The Naperville North girls have proven for the past three years that they know how to step up when the pressure is on. Rising senior Judy Pendergast rose to the occasion at NXN last fall, exploding to a huge All-American, 22nd place finish in 18:11 for 5k. Her big run was anomalous compared to the rest of her season, as she was always a pack leader but usually ran closer to the rest of the top five. The Huskies packed up for an impressive 19-second top five spread to win the Class 3A Illinois State Championship over nationally ranked squads in Glenbard West and Palatine to begin their post-season run.
The Huskies return five from last year's fourth place squad and if tradition is any indicator, they could be ready to place even higher in 2015. They placed 15th in 2012 and 13th in 2013. They do lose No. 3 and No. 5 runners in Elly Deturris and Emily Hamilton, but Sarah Schmitt has raced off-the-charts with times of 10:50.06 for 3200m and 5:10.10 for 1600m in just her freshman year.
Emily's little sister, Claire, also enjoyed a standout spring that saw her break the sub-5 1600m and sub-11 3200m barriers for the first time. She should be ready to carry that momentum and contribute on an entirely new level come fall. Emory Griffin is a name to watch who did not make the top seven last fall, but competed at NXN in 2013. The rising senior ran PRs of 2:22 for 800m and 5:16 for 1600m and looks primed to be a contributor in her final prep season.
Illinois races three miles more often than 5k and the Huskies are the No. 4 returning team in the nation based on 2014 three mile times, with a top five average of 17:27.76 and 59-second split. Schmitt, Pendergast and Hamilton all ran under 17:10 for the distance last fall; if they can pack up to get under 16 minutes early in the season, that will be a good indicator of where their speed stands compared to the rest of the nation. For comparison's sake, Great Oak's returning top five rank No. 1 with an average of 16:54 for three miles but the No. 2 and No. 3 returning teams of Desert Vista and Glenbard West average just slightly faster than Naperville North with 17:27.0 and 17:19.72.
Top Returners from 2014 XC Season (5k):
| 1) Judy Pendergast | 18:05.20 | 54 | ||
| 2) Sarah Schmitt | 18:07.80 | 64 | ||
| 3) Claire Hamilton | 18:26.70 | 127 | ||
| 4) Natalie Dunnett | 18:51.10 | 271 | ||
| 5) Jenny Gibson | 19:31.40 | 598 | ||
| Average Time: 18:36.44 Total Time: 1:33:02.20 1-5 Split: 1:26.20 | ||||
Top Returner from 2014 XC Season (3 Miles):
| 1) Sarah Schmitt | 17:04.40 | 20 | ||
| 2) Judy Pendergast | 17:06.00 | 22 | ||
| 3) Claire Hamilton | 17:09.00 | 27 | ||
| 4) Natalie Dunnett | 17:56.00 | 186 | ||
| 5) Kayla Glowacki | 18:03.40 | 236 | ||
| Average Time: 17:27.76 Total Time: 1:27:18.80 1-5 Split: 59.00 | ||||
| 6) Kathyrn Abe | 18:04.50 | 244 | ||
| 7) Jenny Gibson | 18:08.00 | 270 | ||
Top Returning 3200m Times from 2015 Outdoor Season:
| 1) Judy Pendergast | 10:34.55 | 10 | ||
| 2) Sarah Schmitt | 10:50.06 | 39 | ||
| 3) Claire Hamilton | 10:59.76 | 58 | ||
| 4) Kayla Glowacki | 11:41.63 | 259 | ||
| 5) Kathryn Abe | 11:56.14 | 344 | ||
| Average Time: 11:12.43 Total Time: 56:02.14 1-5 Split: 1:21.59 | ||||
| 6) Shannon Jennings | 12:23.01 | 549 | ||
Top Returning 1600m Times from 2015 Outdoor Season:
| 1) Judy Pendergast | 4:56.53 | 21 | ||
| 2) Claire Hamilton | 4:57.32 | 25 | ||
| 3) Sarah Schmitt | 5:10.10 | 104 | ||
| 4) Emory Griffin | 5:13.22 | 134 | ||
| 5) Jenny Gibson | 5:17.12 | 184 | ||
| Average Time: 5:06.86 Total Time: 25:34.29 1-5 Split: 20.59 | ||||
| 6) Kate Shannon | 5:27.00 | 338 | ||
| 7) Kayla Glowacki | 5:34.38 | 468 | ||
Q&A with Naperville North head coach Dan Iverson
Naperville North head coach Dan Iverson poses with the girls team after winning the Class 3A Illinois State Cross Country Championships last fall.
How many years have you coached at Naperville North?
I have been at Naperville North for 21 years.
Do you also coach track?
Yes. I am the distance coach.
How many state titles/accolades have your teams won?
We have won six IHSA State Championships and 14 top-three finishes since 1993.
Who are your potential top 7 returners?
Our returners from last year’s top seven are Judy Pendergast, Claire Hamilton, Sarah Schmitt, Jenny Gibson and Natalie Dunnett. Emory Griffin, Kate Shannon and Ella Guppy were top seven runners for us in 2013 and are also back and in good shape.
