Girls Conference Recap

INTERSTATE 8 CONFERENCE/INDEPENDENTS CLASSIC
Girls Race Recap
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Lisle Community Park

 SPLITS | MILE SPLITS | UPDATED FINISH TIMES

COMPLETE RESULTS | PHOTO ALBUM (thanks Tom Dea!)

The Conference is the culmination of our regular season. 

We started this season back on August 12^th, more than two months ago. At least for official practices—in reality, we started preparing for this year back on June 8^th with the first day of summer running. So four months of training – it was all ultimately designed for this meet.

All of the miles put in over summer running. All of the workouts in the heat, the wind, the unexpected chilliness (though that was rare this year…this fall has been exceptionally nice—let’s hope that continues) – was for this meet. 

For the second of three times this season, we made the short trip down Odgen Avenue to Lisle’s Community Park for the annual Interstate 8 Conference/Independents Classic meet.

For our new parents that don’t know how this meet works – For years, the I-8 Conference meet was a very small conference meet. Some years, not even half of the schools in the Conference would show up to this meet as they didn’t have complete teams. As a result, for many years, Lisle (and the I-8) would invite a number of schools in the area that were independent – in other words, they weren’t a part of a conference. Think of Notre Dame in college football.

Anyway, the Conference meet is a “meet within a meet”. All runners run together in the same race – there’s only one girls race and one boys race. After the races are completed, the meet is scored as it normally is overall, with the independent schools included to get those results.

After those results have been scored, they then pull out the independent teams from the scoring and re-score the meet, this time with only conference schools included. All runners are eligible for awards in the Independents Classic meet – regardless of whether or not they are members of the I-8 Conference, but only I-8 Conference members are eligible for the top twelve All-Conference spots that are awarded at this meet.

Enough of the background. Let’s get to the girls’ race, shall we?

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Going into this meet, we knew that it was going to be tough to beat Sandwich and Seneca. Seneca finished in the top ten at the State meet last year. Sandwich has come on very strong in the last two to three weeks in the meets we have seen them at.

We were coming off a tough meet at Amboy, which admittedly, was not our best meet. In addition, we were also able to plug Lisa back into the lineup for this meet after she missed Plano and Amboy due to injury concerns. Now healthy, she was ready to return to the fold for the Conference meet.

At precisely 10:00 am, the tone (yes, a tone—the same one that was used at Mane Event two weeks ago) sounded to start the race. Nevertheless, 104 girls took off from the starting line to the first turn around the pond. They then continued behind the hill, then traveled up the hill. After they came down the hill, they passed Coach Dunne at the mile mark.

At the mile mark, it was clear that our ladies were off to a strong start. After that, the ladies rounded the pond once more, back across the field where they started from, up towards the triangle, at which they made a sharp 180 degree turn and headed down towards Short Street.

They crossed Short Street, ran behind the softball fields up towards the bridge. Just after crossing the bridge and making a right turn to begin the soccer field loop, they again passed Coach Dunne (and this time, Coach Wolf as well) at the two mile mark. It was clear that our top four runners were putting together an excellent race. Our 5, 6, and 7 runners were also running well on this day. Even better, our 8, 9, and 10 runners were also putting together season best races, which is all you can ask for at Conference and as the postseason goes on.

It was also clear that Sandwich and Seneca had the race well in hand and it was a matter of a couple of places who would determine who the Conference champion would be. Nevertheless, we weren’t going to go down with a fight.

Halle Nash was again our top finisher, turning in yet another excellent race. She came through in the mile mark in the middle of the chase pack (somewhere around 8^th or 9^th at that point) in 6:22. She had moved up to fourth and was fighting for third place at the two mile mark in 13:03.

Halle finished extremely well yesterday, taking over third place in the race to finish in 20:01—just missing out on becoming only the third Westmont girl ever to break 20:00 on Lisle’s Community Park course. Halle will have another opportunity to crash through that 20:00 barrier in two weeks when we return here for the Sectional meet.

Halle’s third place finish earned her an Independents Classic award as well as All-Conference honors, becoming the 28^th Westmont girl since the establishment of our program in 1990 to earn All-Conference honors. On top of that, Halle’s 20:01 converts to an outstanding 19:22 – another personal best on the season! Congratulations Halle, and keep up the great work! We can’t wait to see what you can do in postseason!

Lily Arndt was our second finisher on the day. I don’t know how we can describe Lily’s race yesterday morning as anything other than amazing. Lily was in the middle of the pack at the mile mark in 6:34. She caught up to Lisa and Peyton by the time that trio passed the two mile mark, and then ran the best third mile she’s ever run to kick down multiple conference opponents to finish in a career best 21:17.

