Embedded Files
Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back State Qualifiers!
November 11
At the end of last season, I was curious how many teams in class 2A had been to the state meet for the 5 previous seasons, and quickly realized that we are in some elite company. Only eight schools could make that claim. After our clinching sectional race, I went back to see how many of those 8 made it 6-for-6, two dropped off, so we are part of only six schools that have been involved in the final race as a team. It takes a lot of things to make this happen, and it gives us a strong sense of pride to be able to set and uphold a standard that we’ve always wanted as a program.
Projecting the state meet is always tricky once you get past the top 5-7 teams. The finishing clusters, the anxiety of this big race, and various other variables can be the difference between 7-10 places for final team scoring. Heading to Peoria, 20th place was my target. Given our consistency this season and how our gaps were tightening it definitely seemed like a good objective. We arrived at the park just as 1A was toeing the line and we witnessed a sign of things to come for this day; fast times. The race winner ran 15:59, breaking 16 minutes which has only happened less than 5 times ever for a female racer at Detweiller. Cool temps and dry skies (for the morning at least) meant it was going to be a fast race, ideal running conditions. We took our residency in box 15 and got ourselves mentally and physically ready to put a cap on this season. Looking around the starting boxes is always one of my favorite personal moments of the season. Seeing all the great teams/coaches getting ready and knowing that we are part of this always gives me a sense of pride. As a member of the ESCC, this year was extra special as we had 5 of the 7 teams represented in this race (FWIW, Marist is in 3A). I said my last ‘be aggressive, be confident’ to the racers and headed down the opening straight away to watch the first 100 meters.
The gun rang out and we were off. Kathleen Hardy took an aggressive line from the gun and wanted to situate herself with the early chase packs. Our projections had her 20-30, right on the cusp of a state medal. With the sea of other uniforms it is hard to see our racers, especially given our box assignment right in the middle. At the half mile spot, I was able to see Allie O’Halloran and Sophia Towne pushing early, aiming for a 6 minute first mile. Sarah Owen and Julia Parkes once again linked up early, this pairing was crucial the week prior, with Owen having her best race of the season. This was Owen’s 4th state final, joining Colette Kinsella, Hannah McCarthy, and Jane Mcnamara in this exclusive club. Shortly behind them were Alayna Plahm and Ashley Kenna, keeping tight spots and potentially helping with scoring. Heading across the field and over to the triangle feed in, I began counting numbers. Hardy was still right in the middle of the 20s. How would she handle a race of this magnitude with this many elite racers? I stopped doubting her ability and lack of inexperience a few weeks prior, but this race is a whole different beast. I had no doubt that she would finish, and finish strong, but holding a spot in the top 25 is no easy task. Towne and O’Halloran were super close heading in and at the halfway mark (inside the triangle), they were at a dead heat. This pairing would help our scoring, but it was also great seeing these two push each other. Their racing goes back to grade school as rivals, but as teammates their competition makes our team the formidable one that it is. Owen and Parkes were next, once again side by side. This was very clearly going to be a big factor in our final placing, and if they could grab spots together, all the better. Plahm and Kenna closed out our scoring seven as they made their move into the final mile. Updates were coming in from around the course and Hardy was still in the mix, our pack of six was still paired into three pairs. I put myself in my final position on the day, the crossing for the final 600 meters. On Friday, I always tell the athletes that this is the part of the race to ask all the hard questions, but also to embrace the journey of the season. Every athlete at this meet belongs there and wants to finish strong, but there is no help or assistance, self reliance is the only tool.
Hardy came around the tree in 23rd place, little margin or error, but she seemed confident and in control. She put some distance between 24, it was now time to see her competitive side come out. She made some passes in the final straight away and gave up some back, but she finished on wobbly legs crossing the finish line in 22nd place with a time of 17:42, our second state medalist in school history and a new course record, topping Colette Kinsella’s race from 2021. O’Halloran and Towne were up next continuing their dogged pursuit of their times of a year prior. O’Halloran saw really impressive gains over the three previous weeks and just missed out on last year’s personal best by 5 seconds, dropping nearly 2 minutes off her time at Detweiller back in September. Towne was also eyeing a seasonal best time, watching her compete never gets old and even with an exhausting physical workload, she still completely drains herself every chance she gets. Three of our scoring five were in, it was time to close the door. Owen and Parkes were still within seconds of each other. Parkes never lets up or relents, even when the tank is running on empty. Her work ethic makes the team better and sets a standard of consistency that saw her be our top mileage runner on the season. While the state meet didn’t bear a personal/ seasonal best, Parkes presence elevates our team Monday - Friday, in addition to Saturday. Owen finished one spot behind Parkes, saving her best race of her senior year for her final one. Four time state qualifier, two time all conference, 1 regional medal, 1 sectional medal, 831 total miles (4th all time since tracking). Just an amazing career of racing and competing, coupled with stepping into a leadership role. Fostering relationships for 4 years is what makes this sport so great. Most varsity coaches see an athlete for only a couple seasons, we get the full gamut. Success isn’t always linear, but the journey and the values gained become the ultimate measure of success not the (impressive) resume. The door was closed as we urged Plahm and Kenna to finish their season. Plahm snagged a seasonal best in her last race as a Roadrunner, Kenna missed out by just 5 seconds.
As I frantically checked the live scoring, it was apparent that top 20 wasn’t going to happen. We were 33 points short of this, which in a meet such as state, 33 points is a matter of seconds. In the grand scheme, this isn't a disappointment. It is good to have goals and targets, but there are somethings that we can’t control, just have to pursue XCellence and let the chips fall where they may. Making it to the state meet takes many factors; health (lack of injuries, but also avoiding ailments in the illness filled autumn), postseason placement, athletes returning year after year, etc,. While that is the standard we have, we try not to focus on that every day. It’s more about the small things all season that add up and become a bigger thing. I saw an interview with the coach at the University of Tennessee and he talked about focusing on process over results, and that has become something I try to push daily. It is easy to key in on results as the only measuring stick that matters, but the process is what we really want to key in on. That said, let’s start the journey for 7 straight years.
