Inside cross country

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Boys Athlete
of the Week

Phil Meyer

Woodstock, jr.

Meyer finished fourth Saturday in the Crystal Lake South Invitational in 17:11.2 to help the Blue Streaks to a fourth-place finish in the 20-team meet at Veteran Acres Park.

Meyer was the second local finisher, one spot behind Cary-Grove’s Phil Fairleigh, leading Woodstock to 113 points. Teammate J.D. Fuller also had a strong race in ninth place.

“I’m very happy with that,” Meyer said of fourth place. “Our team is coming along. We had a good strong summer and want to keep building on that.”

Earlier in the week, Meyer was fifth in the McHenry County Meet, also at Veteran Acres.

Girls Athlete
of the Week

Katie Adams

Marengo, fr.

Adams showed that a little confidence can go a long way as she took second place Saturday at the Crystal Lake South Invitational.

Earlier in the week, Adams was third in the McHenry County Meet, her first varsity race. On Saturday, she was on the heels of Woodstock’s Kayla Beattie, the race winner, all the way. Beattie won in 19:03.7; Adams finished in 19:07.4. With Adams chasing her, Beattie beat her own course record, set at the county meet, by 19 seconds.

“It was exciting,” Adams said. “There was someone to push me, which was good. And she’s really nice, too.”

Noteworthy

Gators with bite: Crystal Lake South’s girls were off to a strong start with their performances in the county meet and South Invitational. The Gators would have won the county meet if team scores were kept, and took second in their invitational, six points behind Rolling Meadows.

Marianne Collard, Kristina Aubert and Nina Wajrowski finished in the top 15 in both races.

“It was pretty impressive,” South coach Niki Lydon said. “We knew our top three would be good. Nina is running much better than I anticipated. Our [Nos.] 4-7 runners are close together, but we have to work on closing the gap.”

Missing Raider: Huntley looks like a team that can contend for the Fox Valley Conference championship along with Crystal Lake South and Crystal Lake Central. The Red Raiders finished third Saturday at the South Invitational and soon could get a boost when sophomore Amy Kahl returns.

Kahl was an honorable mention pick last year but underwent an appendectomy Aug. 6. She has not run since, but said she might resume training in a week.

“Right now I’ve only done little things like walking and [riding] the stationary bike,” Kahl said. “I’m very anxious to get back. The plan is to slowly get me back where I used to be.”

That will give Kahl almost five weeks to prepare for the postseason. Just an idea of what her return could mean is this: Huntley’s fifth runner was 64th Saturday, and Kahl, even at less than 100 percent, probably could be in the top 25.

This week’s
top meets

Wauconda Invitational

9 a.m. Saturday
Lake County Forest Preserve

Local teams running in one of the season’s largest meets will be Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake Central, Crystal Lake South, Harvard, Huntley, Johnsburg, Marian Central, McHenry and Richmond-Burton.

Peoria Woodruff
Invitational

9 a.m. Saturday

Peoria’s Detweiller Park

Woodstock, Dundee-Crown and Jacobs are the first three local teams to run in a meet on the course that will host the IHSA State Cross Country Meet in November.

– Joe Stevenson
jstevenson@nwherald.com