Trojans sweep team titles at EIU Showdown

The Downers Grove North girls cross country team used strong team races to sweep both races in its 2014 season opener Wednesday, Aug. 27.

The Trojans won the five-team EIU Showdown invite at Greene Valley Forest Preserve as the varsity scored just 30 points with its five scores among the top nine and the frosh-soph had 29 points with six runners among the top 10.

Varsity

Downers North sophomore Emma Moravec pulled out third (18:57 for 3.0 miles) in a varsity race that featured two returning 2013 Class 3A individual all-staters,

Juniors Angela Budach (19:28), Grace Maletich (19:39) and Ashley Johnson (19:41), a newcomer to the sport, were fifth through seventh, and senior Jenna Murphy was ninth (20:05). Junior Maci Schaub (20:37) and senior Rachel Krusenoski (20:42) were 12th and 13th and seniors Zayna Jan (21:09) and Alex Hohnsen (21:19) were 16th and 17th and junior Fiona Kelly (21:31) was 20th.

Jacobs senior Lauren Van Vlierbergen dominated in 17:26 with Plainfield North junior Rachael Lau second in 18:47.

At the 2013 state meet, Van Vlierbergen was fourth (17:07 for 3.0 miles) and Lau was 24th (17:32) as her school’s first state qualifier in the sport. At the state track meet in May, Van Vlierbergen won the 3A state championship in the 800 (2:10.14) and was seventh in the 1,600 (5:01.72).

Lau would have been near 18:00 Wednesday but nearly collapsed from fatigue 50 meters from the finish chute and struggled to finish under her own power.

Moravec was 13 seconds ahead of fourth-place Jacobs senior Molly Barnes after the two ran together most of the race. Both runners were state track qualifiers in the 3,200 relay with Moravec, Schaub and Jan part of an all-state, fourth-place finish (9:14.16) with graduated Stephanie Urbancik. Moravec ran 22:23 in last year’s season opener at Greene Valley.

Jacobs (42) took second with its finishers 1-4-8-11-21, followed by Plainfield North (64), Burlington Central (110) and Shepard (139).

Frosh-soph

Downers North freshman Katie Cantlin (20:52) had an impressive high-school debut as she finished second to Jacobs’ Chloe Walsh (20:43) and just ahead of Shepard sophomore Kelli Callahan (20:55). Cantlin’s time would have placed 14th in the varsity race.

Sophomore Zoe Covey (21:11), in her cross country debut, was a solid fifth with sophomores Gina Kowalewicz (21:34) and Brigid Miller (21:49) sixth and seventh. Freshman Carli Nehls (22:13) and sophomore Lauren Isenman (22:18) were ninth and 10th, and sophomores Meghan Kelly (22:49), Abby Pfeiffer (22:49) and Emma Rotz (23:04) and freshmen Allison Padovani (23:05) and Claire Kovarik (23:05) were 15th through 20th.

Downers North edged Jacobs (36), which finished 1-4-8-11-12. Plainfield North (82), Shepard (97) and Burlington Central (145) were third through fifth.