Are there any top freshmen or transfers coming in who you could see making an immediate impact?
Alex Morris is a freshman who very well could make an immediate impact.
How has summer training been going for your team? What do you focus on during summer months?
Well, summer is sort of over now, but it went very well. We focus, like most people I think, on putting in miles and getting stronger for the upcoming season.
Who are your team captains and how do they lead your team?
We have six captains - Sydney Prestifilippo, Nicole Marcus, Kate Shannon, Jenny Gibson, Judy Pendergast and Kailee Nardi. They are in charge of organizing much of what we do as a team outside of our workouts. They set our theme each year, and they are in charge of facilitating our targets and goals as an entire team every year. They are elected by the team after the previous season, and they are all current seniors.
What major invitationals are you planning to attend?
We will run the Pleasant Valley Spartan Challenge in Bettendorf, Iowa, the First to the Finish Invitational, the Roy Griak Invitational and the Naperville Twilight Invitational.
What are your top 3 goals for this year's squad?
I don’t set team targets. The girls do that. And I’ll let that stay private amongst them. But suffice it to say we want to be very good this year.
Your team is a perennial NXN competitor. What have you learned over the years from bringing teams there? What advice would you lend to a coach and/or athletes trying to extend their peak beyond state to qualify for the first time?
We have been at the last three NXN competitions, but I think it is dangerous to consider oneself a perennial NXN competitor. With only 22 spots each year, it is certainly nothing to take for granted. But I have learned a lot of things. In terms of bringing athletes there, the key for us seems to be focusing on the race instead of the myriad of other things on which to focus. We travel to a lot of meets throughout the year, so we hope by the time we get to NXN that we are not overly distracted. We have had uneven success at that, but I like to think we are getting better. As for qualifying for the first time, I think we have been successful because we have made NXR a normal part of our year for our entire team. We took 56 girls last year to NXR, and that makes it feel more like a normal part of the year.
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Your girls ran an impressive 26-second top 5 spread to win the Illinois 3A state title last fall. At NXN Midwest Regionals, they boasted 46 second 1-5 spread and 1:17 1-5 spread at Nationals. How does your team practice pack running and what difference do you think it makes at the large scale meets? Why is it more difficult to run in a pack at Nationals than at State? Is it due to the size of the field, high-pressure environment or another factor?
We do not practice pack running, ever. We obviously do run together in practice, and the girls certainly push each other, which makes them better. But we definitely do not preach pack running as any sort of a strategy in races. We want that to happen naturally. Last year, the 26-second spread was the product of natural evolution throughout the year. Our 46-second split at NXR was also a natural evolution, as the front of our pack (Judy) was really coming on well. The 77-second split at NXN was also the product mostly of a huge breakthrough race by Judy. I think it is definitely tough in larger meets to stay nearer to teammates, but that is exactly why we do not preach team running. We simply don’t want our athletes depending on being near each other. We want them to be able to run well when the teammates they normally train with have especially good or bad races, they still possess the capacity to run their own race.
How did last year's NXN finish help Judy Pendergast find her breakthrough?
Well, I think really NXN was her breakthrough. She was 18th, I think at NXR in Terre Haute and then 22nd at NXN. She ran so well there that I missed her when counting places half way through the race. I thought she dropped out. If you look at her races at the end of the season, she was clearly on a steady crescendo all the way to NXN.
It looks like she really found her stride on the track this spring, winning the state 3200m title and running PRs of 10:34, 4:56, 2:17.
Yes, definitely. But I really do think that was a natural extension of where she ended cross country.
How much weight do you put on track success to translate to XC?
One should flow readily into the next. Ideally, we want to see progression season-to-season, but that does not always happen. And it differs runner-to-runner. Some of our kids are very successful track athletes who struggle with the aerobic strength necessary to do well on the CC course. And of course, some are fantastic CC runners who probably will be great marathoners someday, but they struggle to run a solid 800m or 1600m. Judy specifically is developing some pretty good range from 800m to CC.
What do you think she is capable of this year?
She is in very, very good shape. Illinois this year has two really amazing returners in Lindsay Graham from Glenbard West and Kelly O’Brien from Palatine. Both are excellent runners and will be tough to beat. That being said, I know she is focused on finishing very high both in our state championships, as well as at the national level. And I do believe she is capable of it. Certainly, her workouts have been encouraging at this point.
Your girls compete in Class 3A alongside Palatine and Glenbard West, two outstanding programs. How does competing against the likes of those schools prepare you for national competition? Do you face them often during the regular season as well?
We do see Glenbard West this year, at our Twilight Invitational. We will not see Palatine until state. We are fortunate to run against some very good programs regularly, in every meet. We travel to Iowa to see some of the top teams there and from Minnesota. At Peoria, we see Hinsdale Central (who should be VERY good) and others who will be in the top five/ten statewide here. We travel to Griak to see some of the best teams in the Midwest and even nationally. And we have invited some of the very best teams in Illinois to run at Twilight. So we really hope to have a very well-rounded experience, running against a myriad of competition on a variety of courses. This should put us in a position of competing at the highest levels in situations similar to what we faced all year long, and I consider that very important.