Lisle Sectional Recap: Ladies Finish 2nd, Earn 4th Trip to State in 5 Seasons!

IHSA CLASS 1A LISLE SECTIONAL (GIRLS)
Lisle Community Park
Saturday November 1, 2014

Awesome Pack Sends Sentinel Ladies to Detweiller Park for Fourth Time in Five Seasons

All season long, we have lived by the pack as the key to our chances for success for the ladies’ team in this cross country season. It might seem like a distant memory now from way back in September, but it was clear early on that the pack would be the definition of our team.

That pack has given us the chance to succeed this season in every meet. In a deep field of over 40 teams at the First to the Finish Invitational, we finished a solid 23^rd behind a great pack. Then we earned a seventh place finish in another deep field at the Bureau Valley Invitational. The following week, we earned a third place trophy at the Charger Classic at Oakhurst Forest Preserve.

The following week, we ran (pardon the pun) into Chicago Christian for the first time at a cold, snowy Mane Event. That was where we learned that we were going to be in a fight with Chicago Christian and their own pack down the road at Regional and Sectional. They became the hunted, and we began hunting them down. We moved on to Amboy and finished 14^th in another very strong field there. Then we returned to Lisle’s Community Park for the Conference meet and finished a strong second to a very good Seneca team (they went on to finish 2^nd at the Oregon Sectional and to also qualify for State).

Last week, we headed back to Oakhurst Forest Preserve, set for our rematch with Chicago Christian. Chicago Christian won round two, 48 to 74. We were ready to lock horns with them for the third time in the span of a month yesterday.

And so the stage was set for the Lisle Sectional, with a top five finish bringing the prize of a trip to Peoria’s historic Detweiller Park for the 2014 edition of the State Final.

After a brutally windy and snowy Halloween practice the previous day, fortunately the winds had died down considerably from the 60+ mph gusts that were being recorded throughout the Chicago area. Although the clouds were still lingering and it was quite brisk, it provided for much better running conditions for the Sectional meet.

All through the morning, our ladies were focused on their race. They knew what they were there to do. All that was left to do was to run the meet. All the miles put in over the summer, all the Whitlock workouts, all the practices, all the sacrifices made, and all the adversity that we had faced over the previous few months was on the line. And at precisely 10:00 am, the starter’s pistol fired to begin the race to determine who would earn the right to make the trek down to Detweiller Park.

Game on.

Our seven ladies in this race comprised of senior Imogene Asa, junior Brittany Eiermann, and freshmen Hannah Abbatacola, Lily Arndt, Emilia Maslany, Halle Nash and Peyton Nash. It was clear as the ladies took off from the starting line that these ladies were fully intending to take care of business and make sure that there was going to be no doubt in the team scores if they would be making a trip to Peoria next weekend. They got out to one of the best starts that we’ve seen all season.

They continued to hold that up around the lake, up and back down the hill, over the bridge and through the first mile. The throwback yellow jerseys from the great early and mid ‘90s girls teams were sprinkled throughout the lead packs coming through the first mile. All seven of our ladies ran great first miles and were holding strong in a pack. Chicago Christian was holding their own as well, but they looked vulnerable.

By the time the race reached the second mile, it was obvious that our ladies were more than holding their own and had put themselves in excellent position to advance to Detweiller Park. There were over 130 runners in this race, and our entire top seven was in or very close to the top 50. That kind of a pack will put any team in great position in a field of that size.

As the ladies made their way around the soccer field and emerged back over the bridge, we were in the final stretch. Quick math in the coaches’ heads told us that it was going to be close between us and Chicago Christian—much closer than we had thought it would be. The last mile would sort things out—not only between us and Chicago Christian—but for the rest of the field.

Just as she has both on and off the course, senior Imogene Asa once again led the Sentinel charge across the finish line, finishing 20th overall and in the process, setting a lifetime best time on Lisle’s course in the final race of her career here. Freshman Peyton Nash quickly followed, finishing 24th. Soon after that, junior Brittany Eiermann also set a lifetime best for Lisle’s course in finishing 29th. Freshman Emilia Maslany—who was feeling under the weather much of the race—battled her hardest and ran a simply outstanding race to finish 30th. Freshman Lily Arndt wasn’t far behind Emilia to finish 37th. Freshman Hannah Abbatacola stepped up her game to finish 48th and fellow freshman Halle Nash – who did not run in the Regional meet, but was running in this meet in place of Lisa Niemiec – rose up to the occasion and turned in a huge PR time to finish 52nd. Some of our ladies set season personal bests, which is extremely hard to do on this slow course.

That gave us a raw score of 140 points without taking out individuals. That kind of score in a Sectional meet is a pretty good indicator that a team will be heading to Detweiller Park.

At Mane Event and at Regional, Chicago Christian put four ahead of our first, Imogene, at both meets. On this day however, Imogene broke up Chicago Christian’s front four, sneaking in between their third and fourth runners. Then the Sentinel pack came through. Our second, third, fourth, and fifth runners – Peyton, Brittany, Emilia and Lily – all finished ahead of Chicago Christian’s fifth girl. Hannah was right behind their fifth runner, and Halle finished right behind their sixth runner.

The question now was: How close were we to Chicago Christian? They beat us by 26 points at Regional. We were expecting the differential to go up given that the field is larger in a Sectional.

The ladies cheered on the boys in their race, and then the waiting began in earnest in Lisle’s main hall by their front office where everyone knows they post the results.

The wait seemed to drag on forever. Finally, just before noon, the results became official: The ladies had finished second to Chicago Christian by –get this—26 points, exactly the same difference that Chicago Christian had beat us by at Regional. We had scored 15-18-22-23-29-(39)-(43) for 107 points, and just one point ahead of Harvest Christian Academy’s 108.

That showed that we had gotten closer to Chicago Christian over the past week. And to sweeten the deal, our second place finish meant that the ladies punched their ticket to Detweiller Park for the fourth time in five seasons! That has never been done by the ladies in our program’s history until yesterday. Back in the 1990s, the girls qualified in three consecutive years (1992, 1993, and 1994), but never in a five year span had they qualified more than three times, until yesterday.

As Lisle Head Coach Ken Jakalski said to the throng gathered during the awards ceremony as the boys awards were being conducted in Lisle’s south gymnasium, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Westmont Sentinels ever run a bad race on this course.” Although Coach Jakalski said it during the boys awards, that statement is every bit as true for our ladies.

We would also be remiss if we did not acknowledge the leadership of two of our veteran seniors, Imogene Asa and Victoria Thomas. Both ladies are three year veterans in cross country, and their leadership has been invaluable beyond words. We coaches cannot thank you enough for all of the hard work you have put in and all the guidance that you have given our younger runners this season.

We also want to give an enormous shout out to our parents who came out to support us yesterday and all season long and for all of your support of your athletes this season, such as hosting pasta parties, providing meet snacks, and so much more. We hope that you will join us at Detweiller Park next Saturday for the ultimate race!

We also want to give another shout out to our Principal, Mr. Baldermann and our Athletic Director, Mrs. Wojtulewicz, for coming out to Lisle yesterday, and all of their support of our program.

Congratulations to our ladies on running a simply outstanding race and earning the right to run at STATE next Saturday! The ladies will kick off the state meet festivities in the first race of the day on Saturday at 9:00 am in the Class 1A State Final.

6 DAYS LEFT UNTIL STATE!

GO SENTINELS!