonfield (19:54.9) and sophomore Angela Budach (19:56.4) in 31st, 32nd and 33rd. Meghan Bonfield was the only other returning member from last year’s varsity Silver lineup.

Downers Grove North finished fourth (98 points) and fourth in the final overall Silver standings after tying for third in the dual standings with Lyons Township and Oak Park-River Forest at 3-3. Glenbard West (23), third at state last year, easily won, followed by Hinsdale Central (66) and LT (86) with OPRF (107) and York (121) and Proviso West (no entries) fifth through seventh.

Glenbard West, Hinsdale Central and OPRF entered the meet ranked among the top 10 in the state while LT and the Trojans were among the top 20. The Trojans won their Silver dual opener over OPRF 15-48 Sept. 19 as the Huskies rested most of their varsity lineup.

”I know we were tied with LT and OPRF for third so that’s pretty good because we beat OPRF,” Kaitlyn Bonfield said. “I’m really excited to see how our team will do (in the postseason).”

Kaitlyn Bonfield and Maletich were among the six of eight runners who earned varsity all-conference last year and again competed at the varsity level Saturday.

The field included three who earned all-state honors for top-25 finishes at the state meet. Glenbard West senior Madeline Perez is the defending 3A state champion, but she hadn’t raced this season until Saturday and finished second to Hinsdale Central freshman Alexa Haff (17:27.8 to 17:43.0).

Six of the runners who finished ahead of Kaitlyn Bonfield were freshmen, are newcomers to cross country or the varsity or are newcomers to the conference.

Third-place Glenbard West sophomore Lindsay Graham (18:00.2) was 20th at state last year competing for Glenbard East. Glenbard West sophomore Kathryn Kenwood (10th, 18:48.7), who gave the Hilltoppers six finishers among the top 10, is a first-year runner.

Maletich was the Trojans’ frontrunner throughout the first half of Saturday’s race.

”Grace definitely helps me a lot,” Kaitlyn Bonfield said. “She pushes me a lot so it was nice to be able to see her, try to catch up to her and be with her.”

This was Maletich’s first race since Oct. 3 after sitting out the past two races to nurse a minor Achilles injury. Last year, the Silver Meet was Maletich’s third race back after sitting out most of the season recovering from a pulled side muscle.

”I wish (my race) were better. I’m just disappointed with it,” Maletich said. “I need to fix it going into regionals and sectionals because I have no chance of going to state (as an individual qualifier) if I don’t.”

Similar to her race at the Palatine Invite Sept. 28, Maletich got out well but couldn’t sustain her position. On Saturday, Maletich was sixth in 5:43. While Haff and Perez (5:32) were in control up front, Maletich was five seconds from Graham in third.

By the two-mile mark, Maletich was 10th, two places behind Kaitlyn Bonfield. Maletich ended up 5.3 seconds behind 13th-place York junior Dayle Mueller.

”I don’t even know what went wrong. I just kind of gave up at the end,” Maletich said. “The first mile was good. I was where I wanted to be, but after that, everything started falling apart. Kaitlyn passed me, and I just lost confidence.”

The Trojans now prepare for trying to return to state as a team for the four time in the past five seasons after missing in 2012. The first step is the 3A Lyons Township Regional at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, in Western Springs. 

Downers North needs just a top-six finish among the 10 regional teams to advance to the Hinsdale Central Sectional Saturday, Nov. 2. The only other state-ranked teams in the regional field are defending regional champion Hinsdale Central, LT and WSC Gold champion and defending sectional champion Downers Grove South.

-- by Bill Stone