Coach Wejman
October 31
The sectional meet has always been a favorite of mine on the calendar. From my first sectional as a coach (I’ve told the story ad nauseam to the team) I remember being around the starting boxes listening to coaches instruct their athletes about where they had to be place wise for a shot at state. When the gun rang out, we watched coaches dart back and forth trying to count and tabulate and assess their teams chances of making the state meet. I sort of stood there and watched the madness as I urged our team on to a finish outside the top 12 ( I don’t know the exact place we finished because the IHSA doesn’t post teams beyond the top 12 if you go far back enough). As we packed up and got to our bus, I again saw other coaches crunching numbers and trying to recreate the race finish to figure things out. I thought to myself ‘I am way out of my depth as a coach in this sport’. I didn’t come up as a cross country runner, and while I got logistics and stats fairly well, this was a new world to me. Fast forward 16 years and I found myself the week prior dabbling in my spreadsheets numerically figuring out our chances of qualifying for the state meet. In the starting boxes I was instructing the girls on what uniforms or hair ties the important teams had so they could know who to go after or stave off. I felt in my element and knew what we had to do to get to the state meet. Even with this feeling of control, all of that goes out the window when the gun goes off.
We were in our second straight week at Katherine Legge Park, so that part felt familiar, but in this early morning race, we were joined by 17 other teams with aspirations of their own. We asked Kathleen Hardy to get out and run with familiar faces from the week prior (or two prior weeks as was the case with Benet) and put herself near the top 10. Our next pack was going to find itself in a swarm as this sectional was very middle heavy in the 15-40 range. We warned against not being discouraged if the crowded start pushed them back as there would be plenty of chances to regroup as they made their way around the horseshoe. Allie O’Halloran and Sophia Towne pushed themselves up into the top 30 which is where we needed them to be, and most importantly having both of them be in front of Payton’s #1. Julia Parkes was next up and right behind her was the trio of Sarah Owen, Alayna Plahm and Ashley Kenna. Having our 6 & 7 so close could come in handy as they could serve as pushers if things got tight. At mile 1, Hardy was sitting top 7, which was exactly where we needed her to be. She was surrounded by some high level racers with plenty of experience. Towne and O’Halloran were really opening up, having their best races of the season at the best possible time. As they rolled down hill, Payton’s 1-2 were still trailing, this all but assured us a top 7 spot and a state bid. As Parkes emerged to the hill’s crest, she was joined at the hip by Owen, who ran an inspired race on what will be her penultimate race as a Roadrunner. These two pushed well together and this would be the last time I saw Sarah in the 5th spot as she would soon be our 4 and Parkes would be our door slammer, a true best case scenario. We now had a strong shot at 6th place and maybe even 5th. This was aided by our pushers and 6 & 7 that could help move our opponents totals further back. I darted across the park to catch the runners halfway and our spots were holding. We were running inspired and confident, this was the day we were aiming for for the previous weeks. In fact, we were not just running, we were racing. I took my spot back over at the two mile mark and this time I ran across the frosty grass hill that we ran our famous ‘I quit’ workout on back in August for a full circle moment. I saw the first few runners pass and then came Hardy still in a top 10 medalist spot. Really can’t say enough of how well she has improved as a racer this year and we now set her sights on a state medal at Detweiller. O’Halloran and Towne were pushing each other in ways that we haven’t seen since last season as they both ran down some runners from Depaul, and while they didn’t catch them, they put up numbers that we needed on this day. My pre race objective was to have our 2-3 runners total 60 points or better, these two super sophs gave us 57 points. Knowing that we were in a great position, I still wanted to see the 4&5 come through so we could lock this thing up. Owen emerged next and was removing all doubt for us. It has been a long and windy road for Sarah’s career and to put up this race at this moment is a testament to what a competitor she is and what an asset she is to our team. Keeping up with the numbers, my 2-4 hope was to be under 100, Sarah took 41st (but earned 39 points), 96 total for our 2-4. In Owen’s shadow was Parkes, willing herself to a strong finish, not giving up any spot at this point. My target for our #5 was under 60, Parkes came across at 51st, we were going to state. We didn’t have to wait long for our pushers as Plahm was 20 seconds off 5th and pushed Fenwick’s #6. Kenna ended our day just 12 seconds off of Plahm. In 2008, teams had to wait a long time to get results, manual checks of numbers (sometimes using popsicle sticks), watching video replays with archaic technology from the Bush administration, and then waiting for announcements, with no one knowing a teams fate except for the race official. Nowadays with live scoring and instant results, some of the drama has been removed. But with spending way too much time prepping and crunching numbers, I knew we were safe, I have become one of those people I witnessed at Belvedere High school in 2008.
We now head to Detweiller Park for the IHSA state finals for the 6th consecutive season (2020 wasn’t at Detweiller, and it wasn’t IHSA, but I count it). We are one of 6 schools in the IHSA to qualify for the state meet in each of the last 6 seasons. This is a distinction that us coaches are very proud of, we have tried to focus on process over results. We have stressed building up athletes as people, not as numbers. We have eased the reins when we felt they needed to be eased. The girls know the mission and know how to work together and deal with challenging obstacles. The journey is usually more rewarding than the destination, but this is a pretty great destination. See you in Peoria.
Coach Wejman
October 29, 2024
As we were walking back to the bus on Saturday afternoon, us coaches commented on how different WE felt after a postseason race. It is only one race, but the stakes are higher and hitting the spots, especially at a course laid out like Katherine Legge, with numerous vantage points and fast, compact races, makes for a tough 20 minutes. Coupled with the drama of the postseason, it can make for an exciting, but exhausting day.
