DGN at Hinsdale Central Regional

Juniors Kaitlyn Bonfield and Angela Budach were wearing their 2013 Downers Grove North girls cross country team ribbons during their races at the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Regional Saturday, Oct. 25.

On the same Katherine Legge Memorial Park course last season, the Trojans ran their best race at sectionals to finish fifth and earn the last team state-qualifying berth.

“That was a really good memory, coming back here,” Bonfield said. “We’re weren’t expected to go to state last year and we all just kind of ran our hardest. It’s just a good memory to have that we made it to state last year.”

The Trojans gave a similar performance Saturday. With six runners among the top 13, they finished a strong second (41 points) to No. 2-ranked Hinsdale Central (26) and ahead of fellow state-ranked teams Downers Grove South (61) and Lyons Township (106).

Sophomore Emma Moravec was fourth on the 3.0-mile course (18:06.8) behind the Red Devils’ 1-2-3 pack.

Junior Grace Maletich (7th, 18:59.6) then led a pack that also included Bonfield (8th, 19:07.0), junior Ashley Johnson (10th, 19:10.2), Budach (12th, 19:18.8) and sophomore Zoe Covey (13th, 19:21.6) in her varsity debut. Senior Zayna Jan was 21st (19:57.8).

“(Downers North assistant coach and former head coach Bruce Ritter) after the race came up and said it’s the best team race he’s ever seen so I think we did really well as a team,” Bonfield said. “We just have a good history with this course. It’s just one of our better courses as a team and we just kind of kept that going.”
 
The Trojans now compete at the 3A Marist Sectional at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, at Midlothian Meadows. They need another top-five finish to advance to the 3A state meet Nov. 8 at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

Besides the three other state-ranked teams from regionals, the Trojans also will see state-ranked Lockport, Neuqua Valley and Oswego. Entering regionals, the Trojans were the No. 4 or 5 ranked team in the sectional by MileSplit Illinois and DyeStat Illinois, respectively.

“We’re in good shape, if we continue to run like (regionals),” Downers North coach Tim McDonald said.

“Overall, it was a great team race for us. That’s what we need to do consistently for the next two weeks. If we run something like that, then we’ll be just fine and finish probably as good as we can at the end of the season. Hopefully they use it as kind of a building block. This wasn’t the perfect race. We need a little less time between our No. 1 and 2 (53 seconds). That’s probably the one thing that jumped out, but our time between No. 2 and 5 (19 seconds) was great.”

The Trojans certainly improved upon their solid third-place performance at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Oct. 18 at Proviso West. They were beaten by defending 3A state champion Glenbard West and Hinsdale Central, the state’s top-two rated teams.

Moravec, Maletich, Bonfield and Budach were the returnees from last year’s regional lineup who competed Saturday. Moravec improved from finishing 12th at last year’s Lyons Township Regional and only was beaten by Hinsdale Central junior Annie Zaher (17:57.2) and freshmen Grace McCabe (18:00.8) and Reilly Revord (18:05.7), who edged Moravec by .9. Hinsdale Central sophomore Alexa Haff, second at state in 2013, did not compete for the second weekend in a row.

Moravec’s top-five finish earned her a top-five all-regional medal. Moravec was fourth at the mile (5:49) and even with McCabe for third and fourth at two miles (12:07).

“I was just doing my best to get as far into their pack as possible,” Moravec said. “I was really happy with my race and everyone’s race overall. Second at regionals is really good and hopefully that’ll move over into sectionals. (Last year’s sectional) was probably one of the happiest days ever so it just brought back good memories and I’m just glad we raced well here again.”

The Trojans’ pack was solid throughout the race. Maletich (5:57) and Bonfield and Budach (6:01) were 6-7-8 at the mile with Johnson and Covey 15th and 16th in 6:04.

“They came around the bend (at the half mile) and we thought we’re OK and they moved up real well. Once they came at about the mile and a half mark, I was like, ‘We’re in really good shape,’ ” McDonald said.

By the two-mile mark, Maletich and Bonfield (12:32) and Johnson (12:34) were 7-8-9 with Budach (12:39) in 11th and Covey (12:46) in 15th.

“I was like, ‘This is awesome.’ (McDonald) was cheering on all of us so I knew that we were together,” Maletich said. “It feels great and now is the time to do it so next week just work on getting closer.” 

This was the best team race for this season’s lineup since Peoria Notre Dame’s Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiller Park Sept. 20. The Trojans’ top five finishers had a 36-second split and the No. 2-5 finishers (Bonfield, Budach, Johnson and Maletich) a 14-second split.

The team finished third to defending 3A state champion Glenbard West and top-five ranked Palatine.

That race was a huge confidence booster for Johnson, a first-year cross country runner. She said Saturday’s warmer temperatures in the 70s were a benefit for her.

“I felt pretty good this race. It’s not freezing and raining and snowing. It was nice weather so it felt pretty good,” Johnson said.

“I just treated (regionals) like any other race. I didn’t want to get too nervous and psych myself out. I just tried to look at it as another race. It was nice. I liked it. It’ll be interesting at state, if we make it.”

Covey had perhaps the most encouraging individual race Saturday. Although she ran track as a freshman, this is her first high-school cross country season, but she’s improved rapidly.

At the Silver Meet, Covey won the sophomore race to become the Trojans’ first conference champion ever on that level. She found out soon afterwards that she would be part of the 12-runner postseason lineup.

“I thought, ‘Great. I can just go the races and have fun. I won’t have to run,’ and then he told us on Monday who was running. It was all exciting, but scary,” Covey said. “It’s nice to know I’m running varsity. That’s so cool, and then you get here and it’s like, ‘Oh, there are a lot of really good runners here.’

“I was really nervous at first, but it was really cool. I liked it. I kind of liked constantly being pushed. I’m always pushed because you’re racing, but to have people around you (helps). It just keeps you competitive the whole race. You don’t really lose your focus.”

McDonald said he was pleased that Covey didn’t overextend herself or try to do too much in her first varsity race on a big stage.

“Zoe had a fantastic race and she did exactly what we wanted her to do. She went out under control, moved through the field and had a great kick,” McDonald said. “We can do better (as a team), but hopefully we see that come out in the next two weeks.”

-- by Bill Stone