15. Barrington
Head Coach: Debbie Revolta
Last years finish: 7th- Waukegan Sectional
Key Returners: Jocelyn Long (Sr.), Alyssa Norris (So.), Eve Hoeltgen (Jr.), Shelby Petersen (Jr.)
Projected top 7: Long, Norris, Hoeltgen, Hoeltgen, Petersen, ?; could be some freshmen.
Newcomers: Junior Sophie Hoeltgen (back from injury), Freshmen Molly Fitzpatrick, Anne Berquist, Katherine Shein
Coache Revolta's thoughts: "If this team stays healthy and the freshmen can make an impact, we could have a very good season. Lots of ifs I know but I have no way of knowing how good the freshmen can or will be."
14. O'Fallon
Head Coach/coaches: Jeff Durlak / Mike Kennedy, Nick Nenni,
Jeff Harvey
Last year's finish: 20th- State Finals
Key returners: Danielle Osmon (Jr.), Eva Cardy (Jr.), Jana Nehila (Jr.), Roxanne Temple (Sr.), Samantha Kaye (Sr.)
Projected top 7: Our five key returners from above, Eliza
Scoggin, plus a handful of individuals who could potentially be in our top 7
throughout the year.
Newcomers: Eliza Scoggin (So.)
Coach Durlak's thoughts on team: "After qualifying for the State Finals for the second straight season, the girls have trained throughout the summer with that purpose once again in mind. The girls return 5 of their 7 runners from the 2016 State Meet. However, we lost our biggest group of seniors in a while in Rachael Temple, Brooke Drabek, and Lauren Troemel who were 3 of our top 8 last season. One of the big challenges this year is for our returners to fill in the void left by those seniors and continue to add depth to the program."
"Danielle and Eva were our top 2 runners last season and headline our group coming back. Danielle had an excellent sophomore season resulting in a 14th Place All-State finish. Danielle has had by far her best summer of training and is poised for an even better junior season. Eva just missed out on All-State last season (26th Place) and just missed qualifying in the 3200m for track so she has a lot of motivation for a solid season. Eva has improved tremendously over the last two seasons and expect her to take her running to a new level this year. Jana was consistently our #4 runner last season which was only her first season of running. Jana has continued to improve throughout the summer and am looking forward to what she will do this season with more experience under her belt. Roxanne and Samantha are both 3-year varsity runners that will bring a lot of experience and toughness to our varsity lineup once again this year. Eliza is a newcomer that can definitely be a big help to our team this year and into the future as well. Our sophomore group of returning girls (Allie Johnson, Drue Polka, Taylor Bushman) all had great summers pushing each other and could factor into our lineup at some point this season."
"While the target this season is to not only to get back downstate but also improve upon our finish from a year ago, that is not the daily focus. The group has been very consistent with their training this summer and that will hopefully transition well into the season. They will keep working on getting better each day and improving throughout the season which will hopefully lead to a successful end to the season."
Head Coach/coaches: Jeff Downing/Jennifer Roddick-Small, Harvey Braus
Last year's finish: 11th- State Meet
Key returners: Olivia Niziolek (Sr.), Kathleen Glockner (Sr.), Amanda Walbert (Sr.)
Projected top 7: Niziolek, Glockner, Walbert, Laura Downey, Lauren May, Klaudia Wachnik, Madison Purtell
Newcomers: Carley Bomrad, Keeley Flynn
Coach Downing's thoughts on team:
"Our team will be led by Olivia Niziolek. We are expecting her to finish near the front in most meets. After her finish last year in cross country (12th place) and in track (3rd in the 1600m), we are hoping that she will make a run well into the top 10 this year. She has had a nice summer of running and looks ready for the season.
The rest of our team should be pack-oriented. They will be led by 2 senior captains (Glockner & Walbert), who have led the others through a set of summer workouts. How well they continue to work together in practice and big meets, will determine our success. After finishing in 11th this past year, they should be well-focused on qualifying again and making a run at the top 10 this year.
We are hoping that a few of our returning runners and incoming freshmen will add the depth that we are going to need."
11. Geneva
Last year's finish: 16th- State Championship
Key returners: Abby Schrobilgen (Jr), Abby Korak (So), Melissa Spencer (Sr), Jaycie Hudson (Jr), Maddie Miller (Jr), Katelyn Singh (Sr), Hannah Stuart (Jr), Kiara Delgado (Jr), and Kennison Adams (Sr)
Newcomers: Emiley England (fr)
Coach Partrylak's thoughts on team:
"Last year we finished 16th in the AAA Girls State XC Championships. This year our goal is to be in the top ten.
We lose only two members of the 2016 State Team, but the two are seniors (Julianna Determan and Victoria Vegher) were the heart and soul of the team.
At this time, we do not have any transfers, but we do have several freshman to provide depth, but one that will surely be in our top five. Our top freshman is Emiley England. Emily is a multiple time IESA All-State Runner. last year she found herself as a clear cut number one runner without teammates to run with (she always had All-State runners to train with in the past). She also had a new coach and struggled with the lower mileage. This summer she has been training with our varsity girls from day one and should be in our top five through out the season.
During the summer we have worked on have the athletes build a base and increase mileage. We have implemented one workout a week and one long run a week. This is year three of the new program Coach Davis, Coach Dust and I have created for the team and we are seeing the girls run further, while also increasing their paces. Having Coach Davis work with the distance crew in track has been crucial in the overall conditioning of the ladies.
The past few seasons we have dealt with some of our runners having low iron. That impacted two of our key members last year. We think we have a better grasp on this condition and we have had nutritionist talk with our girls and their families. Hopefully that ugly beast will not show its head this year.
We have decided to drop out of the Wheaton Flighted race and will return to Peoria again. If we can get our guys and ladies into the Palentine Invite we will, but it is currently full."