Here’s the kicker (pun intended) to that 21:17 time of Lily’s: A month ago at Detweiller Park for the First to the Finish Invitational, Lily ran 21:19 for 3 miles – on a course that is one of the fastest cross country courses in the nation. Today, at Lisle—a much slower, and longer 5K course—Lily ran 21:17 for the full 5K, two seconds faster. That is simply outstanding. Lily’s 21:17 converts to a 20:35, which is not only a personal best for the season but a lifetime personal best!

Lily’s outstanding race earned her a 11^th place Independents Classic plaque as well as an 11^th place finish in Conference – earning her All-Conference honors, making her the 29^th Westmont girl to earn All-Conference. Congratulations, Lily!

Lisa Niemiec and Peyton Nash would finish nearly side by side as our third and fourth runners, as both ran almost exactly the same splits for the entire meet.

Lisa was in her first race back after missing a week of practices and meets between Plano and Amboy. Peyton was looking to build on her strong race from Amboy on Monday. Both runners were looking to do as well as they could—and hopefully earn All-Conference honors of their own.

Both ladies were in the chase pack (with Lily not far behind at this point) as they passed the mile mark in 6:31, and they continued running strong as they passed the two mile mark less than half a second apart, with Peyton posting 13:47 and Lisa 13:48. Lisa would edge Peyton at the finish, but both would post identical 21:38 times at the finish, which converts to identical 20:56s. Both ladies are about 18-20 seconds off their PRs, but they have both been working very hard this season. That hard work will be paying off very soon.

Lisa would earn 17^th and Peyton 18^th for both the Independents Classic as well as in Conference. Alas, All-Conference honors weren’t in the cards today for these two ladies, which is unfortunate, as both of these ladies ran extremely well today and should be proud of themselves. It also serves as a testament to how much tougher the conference has gotten in the last two seasons.

To illustrate that last point: Peyton finished in 22:04, in 14^th place last year. She earned an Independents Classic plaque. This year? Peyton dropped 26 seconds off from her time from Conference last year to cross the line in 21:38, which is the second best time she’s ever run at Community Park (just 7 seconds off her best ever)–and finished 18^th. That is the way it goes sometimes from year to year in this sport. Congratulations on running very good races today, Lisa and Peyton—we’ll be back here in two weeks for Sectional, and we know you’ll have your best races yet on Halloween.

Frankie Fabry was our fifth runner yesterday with another strong race. She has been battling some shin splints for the last couple of weeks. Today, she set aside the shin splints and battled her hardest today to go out in her first mile in 6:53, pass through the two mile (with Brittany and Hannah right next to her) in 14:35, and finish strong in 22:47, which converts down to a 22:02.

Frankie earned 28^th place overall and 24^th place in Conference. She finished just a few seconds off her PR. Frankie has shown a lot of growth throughout the season. Hopefully her shin splints will subside soon. Nevertheless, we’re excited to see what she can do during postseason. Her future is bright! 

Hannah Abbatacola was our sixth runner yesterday. She ran very well and evenly throughout the meet. She opened with a 7:02 mile—almost 10 seconds behind Frankie, caught up to her in the second mile at 14:35, then finished strong in the third mile to take 30^th overall, and 26^th in Conference.

Hannah’s 22:56 converted to a 22:11, which just missed setting a new PR for the season. She will have another opportunity in two weeks on Halloween to return to Community Park and break that PR in the Sectional meet. We’re looking forward to seeing what Hannah can do in the postseason!

Brittany Eiermann finished as our seventh girl today. She got out to a fast start in the first mile, running 6:47, which is the fastest opening mile she’s run all season. Unfortunately, she paid the price during the second mile as both Frankie and Hannah caught up to her by the time that trio passed the two mile mark in 14:35. Brittany would go on to finish in 23:07, which converts to 22:22. 

Brittany finished 33^rd overall in the meet and 29^th in Conference. She’s about 23 seconds off her Peoria PR. We know she’s disappointed with how her race went yesterday, but we are confident that she will bounce back for the postseason and help lead our ladies to a third consecutive trip down to Detweiller Park out of Sectional when we return here on Halloween.

Our seven scorers combined to score 3-11-16-17-23-(25)-(28) to score 70 points, good for a third place finish behind Conference champion Sandwich – who edged Seneca by just one point, 54-55. That’s the closest we’ve been to Seneca in three years at Conference, ladies – we are still improving and we have a few weeks of the season left before we see them again at State.

Let’s not overlook our 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th runners on the day – all of whom ran lifetime best times – ever—on a slow, hilly 5K course at Lisle’s Community Park.