We have trained at Katherine Legge Park for years, but this marked only our 2nd race at this Hinsdale park. In 2022, we won the regional round on an unseasonably warm day. Not sure if I would call this past Saturday unseasonably warm, but it was a picture perfect day for racing that was set on the backdrop of leaves changing colors. It was about as good of a postcard for cross country that I can think of. Our message to the team all week was to be committed to digging in and closing out the race. Not just in the final stretch, but the final 1200/1600 meters. The gun rang out and medal hopeful Kathleen Hardy rode out with the front two from St. Francis and Benet, exactly where she needed to be. Her evolution as a racer has been quite impressive, and with much room for growth, this post season will be a treat to see her development in action. Sophia Towne was our next runner heading into the opening horseshoe and she looked ready to have a strong day. Allie O’Halloran and Julia Parkes were in close pursuit and our close out pack of Ashley Kenna, Alayna Plahm, and Sarah Owen were tightly packed as well. As I ran over to the milepost, Hardy was still rolling with the front pack and looking like she was committed to the race plan and pushing the pace well. After the front 5, we knew there would be a big clustering in the pursuit pack and Towne put herself right into that, O’Halloran close behind. We were aiming for a mid teen/sub 20 place finish from the 2-4 runners, but the pressure was being mounted by Wheaton Academy who ran their best race of the season and were able to send Parkes out of the top 20. The numbers game continued to push us back as Ashley Kenna came up as our 5th runner just outside of the 20s (25 was a target for this spot). With still time to move, I darted back to the ‘half way’ spot. One of the advantages that we will get for the sectional round is that we will be back at Katherine Legge again, so some of the errors/difficult spots that we didn’t excel in can be improved upon. Not much changed as the runners came by, Hardy was still in the 5 slot as Benet’s #2 attacked after taking off conference to nurse an injury. Wheaton Academy is a team that we haven’t seen in a few years as they’ve been in 2A, but they are right in the mix to grab one of the state qualifying spots, one of our key areas of advantage over them is each school’s respective top runner. On this day, Hardy was creating a sizable gap but it only netted us 1 point. At Sectionals this could be 5-10 points. Towne continued to roll and look more confident than she has all season. O’Halloran looked to be laboring, but also looked driven. Parkes found herself in a pack that would be a chance to grab some spots. Then came our 5-7 trio that was working well together and were committed to pass Benet’s number 5. Every spot counts.
My last view before the finish would be at the 2 mile zone and with no big changes to report I began to yell out the places that we needed and to attack the last 1000 meters. Hardy pulled away from Wheaton Academy by almost 30 seconds to secure medalist status. She was also less than 10 second behind Benet’s top runners. Towne came through next and put up a low number with a strong finish, pulling away from a pack in the final 1000. As did O’Halloran with maintaining her spot pulling away from Wheaton Academy. Parkes got edged out by Benet’s 4, but made a pass on Hinsdale South for our 4 spot. Kenna was a mere 25 seconds behind Parkes and emptied the tank pushing past a runner from Kennedy. Immediately behind her were Plahm and Owen who helped push Benet’s 5, a feat that could really make a difference this coming Saturday. As the live results came in, there wasn’t much surprise. We were sitting 4th and with the day that Wheaton Academy had and Benet’s #2 coming back into action, this made sense. It wasn’t our best day, but we showed some great fight in the end. Grabbing/holding spots is what the postseason races are all about.
In 2022, we won the Regional at Katherine Legge. We then headed to Kaneland where we would enter into a brutally tough sectional, needing a big day to grab one of the 7 spots, (to belabor the point about this being tough on coaches, I pulled a hamstring at Kaneland in 2022; gotta stretch). In 2024, we didn’t win the regional, but we are going to feed into a sectional that will see us compete with Ignatius and Depaul, two teams eyeing a trophy at Detweiller. Toss in local rival Fenwick and CPS power Payton and we got ourselves another tough one to escape from. Let’s see if history repeats itself. We will be ready and focused; pressure is a privilege.
Coach Wejman
October 24, 2024
A few years back a new cross country course opened in Geneva under much ballyhoo in the cross country world. It sat atop an old garbage dump and was exclusively for cross country. A few weeks back it was established that we would be using this course for our conference championships. For a conference that is spread across 50+ miles north to south and is called ‘East Suburban’ it made perfect sense to host our conference meet in the far western burb of Geneva. Regardless, we were pumped to check out this venue that was ‘true cross country’.
We left campus with a chill in the air, but the sun was shining bright at the course in Geneva and it was shaping up to be a great day for racing. The course looked rugged, but incredibly maintained at the same time. Wide paths and mowed lawn surrounded by brush growth and tall grasses. When the frosh soph race got going, the pack looked tiny compared to the vast opening straight away. Given the landscape of our conference and the depth of our team, I felt as if we had a strong chance of winning this race as a team. We tasked Ashley Kenna to be aggressive and try to be up front as she gave way for some upperclassmen to race in the varsity race. JCA decided to run some of their top racers down, so Kenna’s hopes of a race win were unlikely, but we were still aiming for a low score to set the tone. Kenna found herself in the 6th spot through two miles and, with the thin field, was running a mostly solo race. Clare Sigmund trailed her by a decent amount but she was doing an amazing job of keeping rivals at Benet and Carmel at bay. Freshman Annie Ryan would be our third runner on her way to a third straight personal best. Next came Lexie Perfect who bounced back nicely from some bangs and bruises over the last few weeks. RIght in her shadow was freshman Bridget BOlk who saw her third personal best in her final 4 races of the season. The door was now closed and in doing quick math it became clear that this group had secured our second Fr/So conference title in program history, with the first being in 2012, with the help of Coach Beedie. Gianna Plesica would be our 6th finisher and ran a brilliant race dropping 45 seconds off her previous best. All told, Gianna ran 4 personal bests this season and improved almost 2 and a half minutes from her 2023 best, a true testament to hard work. Bridget Martin rounded out our scoring 7 capping of a strong freshman season.
Varsity was up next and while we knew a conference championship was going to be challenging today, we tossed it out as a goal. In my 17 years in the ESCC, there has never been a field this wide open, usually 1-2 schools challenge Benet, who has won all but three of the ESCC titles since 1993. This year however, there were 5 teams in the mix to win the conference crown. This is when racing gets fun. When the gun rang out, freshman Kathleen Hardy emerged to the front of the pack and settled into 3rd place, exactly where we wanted her. The pack settled in the herd of runners that was illustrating how close this race would be. My pre race projections and our 2-4 runners somewhere in the mid teens, and our 5-7 runners to be in the low-mid 20s. Hitting mile one, this is about where we were, but the gaps were starting to get too big. Carmel and Viator came to race on this day. Our super soph trio of; Allie O’Halloran, Sophia Towne and Julia Parkes dug in and were where they should have been, but Carmel and Viator put themselves where they needed to be to duke it out. Our super senior trio of Sarah Owen, Alayna Plahm and Erin Briars would be our final scorer on the day and they were tailing Benet’s #4 runner, which could be a crucial marker heading into the postseason where we will see them likely each of the next three weeks. Coming out of mile 2, Hardy was widening her gap on the 4th place runner and was whittling the gap on Benet’s #1 (another point of emphasis heading into the postseason). While she wouldn't catch her, she dropped another low 18 minute 3 mile time with sights on a Naz record at Detweiller in a few weeks. O’Halloran, Towne and Parkes kept their spots, with Towne making a big pass down the stretch to earn All-Conference along with O’Halloran who kept two Marist runners at bay. Owen and Plahm kept themselves together as they have done for the last two seasons, closing the door on our scoring day to secure 4th place. Briars battled hard til the end and showed what a competitor she truly is, her work ethic and commitment to this sport hasn’t been equaled by many, if anyone, in my 17 years in the sport. Fourth place wasn’t what we came to do, but it was illustrative of how well Carmel, Viator and Marist ran. Congrats to Carmel and their coach Jim Halford who has been doing this much longer than I have.
