Morris girls cross country team 17th at East Peoria Sectional
By Jane Milller - Special to the Herald
EAST PEORIA - Notre Dame senior C.J. Elward put another checkmark on his list of accomplishments by winning the East Peoria Sectional on Saturday, but his victory was almost an afterthought. That's because he and his teammates ran a dominating race to win the team title, 45-80 over Normal U-High.
U-High had been the top-ranked team by Dyestat-Illinois coming into the race. But the Irish placed Matt Birkel sixth, Paul Fortin 11th, Mike Birkel 13th and J.D. Wynn 14th to ensure a trip to the state meet next
Saturday at Deweiller Park.
"Today's all about the team," said Elward. "I won state by myself in track (Class 2A 3200 meters) and I want to do it with the team this year. I want to come home with two golds next week and I think it's very
possible. We came out here to win today and we did that."
They did it in spite of a course all the competitors said was the most difficult they had ever seen it. Slick mud made footing treacherous and sapped energy from even the strongest runners.
As a team, the Morris girls finished 17th with Kelly Schwantner ending with the highest individual finish at 52nd.
"It was really slippery. It was hard to get traction and I think I got my worst time this year possibly (21:33)," Schwantner said. "We wanted to get better than 16th (as a team) because that's what we got last year."
Elward agreed with Schwantner's assessment of the course.
"I ran a lot better today than I have all year and I ran 16-flat (16:05)," said Elward. "It's the slowest I've ever run out here except my freshman year. And I haven't felt well - I had a fever two days ago - but once I got out there, I felt great. This was my type of course - a muddy, strength course - and I just went out and ran hard."
Other boys teams which qualified were Galesburg (third), which finished third in the state last year, and Metamora (fifth), with Ryan Van Fossen and Stephan Rauh finishing second and third.
Van Fossen has slowly been coming back from a summer injury and ran his best race of the season Saturday.
"It almost makes it worth it," said Van Fossen of his struggles. "It seemed like a lot of the race was strategy. We were told to go out hard."
Van Fossen passed Rauh right at the finish.
"It was so much fun to see Fossie come by me there at the end," said Rauh. "We're working hard in practices and it's fun to see it pay off."
Individuals advancing include Dunlap senior Johnny Crain (seventh overall), East Peoria senior Hugh Gill (eighth), Morton junior Joe Zeller (10th) and Limestone sophomore Tyler Morse (12th).
Gill said he followed his game plan to the letter.
"And when I heard I was eighth, I knew I was in," he said. "What a way to end the season, on the muddiest course ever. It had to be the funnest race, even though it was tiring."
Yorkville, led by individual winner Ali Hester, won the girls title but Notre Dame finished second despite sophomore Jessie Wynn being hampered by a sore ankle and illness.
Wynn finished 28th overall but Kelsi Finan stepped up to finish 10th and Molly Dahlquist was 12th. Julie Hendricksen (26th) and Maggie Clark (27th) rounded out ND's top five.
"If you'd have told me with all the sickness and injuries we've had this week that we were going to be in it like this ... They ran like tigers today," said ND coach Mike Sullivan.
East Peoria sophomore Emma Preston finished second overall and the Raiders advanced with a fourth-place finish.
"Today was a real test of strength," said Preston, of the conditions but also the pressure. "You had to fight it out."
EP senior Cassie Lohmeier finished 17th in her first race in several weeks.
Galesburg, led by Stephanie Saey in third, advanced as a team for the first time and the Streaks' screams of joy could be heard all over the park.
"We just all wanted to do it for the team," said Saey.
Jane Miller is a reporter for the Peoria Journal Star. She can be reached at Jmiller@pjstar.com
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