Ashley Eiermann was our eighth Sentinel across the finish line yesterday at Community Park. On Monday at Amboy, she ran in the open race at ran exactly the same mile split times—7:36—to earn a medal. But she was after something much more important on this day at Conference—finally breaking through the 24 minute barrier.

Ashley opened her first mile in 7:27, which is also the fastest opening mile she’s run all season long. Ashley passed the two mile mark in 15:36, which led to a very good third mile, which saw her cross the finish line in 24:06… just missing the 24 minute barrier again. 

Ashley was 52^nd overall, and 44^th in Conference… and upset that she hadn’t broken 24 minutes. But wait! She was reminded that Lisle’s course was actually 5K and not 3.0 miles. Ashley’s converted time blew the doors off the 24 minute barrier—she dropped her personal (and lifetime) best all the way from 24:03 to 23:19! Congratulations, Ashley! 

Katie Schultz was our ninth finisher today. Katie has had more than her share of setbacks this season, but she was determined to finish her season with her best time yet.

Katie opened her race with a 7:52 mile, which is the first time she’s broken 8:00 in the first mile this year! Katie then passed the two mile mark in 17:10, on her way to a 26:53 5K finish. That time converts to a 26:01 3 mile time. Katie earned 74^th place overall and 58^th in Conference. 

For all the setbacks and injuries that Katie has been battling in the last few weeks since Elmwood Park, to set a personal best (as well as a lifetime best) is nothing short of amazing. Congratulations, Katie, we are so proud of you!

Whittney Ruiz was our tenth runner yesterday. The last time Whittney ran on this course at Mane Event, she destroyed her previous personal best, breaking 40:00 for the first time ever. In her last race of the season, she was looking to do the same thing once again on this course.

Whittney also got off to an excellent start in her first mile, opening with a time of 11:13. That is the first time she has broken 12:00 for her first mile this year. Whittney carried on that momentum from her first mile to cross the 5K finish line in 36:18, which blew away her previous best from two weeks ago and converted down to 35:07. What a way to finish the season, Whittney – we are very proud of you!

Here are some amazing statistics set by our runners from Conference yesterday, all updated on our history pages:

- Halle’s 20:01 is the 11^th fastest time ever run by a Westmont girl at Lisle’s Community Park, regardless of meet. She bumped her own 20:44 from earlier this year at Mane Event down to 25^th.

- In addition, Halle ran the 4^th fastest time ever at a Conference meet, and turned in the 3^rd best career time at a Conference meet.

- Lily’s 21:17 for 5K today places her 7^th on the list of career best times at Community Park for the Conference meet!

- Lily also joins her two sisters – Kate (4x All-Conference) and Maggie (4x All-Conference, and 2011 champion) – as well as her brother, Henry (3x All-Conference and 2010 champion)– on the list of All-Conference medalists. That means that all four Arndt siblings that have run for Westmont Cross Country have now earned All-Conference honors!

- The identical 21:38 times by Lisa and Peyton mean that the duo are now tied for 10^th place on the list of career best times at Lisle’s Community Park for Conference.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Our ladies have been working very hard this season. Although we know that not everyone set a PR—across the board, we couldn’t be happier with the way Conference turned out. We finished a solid third place, and we got closer to Seneca than we have been in a number of years. 

Ladies, this shows that we are on the right track heading into postseason. It starts Saturday with Regional. We need to bring our “A” game every Saturday from this coming Saturday right on through State. We've accomplished a lot this season, but there's still more work to do.

And so we will work hard this week—we’re tapering slightly, but keeping that intensity up. This is the week to put in some hard work. We know we can qualify out of Regional—and maybe win it. 

The hard work you put in this week during practice will pay off hugely come Sectional when we return to Lisle—and hopefully, in another trip downstate in November. We promise you that.

We’ve been looking forward to this part of the season all year. It’s the last leg of our journey, and it’s going to be a lot of fun. We hope you’re as excited as we are!

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LOOKING AHEAD

Conference is the culmination of our regular season. Now, we turn our focus to postseason as the IHSA State series begins on Saturday with the Regional meet at Aurora Christian.

The ladies will look to qualify for the Sectional meet for the tenth consecutive season – a streak dating back to 2006. If all goes well, we could be in contention for a Regional title, which would be the first time since 2011 that has happened for the ladies.

The ladies will run at 10:00 am on Saturday, October 24, at Oakhurst Forest Preserve in the IHSA Class 1A Aurora Christian Regional. Come out and support the ladies as they begin their state series journey—a journey that will hopefully culminate in a third consecutive trip to Detweiller Park (and a fifth in six seasons).

GO SENTINELS!!!