The Open Race closed out the day, and I once again felt we had a good chance at grabbing the title. Before the gun rang out, the coaches predicted who would be our top finisher. Each of us predicted a different runner and it was a bit prophetic as these three girls finished 1-2-3. I won’t say who picked whom, but Clare Sandoval took charge from the beginning of the race and didn’t give it back. Clare finished off an amazing racing career and it gave me a bit more bittersweetness knowing that she only got two years with us. Magge Broderick was next, pushing hard in mile 1 & 2 willing herself to the front of the pack and shadowed Clare. Maggie’s hardwork has gotten her to this point and allowed her to push past her limitations. Lucy Jucovics capped off the 1-2-3 day running a smart race, pulling away from Marist’s top runner. With 1-2-3 in the barn, would we be able to stave off the red onslaught of Marist and Benet. At the two mile mark I was getting worried, until I saw the Trayser sisters emerge. We’ve had many siblings over the years and some get along, some don’t, the Trayser sisters have seemed more like friends than siblings for the last three seasons. On this day, they were committed to racing together, with under a mile to go, older sister Annie gave Mary a ‘let’s go’ to speed up and leave no doubt on this day that we would win 2 of the 3 races. This effort was enough to get Mary a personal best. Not far behind was Esme Bleskin who would also drop a personal best and earn a ribbon finishing in the top 18. Her training partner, Morgan Fantozzi wasn’t far behind, capping what has been a tremendous debut season for the junior. Ally D’Apice lost her mojo for PR’s the last few weeks while dealing with some aches and pains, but she has become a totally different racer than what we saw from her over her career to this point. Senior Molly McGarry finished her career with a seasonal best run, and from a coaching pride standpoint, I barked to her that it was her last mile, empty that tank. She replied with a nod and a very strong finish. Gaby Rosales ended her first season in the sport as one of the more dramatic transformations we’ve seen in a long time. From being unable to run 3 miles comfortably, to being able to run and race with confidence is what makes this sport so rewarding to coach. Sophomore Addison Sloan no doubt was ready to move on from this season in dealing with some injuries, she still missed a few races and did have her best 3 mile time of 2024 on this day. Mia Moreno ended her freshman campaign being able to race with more consistency and confidence than back in August. The Arroyo sisters; Ava and Sofia closed the book on our meet with Sofia putting forth a seasonal best time.
We packed up and made our way down the ‘mountain’ with lots of medals and ribbons and 2 out of 3 races. Happy, but not satisfied is how we head into the postseason. Back to back weeks at Katherine Legge and then hopefully a trip back to the state meet on the line, best time of the year.
Coach Wejman
October 18, 2024
Towards the end of the 2023 season, I got an email from the coach at Lakes High School about possibly joining their end of the season ‘sunset’ invite. In my time as coach, we have never been ‘invited’ to an invite, so this felt special. Lakes is a strong program and their meet attracted some of the top teams in our classification, which added to this special feeling. Some of our coaching friends had been to this meet the previous seasons and told us that it is a great opportunity; fast course, good teams, and a rare Friday night meet. This felt like the right move, so we jumped at the chance. In mid September, it was announced that Nazareth would be hosting the ‘Friday Flyover’ by ABC 7. This would mean a very early morning for some of our athletes, to go with a rather late night. Regardless, we arrived at Lake Villa and we were ready to see what this new opportunity would present us.
The Bronze race was first. In XC parlance, this would serve as our open race. Another wrinkle of this meet is that it is co-ed, so the boys would no doubt crowd up the starting area. When the gun rang out, the sun was still shining and the temps were unseasonably warm for early October. Freshman Annie Ryan continued to improve as a racer and dropped over 30 seconds from her previous personal best. Her fellow classmate of 2028 Bridget Olk shaved a mighty 2 seconds off her top time on the year, despite dealing with some soreness while balancing XC and Irish dance. The personal bests continued on as senior Annie Trayser got her best time of her career (one second better is still better). Sophomore Lexie Perfect didn’t get a personal best, but she ran a gritty race despite suffering an ankle issue in the last mile and was our 4th finisher on the day. Esme Bleskin edged out Mary Trayser for our 5th/6th spot. And while Bleskin was the 5th and final scorer, Trayser no doubt helped push other teams and secured a 4th place finish for our open racers, really showing off our depth as a program. Morgan Fantozzi was our 7th and final ‘placer’ as she continues to improve as a racer showing what commitment and consistency can do in this sport. Senior Molly McGarry threw down a seasonal best by over a minute.
The Silver race was next and this entailed our 6-10 runners. While these slots can be a moving target, we did the best we could in figuring out who these placers would be. Senior Erin Briars had two weeks off of racing between our bye week and her leading a retreat during our Solorio Meet. After a strong showing at RB, she was ready to go. Through mile one she was cruising and seemed to be dialed in. Shortly behind her was Alanya Plahm aiming to keep that gap tight. Shadowing Plahm was Claire Sigmund and Clare Sandoval, two track runners (see; sprinters) who have done a great job disguised as distance runners these last two seasons. Maggie Broderick was our 5th runner in this race and really turned herself inside out in the first two miles. Heading into the final mile, Briars was well faster than a 21 minute pace, which would be a personal best. Could she flirt with 20? Plahm kept her gap consistent, keeping within 30 seconds. The Claire/Clare duo made coaching life easy as they were essentially conjoined heading into the final stretch. Broderick was laboring, but one thing about Maggie that is apparent is that very few on our team finish more on empty than she does, giving every drop she has, every race. Briars came across in a personal best by over a minute, which is rather remarkable considering her career. Plahm beat the clock under 21 minutes, just 25 seconds off of Briars. Sigmund and Sandoval came in neck and neck, earning PRs in the process. Fifth place in this race was nothing to scoff at considering that St. Ignatius, Chatham Glenwood, and Grayslake Central will be in trophy contention in a few weeks in Peoria.
