STORY: DGN at Hinsdale Central Sectional

Only complete exhaustion exceeded the disappointment that Downers Grove North girls cross country runners felt after the Class 3A Hinsdale Central Sectional Saturday, Oct. 31.
The Trojans gave everything they had in trying to return to the state meet at a team for the third straight year. An already difficult Katherine Legge Memorial Park course had been magnified by steady rain, cold and an overflowing creek.
“Right from that beginning point, we all went for it,” senior Grace Maletich said. “I saw everybody at the end. Everybody was dead, but I’m really happy with how we all went out and how we all stuck with it.”
While the Trojans’ sixth-place finish (189 points) was one place and 47 points from advancing as a team, junior Emma Moravec earned a return trip to state as an individual by being among the seven top finishers not from the five advancing teams.
Moravec was 21st (18:51.36) and the seventh individual qualifier. The Class 3A girls state race is at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.
“I’m really excited. I was really hoping the team would make it, but even individually, I’m still excited for next week,” Moravec said.
“I’m really glad that I made it today after all of this hard work that I’ve put in this season. It means a lot to qualify.”
Maletich (26th, 18:58.24) was the 11th individual candidate. Senior Kaitlyn Bonfield (32nd, 19:17.23) and junior Zoe Covey (36th, 19:24.37) also finished among the top 40, followed by sophomore Claire Kovarik (76th, 20:41.79) and juniors Gina Kowalewicz (79th, 20:47.87) and Mary Laffey (97th, 21:29.66).
“They competed. They went for it,” Downers North coach Tim McDonald said. “Everybody put themselves out there in the beginning and did exactly what we asked and it was a good race for us, probably one of our better competitive races.”
Hinsdale Central (65), Lockport (84), Lyons Township (84), Downers Grove South (131) and Benet Academy (142) earned the five state berths. Seventh-place Sandburg (204) was 15 points behind the Trojans.
At the Plainfield South Regional Oct. 24, the Trojans finished fourth (87) behind Lockport (37), Benet (66) and Downers South (78).
Benet’s top five Saturday were 5-9-27-50-51 overall.
“We knew coming in we were the sixth team and everybody else ran up to their ability or at least close to it,” McDonald said.
“So we’re not disappointed in terms of the effort or the performance. You just wish you had been fifth. Thankfully it’s far away enough (point-wise) that you’re not sitting here like, ‘Ah, it’s so close.’ Those were the five better teams.”
Like many of her teammates, Moravec’s finish Saturday was pure guts.
She struggled down the long, slight incline of the final straightaway, but her perseverance was rewarded. She was 1.79 seconds ahead of the next individual contender, Morton senior Sahian Lopez (22nd, 18:53.15). 
“I was giving it everything I had, but I just couldn’t go any faster,” Moravec said. “I gave it everything. I know our whole team did. It was a good race for everyone today.”  
As a team, the Trojans were hoping they could pull off the great race like they did 2013, when they came to the Hinsdale Central Sectional not expected to advance based on state rankings but pulled off fifth by five points over LT.
Last year, they finished third at the Marist Sectional (112) with arguably their best race of the season along with the annual Richard Spring Invitational at Detweiller in September.
Moravec, Maletich, Bonfield and senior Angela Budach have competed at the past two state meets. Covey and senior Ashley Johnson also were part of last year’s state lineup.
However, this season Budach ran out of time to fully recover from tendinitis and did not race Saturday after being the team’s No. 7 finisher at regionals. Johnson, a newcomer to cross country in 2014, has been battling injuries since the track season and saw limited action.
“It was pretty quiet (before Saturday’s race). Everyone was just kind of in their zone and mentally preparing themselves but we all just knew we had to get the job done,” Bonfield said.
“I think that we did everything we could. We were all hoping that we made it, obviously, but we all just gave it our best. That’s a good thing to end the season with.” 
Every team also faced brutal racing conditions. The rain was constant and occasionally hard and coupled with cooler temperatures. The constant water made the creek, which was under control during early-morning course preparation, a disaster by the time of the 11 a.m. girls race.  
“I think this was the first time I’ve ever run in rain like this and the creek was pretty crazy. Everyone was falling,” Bonfield said. “I think everyone just stayed tough and just kept going through the rain and the cold.”
For more than a month, Moravec has been trying to find the best strategy to get out early and challenge frontrunners and lead packs while still having energy for the finish.
Moravec certainly should improve upon finishing 124th at state last year (18:24) and 143rd (18:59) as a freshman. The Trojans have had two top-25, all-state finishers in the 2000s, the last being 11th-place Samantha Fry in 2009.
“I’m just going to go out there and hope to run my best race of the year,” Moravec said. “It’ll be a really fast course with lots of really talented runners so go out there and do a really good job.”

More to come…