Streaks’ Beattie first in her class

Woodstock junior Kayla Beattie is the Northwest Herald Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year. Beattie finished first in the Class 2A race at the IHSA Cross Country State Meet, running the second-fastest time of the three girls races. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com)

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After the Class 2A race at the IHSA Cross Country State Meet, Woodstock junior Kayla Beattie could address the subject.

She had been leery of saying too much before, but yes, winning state had been her major goal. It had been that way from the start of summer training in June. It had been that way since the 2008 state meet, when assistant coach Bill Macaulay pulled her aside after the Class 3A race and planted a seed.

“Bill had her look at the [Detweiller Park] course and told her to make up her mind what she wanted to do,” Blue Streaks coach Marty Sobczak said.

On an unseasonably warm day this month, Beattie reached her goal.

She capped a consistently strong season by winning the Class 2A state championship, running the second-fastest time of the three girls races.

“It was hard at times,” Beattie said of meeting the expectations. “Most of the season I just tried to focus on myself. Having a not-so-great season last year helped [with motivation].”

Beattie, who started the season by winning the McHenry County Meet and lost only a couple of races, is the overwhelming choice for Northwest Herald Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year, selected by the sports staff with input from area coaches.

Elise Beattie, Kayla’s senior sister, took third in the Class 2A race. The two trained with the Woodstock boys team most of the summer and during the high school season. Joining the Beatties on the All-Area first team are Marengo’s Katie Adams, Crystal Lake South’s Marianne Collard and Johnsburg’s Kelly McNeely. Coincidentally, those were the top five finishers at the McHenry County Meet, which annually kicks off the season.

Selected to the second team were Huntley’s Haley Loprieno, South’s Kristina Aubert, Cary-Grove’s Megan Cummings and Crystal Lake Central’s Molly Flood and Taylor Miller.

Kayla Beattie became Woodstock’s second state cross country champion. Katie Hartmann won the Class AA title in 1999. Basketball player Jen Nichols, who won the IHSA Three-Point Shootout in 2006, is the other individual girls state champion from Woodstock.

“I thought I had a really good season,” Kayla said. “I started really strong, toward the middle I had a few bad races, but I came back strong at the end.”

Kayla lost to Adams in the Freeport Regional, but won the Belvidere Sectional the next week. At state, defending 2A champion Margo Richardson, of Mount Vernon, and Kayla found each other early and separated from the pack, with Elise not far behind, but well ahead of the rest of the group.

Kayla added distance in the final 800 meters and beat Richardson by 6 seconds, finishing in 17:14. After running in Class 3A the two previous years, the Beatties wanted to run times that would have been competitive in that class. Kayla’s time would have beaten every girl in any class except 3A champion Lavinia Jurkiewicz of Whitney Young (17:11).

“[The Beatties] had a real good focus,” Sobczak said. “Anything they were doing was aimed at [being the best in state]. Kayla was saying ‘I didn’t have a great year last year, but I’m healthy.’ She just kept going.”

Kayla had health issues late in her freshman year that set her back last cross country season. Still, she came back and finished a respectable 43rd in the Class 3A state meet and helped the Streaks win another FVC title.

Both Beatties won medals in state track in the spring and continued through the summer.

“I took three weeks off after track, then had a real solid summer,” Kayla said. “It was really beneficial for us running with the boys and being in a big pack. Our Nos. 5-7 guys, we were able to run with. We owe a lot of our success to them. Even though they didn’t make it to state [as a team], they saw how they helped me and Elise.”