The Gold race began in the golden hour. This one was going to be a doozy and we had some tired runners from a long day. But we came here to see where we stacked up and when the gun goes off, there is no time for sob stories. It was next to impossible to sort out all the runners in the first pass with all the boys running. After mile one, Kathleen Hardy was synced up with Trinity’s top runner, which was a great spot to be in relative to prior races this season. Our previous season schedule had us at Elmwood Park, which was a fine meet and well run, but a racing experience like this is crucial for a young runner like Hardy. To get her ready for the postseason, she needs to be put through a ringer like this. Sophia Towne, Allie O’Halloran, and Julia Parkes clustered up next to provide our core. Ashley Kenna rounded out our scoring 5. Putting 5 underclassmen as a team’s top 5 isn’t super rare, but it speaks to how strong these young women are and how consistent they raced all season. As the race stretched out, Hardy found herself 15 seconds off Trinity and while this may have been a frustrating day for the youngster, the experience of testing limits is invaluable and she will see many of these racers down the road and will have to go through them to win a state medal. It was apparent that the long day was taking a toll on Towne as her head lean is a sign of her fatigue. In spite of that, Sophia is one of the toughest competitors we’ve ever had and she refuses to give in. She willed herself to a seasonal best time for the fourth straight week. Parkes came through next and she is living a near carbon copy to last season when she found her groove at RB and continues to trend upward dropping 39 seconds off her seasonal best. O’Halloran was a featured player on the ABC news spot and her energy reserves were spent early and this race doesn’t reflect what her season has been. And after all that feeling of a tough race, she was only 4 seconds off her seasonal best, gonna be a strong rebound at conference. Ashley Kenna closed out the Gold 5 and she dealt with some setbacks early in the race and really had to grit through some tough stretches, but as we always expect from Ashley, she didn't relent and gave everything she could. Ashley is always seeking to improve as a racer and we look forward to letting this fuel her fire when she goes after the frosh/soph conference title.
As the sun set over ‘Eagle Acres’ we headed back to Cook County with a new great experience on our schedule. We look forward to coming back next year and continue to show that we are a strong program and that we will always seek to compete against the best in order to become a better program.
Coach Wejman
October 10, 2024
The word may be out on the Solorio Invite. We joined this growing meet in 2022, and since then it has grown in quality and quantity. One of the coolest aspects of cross country is that we don’t see one school at a competition, we see many, dozens in some cases, and it is fun to see different uniforms, approaches, spirit, etc. Running on the golf course at Marquette provides an open, flat course to be aggressive and better competition only helps this aspect.
The frosh/soph race kicked things off amid cool temps and emerging sunshine. Claire Sigmund would be our lead horse on the day, and coming off of two strong races, she probably didn't want the previous weekend off. Her first mile was quick and strong and she was settling in for what would become a 27 second personal best for the sophomore. Lexie Perfect was the next Roadrunner through and she continues to post strong times despite dealing with some wear and tear. Freshman runners Annie Ryan and Bridget Olk were next up for us and Ryan posted a personal best by over a minute. Bolk wasn’t at her strongest, but she gritted out a strong race and continues to grow as a racer heading down the stretch of her rookie campaign. Sophomore Gianna Plescia continues to throw down her third personal best in four invite races this season. All this while putting up some impressive iron in the weight room. Freshman Bridget Martin closed out the group by shaving nearly a minute off of her personal best time from the previous meet at RB.
Varsity would be up at 10am and we were really looking to have this be the weekend that we put our race closer to where we want it to be at this point. I have often found myself connecting this season to last when we didn’t really put things together until rather late in the season. And while we have seen some good things thus far, we are still very much a work in progress. Kathleen Hardy once again found herself surrounded by the purple mob that is state 3A power Downers Grove North. 2A power St. Ignatius ran a pared down squad, but still had some strong runners up front to add more depth to the top 10. Hardy held her own and really pushed hard in the first two miles. All week at practice, we stressed tight packs and minimized the gaps between 2-5 runners. Last year at the state meet, we weren’t the 13th best team on paper, but our 1-5 but forth a gap of less than 30 seconds. At RB our 2-5 gap was over 90 seconds, much work to be done. Through the first two passes, the gaps were looking good. Sophia Towne set the pace and Allie O’Halloran kept that under 25 seconds for essentially the entire race. Julia Parkes battled mentally to keep Allie in her sights and Ashley Kenna put herself through a grinder to keep Julia at arms length through the first 2 miles. Our 6-10 was going to be anyone’s guess as we have seen some tremendous battles amongst Sarah Owen, Alayna Plahm, Maggie Broderick, Lucy Jucovics and Clare Sandoval. The 5 kept the pace pushing and are among those vying for a postseason racing slot. Hardy kept herself in the top ten and grabbed an impressive 8th place finish. Towne pushed herself to a seasonal best time and O’Halloran was just 22 seconds behind her. Parkes was just over her shoulder 13 seconds later and Kenna was 26 off Parkes. Last year, our 2-5 gap was 72 seconds, this season it was 59 seconds. Still much work to be done, but our direction is more where it needs to be. Owen grabbed the 6th spot with Plahm closing hard to finish a second behind. Maggie Broderick was our 8th finisher and ran sub 22 minutes for the first time in her career.
The Open race ended our day and this race has often been one that is tailor made for personal bests. Many of these racers are first timers in the sport and after a month + of training, things start to really click. Annie Trayser isn’t a newcomer, but the recent 500 mile club inductee was our top finisher posting another solid race in her senior year. Esme Bleskin would be next and she has been an athlete who has seen amazing gains, dropping a minute off her previous best time. Her shadow, Morgan Fantozzi also put up a career best time, improving by over 30 seconds. PR machine Ally D’Apice got back on track racking up her second of the year after doing it numerous times last year. Belt winner Gaby Rosales dropped 2 minutes off her previous best mark and continues to be one of the most improved runners we’ve had since our first days in August. Freshman Mia Moreno and Ava Arroyo both also saw their best times of the season by substantial amounts. It is amazing what a little hard work and racing IQ will do for you.
The regular season rapidly draws to a close once October hits. We now hit the road again and get to experience another meet, this one at Lake Community. This is one of the premier races this weekend. We get to see new teams, new competition, and new chances to test ourselves and our team as we look to replicate what happened last season.
Coach Wejman
September 27, 2024
We have adjusted our schedule in some fashion over the years, but one meet that we will always attend will be the RB Invite. I have viewed RB as our main rival. Their school is the turn around spot for our 6 mile run. It was always the closest school to us in terms of post season competition (though they have recently moved up to 3A). The 50th Bulldog Invite was to my recollection, our first team win at an XC Invite, so perhaps there is some legacy there too. This year was the 64th occurrence of the Bulldog Invite and we had our sights set on winning it again.
The varsity race kicked things off as the sun began to rise with the temps. We knew that two strong runners from Fenwick and Trinity would set the pace, but we challenged our pack to get out strong in mile one and put themselves in positions to go against one of our 2A rivals in Fenwick. Through mile 1, Kathleen Hardy was sitting in 4th place, primed to settle into the 3rd spot. Our pack then emerged, sitting a few spots further back than we would have liked, but Sophia Towne and Allie O’Halloran were syncing up and looking to grab some spots. The gap to our 4-5 spot was leaving something desired, but Julia Parkes and Ashley Kenna were also synced up, keeping their gap compact, which is always helpful. At the eye test at mile 1, we were a little bit behind Fenwick, but our tight grouping would come in handy. In addition, our 6-10 pack of Sarah Owen, Alayna Plahm, Clare Sandoval, Claire Sigmund and Bridget Olk were tight and could even serve as pushers against Fenwick’s number 5 runner. Heading into the final mile, Hardy was firmly in the 3rd spot, which is where she would finish. She will see 1-2 again in the postseason and for an inexperienced runner like Kathleen, seeing experienced talent like this will no doubt serve her well as we head into the big meets. Towne and O’Halloran kept themselves together into the chute and grabbed the 10th and 12th spot. We lost some ground to Fenwick in the 2 spot, but were quickly gaining in the 3 spot. Parkes continued to grind out a solid race coming in at 21st place, but most importantly came in ahead of Fenwick’s #4 and closely behind was Ashley Kenna, looking a bit like her form at LT a few weeks prior. Our door was closed and Fenwick’s #4-5 were still chasing Kenna, with no ability to catch her. The seven points that Julia and Ashley gained would be the difference as we defeated one of our sectional adversaries by seven points. Owen was our 6th finishers and just missed out on pushing Fenwick’s #5 runners. Sarah continues to be a model of consistency and experience as she navigates her senior season. Track starts Plahm and Sandoval finished neck and neck as they both put themselves in position to be postseason runners. Sigmund and Olk rounded out our day, as Sigmund got her first crack at varsity on the season. Olk set a personal best on her first varsity race of her young career. Seeing this level of competition, but also being shown the ropes by veteran teammates will pay dividends for future seasons. Winning the race is always the goal, but what we truly needed was a consistent race with executed objectives, toss in some good vibes and that puts us where we need to be heading into October.
The JV race closed out the day and given our depth and talent had me thinking that we’d be in the thick of things to win both races on the day. At the first mile marker, this was looking like a certain reality after the first ten racers came through. We had 4 in the top ten with Erin Briars, Lexie Perfect, Lucy Jucovics and Maggie Broderick giving us a strong presence up front. But with most races, the team contest comes down to the 5th runner. In this race, it was looking like Gianna Plescia would hold this spot. When she crossed mile 1, she was in about 30th place. This would likely put us outside of Fenwick and Morton, but there was a lot of race left. Temps were rising throughout the morning and it was getting a tad toasty on some of the exposed areas, but our packs stayed tight. Esme Bleskin, Mary Trayser and Morgan Fantozzi controlled our 6-8 spots and were putting in solid work. Close behind was freshman Bridget Martin who was on her way to her best race of the season, as did Mia Moreno, Gabi Rosales and Ava Arroyo.
Coming into Mile 3, Briars had moved into the 2 spot and Perfect was right behind her in 3rd. Jucovics and Broderick put their stamp on the race by securing 5th and 6th respectively. As proof again that hard work and consistency pay off, Gianna Plescia moved up in the race and locked herself into the top 15 to earn herself a medal and secure the race win for the Roadrunners. Program sweeps aren’t all that common, but for the last few years, we’ve had our share of success in this capacity due to our depth from racers of all age groups and solid committed training groups that are finding that it isn’t getting easier, we are just getting stronger.
Getting stronger is what we have done for the past few seasons. We haven’t excelled in early September, but we have trusted the training and know that the rewards will come eventually. We now enter a well deserved bye week, trading racing spikes for high heels at the Homecoming dance. Our next race will be at Solorio for the opening weekend of October, when fast courses and fall-like conditions should continue to lead to strong results. Allowing us to be able to think back to the early days of the season, when the task that lay ahead of us seemed so daunting and impossible.
Coach Wejman
September 19, 2024
When social media was a relatively new thing, hashtags became a thing that went from used to overused rather quickly. One of the hashtags that we used from our Twitter account was #XCtraditions to tap into some of our alumni and have them share about their favorite memories from their time on the team. Typically, they would talk about their memories from the Peoria trip. When I took over in 2008, the Peoria trip was sacrosanct, the key day on the season calendar. Time spent singing, telling jokes, culinary delights at Cracker Barrel and bonding at the hotel are just a few of the occurrences over 24 hours spent on the trip. And of course at the center of it all (at least for us coaches) was the race.
The course at Detweiller Park is known for being fast and the competition there typically enhances this aspect, but as is often the case in our sport, weather is a factor on these times. When we arrived on Saturday morning, it was overcast and a bit cool. This quickly ended by the end of the girl’s 1A race and temps began to climb while the sun baked the arid soil of the state course. While everyone competes at the same place and same time, it wasn’t likely going to be a day of personal bests or times that we would be excited about compared to other races at Detweiler. Girls Varsity kicked off at 9:20 and it would be our first real test against the top teams of 2A. Kathleen Hardy’s performance at LT showed that she was a legit competitor for 3 mile races and this weekend would be a chance to measure up against the best of 2A. The gun rang out and the top runners set themselves ahead of the field. Hardy settled in nicely in the chase pack hovering around the top 10. Our sophomore trio of Sophia Towne, Allie O’Halloran and Julia Parkes clustered up early to keep the gaps small in the first mile. In a race like this, the bigger the gap gets punished substantially more than at a smaller meet, so keeping things tight is paramount. Our second grouping is almost more important to keeping the gap tight as it contains our 5th runner, which more often than not is the real difference maker in cross country. We were missing a few pieces of this grouping due to the ACT, but a cluster of Clare Sandoval, Sarah Owen, Ashley Kenna, Lucy Jucovics, Maggie Broderick and Erin Briars would need to keep the aggression up and close the door on our scoring.
Going into and coming out of the triangle saw little change in our spacing and our placing. This type of consistency is reassuring that we have a dedicated and committed group, but we had to close things out. Hardy still held position closer to 20, but there were runners in sight to pass. Towne battled the way she always does, but was about 90 seconds behind Hardy. O’Halloran and Parkes were 30 seconds off her and Sandoval in the 5 position was 30 seconds off them on her way to finishing just one second off her personal bests, quite impressive given the conditions. With a runner finishing where Hardy was, it’s hard to focus on the 1-5 split, but 2-5 is probably a better gauge for us. Our 1-5 split last season at Detweiller was about 2 minutes. Our 2-5 split in this year's race was under 90 seconds. So in some respects we are positioned better than last year, but the gaps will have to shrink as we head to October. We didn’t leave Detweiler feeling great last season, but we are confident in our process and in where we will be in a few weeks. Another encouraging piece was the chase runners; Owen just 13 seconds off Sandoval and Kenna less than 20 seconds off Owen to round out our scoring seven. We finished in 14th place overall out of 48, a solid showing, but there’s clearly much more to take care of if we want to return to Peoria in November as a team.
The JV race was up next, about an hour after the varsity race ended. Over that time, the sun got higher, as did the temps, but we had a spirited crew ready to get going. After the gun rang out, I found a spot in the shade to stand and encourage our runners at my usual spots at Detweiller. Claire Sigmund was our first runner through and was one of the top runners from 2A schools, as this race was open to all classes. She looked strong, coming out of the triangle and was poised for her best race of the season. She improved her time from the previous week by over 30 seconds (in about 25 degree warmer temps) and nearly missed a personal best. Lexie Perfect was our next runner through and she put forth a phenomenal effort whilst dealing with a troublesome knee injury. Freshmen Bridget Olk and Annie Ryan shined brightly in their Detweiller debuts. Ryan bested her three-mile time from Westmont and Olk just missed a personal best she set at LT a week prior. Sophomore Gianna Plescia continues to get strong as a racer putting forth a strong race, just missing her best time ever by 10 seconds. Juniors Esme Bleskin, Morgan Fantozzi and Ally D’Apice also grinded out strong races amidst the dusty and hot course. I really look to these three to get back on the PR track in the coming weeks as courses and conditions should favor them. Rounding out the squad was Addison Sloan and Mia Moreno, Sloan was enduring an injury of her own but was adamant about competing on this day and we were proud with how she dealt with and responded to the setback. Moreno felt the conditions, but showed resilience and sometimes just getting to the finish line counts as a positive result.
We left Detweiller with the hopes of making it back in November as a team. As our bus pulled out of the park, we made our way to Wally’s, a new tradition that began in 2023, one that us coaches tried to build up for the next generation. Even if it takes more to impress the youth in 2024 than it did in 2009, we still enjoyed ourselves and had laughs along the way while making some memories that will last longer than the remembrance of race times or places finished.
Coach Wejman
September 13, 2024
In NCAA Football, they have a ‘week 0’ to begin the season with a few games to give fans a small taste, but nowhere near a full slate of all teams playing. The Cross Country season officially begins on the third week of the IHSA calendar and that weekend, there are a few invites across the area to give us fans a small taste, but the following week is where the real feast begins. The first invite at the end of week three has always been a complete weekend off for us, but seeing results coming in always gets me excited to get our season going, showing what we have against intense competition.
In all my 17 years, we have begun our weekend competition at Lyons Township for their annual Invite. In my first years as coach, our goal was to beat some other 2A schools and/or try to avoid the caboose spot. As our program has evolved, our expectations have increased and our expected place is more to the middle of the pack just behind some traditional 3A powers. If nothing else this is a great baptism by fire to prepare us for the weeks ahead.
The JV squad kicked off our morning amidst some of the coolest temps we’ve had at LT’s South campus. Our team’s strength is the tightness of our middle pack and how much depth we have in our 5-12 runners. I had no expectations for team place, but seeing this group race together would hopefully confirm what we’ve seen at training. From the opening gun, Senior Sarah Owen took the lead of our white shirt pack and set the tempo. In what became a tight cluster behind her, was Maggie Broderick who came out hard in the first mile, which enabled her to grab a personal best for a 3 mile race. Following her was Erin Briars and Lexie Perfect with Claire Sigmund not far behind. All three of these ladies had a great showing, rebounding from Elmwood Park results that weren’t to their liking for one reason or another. Open/JV races are hard to assess in terms of scoring as there are so many runners and the scoring for each team stops after their 7th runner finishes. From the early eye test, we were in the mix for 3rd place. Rounding out the scoring squad was Annie Trayser who had her best race in a couple of years and freshman Bridget Olk competing her first 3 mile race. Rounding out the squad was Mary Trayser putting forth a personal best for a 3 mile run, Morgan Fantozzi and Esme Bleskin putting forth a strong race in their Invite debuts. Ally D’Apice and Gianna Plescia also grabbed 3 mile personal bests, taking advantage of good conditions (and hard work helps too). Molly McGarry and Sarah Phillips showing their senior level experience in putting forth strong efforts. Gaby Rosales gritted out a solid performance in her first 3 mile race. When the dust settled, the team edged out LT for 3rd place, the first time we have beaten them at any level (except for those sandbag years). This was an encouraging start to the day as varsity got set to kick off shortly after the boys JV race concluded.
Downers Grove North joined this meet last season and they have proven to be one of the best teams in the state as well as the entire nation. This was on display from the onset as their purple shirts owned the top ten. Freshman Kathleen Hardy was given instructions to roll with their pack early as they might run a tempo style race. We knew that going head to head against them at full strength would be ill advised for a runner of her limited experience. Through mile one she was holding her own for a blazing 5:30. Following Hardy was Allie O’Halloran coming off a strong finish at Elmwood Park the week prior. Last year, she was accustomed to running in the shadow of Sophia Towne, who was away for the weekend. She was also usually trailed by Julia Parkes who fell off her earlier as she was dealing with a minor illness. O’Halloran fed off the strong student turnout to show some enthusiasm during the race and put forth a solid reason to kick off the 2024 season. Parkes got picked up by Ashley Kenna who had a nice bounce back race after dealing with her own illness at Elmwood Park. Kenna is looking to be a prime choice to be our number 5 racer as the weeks begin to unfold. On this day, Alayna Plahm would be our 5th runner, edging out track teammate Clare Sandoval. Plahm, Sandoval and Owen will no doubt be in the mix for our top 7 come postseason, giving some senior leadership to our young pups. Captain Lucy Jucovics rounded out the squad in her varsity debut, securing 6th place for the team, beating any/all 2A schools and putting us far from the basement we were accustomed to over a decade ago.
The freshman put a cap on the day with Annie Ryan, Mia Moreno, Bridget Martin and Ava Arroyo bumping up their race experience from 2 miles to 2.25 miles. This bit of increase will ideally lead to more confidence in racing as the training wheels now come off and it’s 3 miles from here on out.
It wasn’t our best day, but it shouldn’t have been, it was a day of PRs, but also some disappointed racers. That is what we should be doing at this point in the season. Retain what worked and what felt good, process what didn’t work and aim to improve that over the next month. The next chance to do this is at the First to the Finish Invite at Detweiller Park, a true litmus test to see where we stack up against other 2A schools. No longer are we in the small taste days of week 0 or week 1, it’s now time to feast, but stay hungry, or something like that.
Coach Wejman
September 2, 2024
This summer I came across the concept of a ‘Happiness Time Machine’ and my takeaway was simplified as; while things might be tough now, we will eventually look back on what we have done and be proud/happy. And that, to me, is a great synopsis of our sport and our season. The early days are tough; nerves, anxiety, soreness, tiredness, self-doubt, etc. But entering my 17th season as head coach, I know that we will get through these things and when our time machine jumps to mid-October, we will feel happy, proud, invincible, strong, etc. Getting through these early days is tough, but the payoff will be worth it, regardless of where you fall in your teams rankings. This applies to coaches as well, as the season can move slowly and October can feel like it’s years away, but we know that once the races start it comes at us quickly and it gets to (mainly) be fun.
The day started with the junior-senior race which is mainly a race by known entities. While it is great to get a result logged and measure up the squad, we mainly know what we have/what to expect. It also gives the frosh/soph racers a chance to see their upper class teammates do two laps on the course and perhaps calm some nerves, or maybe bring about new ones. In evaluating our team this summer, it became very apparent that we would have a really tight cluster in the 5-15 slots on our roster and at the first passing this was well on display. Alayna Plahm, Sarah Owen, and Claire Sandoval were clustered tightly and followed closely by juniors Lucy Jucovics and Maggie Broderick. These five had a split of less than a minute and you could tell that there was some rust to get rid of after a few months off of racing. Plahm would end up grabbing the last medalist spot and the team would ultimately take 2nd place, missing first by 1 point. The Trayser sisters also had a tight finish with Mary running almost a minute faster than her effort last year, earning bragging rights with her sister Annie. Our next two finishers were CC rookies Esme Bleskin and Morgan Fantozzi, two athletes who have shown much growth in just three weeks in the sport. Next up was Ally D’Apice running 30 second faster than her 2 mile best last season. Seniors Molly McGarry and Sarah Phillips also made big jumps over last year's 2 mile time, showing off their experience in racing. It was a good starting point for many racers on this day but experience knows that this is just the beginning and the best races are ahead of us.
Frosh-Soph kicked off promptly at 5:30 and we knew we would be in a good position to win this thing as we had 4 members of our 13th place team at the state meet who would be active in this race. We would also have six nervous freshmen who would be making their debut. When the gun rang out, Freshman Kathleen Hardy attacked and decided to lead the race. We’ve seen her at practice and had a gauge of how good she was, but we weren’t expecting this. With limited racing in Junior High, would she be able to keep it up? At the first pass, she was all smiles and seemed poised for a good day. Close behind were Sophia Towne, Allie O’Halloran, and Julia Parkes. This trio got tighter and tighter each week last season and will be great training partners this season. I earlier mentioned the tightness of our 5-15 spots and this race would back my claims up. Claire Sigmund, Ashley Kenna, and Bridget Olk would make up our next cluster of white jerseys. As Hardy came across lap one, the smile was a little bit faded and a runner from Latin School was lurking, but I was impressed as she was sub six for mile one. This would put her in the hunt for Colette Kinsella’s freshman record of 12:19 set in 2019. Towne, O’Halloran, and Parkes kept their tightness after one lap all but ensuring us a race win. Hardy would end up ceding 1st place, but would come in in an impressive 12:06, breaking the frosh/soph race record for Nazareth. Towne, O’Halloran, and Parkes kept their split to 18 seconds. A minute behind them was Sigmund just edging out Kenna for the last medalist spot. Freshman Olk rounded out the scoring seven to secure 1st place with an impressive 29 points. Lexie Perfect and Annie Ryan were our next finishers around the 15 minute mark and could be factored into postseason roster spots as we head into invite season. Gianna Plescia posted an almost 2 and a half minute improvement from Elmwood last season, really illustrating that the hard work pays off. Bridget Martin showed some fight in mile two as she opened her running career. Gabi Rosales and Mia Moreno worked to break twenty minutes in their debut race for the roadrunners and Ava Arroyo rounded out the day for the frosh soph racers.
The Elmwood Park Trial on the Trail is a great way to start our season. It’s a chance to see where we are starting, and gives us a glimpse of where we are going. As the calendar turns to September, it’s time for Invite season where we will be tested by strong foes and every week will be a chance at growth and development so that when we move forward in time, we will be exactly where we want to be.
Coach Wejman
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse