Belvidere North Girls, Dixon Boys Win 2A FTTF Titles

Peoria, IL-

Inclement weather subsided by the time the 2A theatre action commenced. Top-ranked Belvidere North was more than ready to meet the challenge from what some termed a classic field. Those competitors included: #2 Vernon Hills, #3 Lake Villa (Lakes), #6 Mahomet-Seymour, #7 Dunlap, #8 Dixon

Belvidere North won a close battle over Vernon Hills in a huge field that featured almost 50 teams. The Blue Thunder had big numbers up front at the 1, 2, 3 spots and that is hard to overcome despite a hefty 1:47 scoring split. Junior Madison Diercks led the way in third place followed by junior Gianna Sagona's fifth-place spot. Conversely, the Cougars used a strong tight running pack running to stay intact and threaten themselves to the title. Senior Hannah Ray ran her best race since freshman year and jumped herself into the team's top role after being in the shadows. Unfortunately, Vernon Hills doesn't have a low enough stick at the moment to overcome Belvidere North's big three. Normal U High surprised several squads with a third-place finish on the strength of Ella Bittner's 11th place finish. That's good news and when Lyndsey Wolters returns as the #1 runner, this team will be even better. 

Dethroning Diercks as defending titlist was sophomore Brooke Stromsland from Lakes Community. Stromsland won in 17:21, which is only 6 seconds behind her PR last year that scored her a 4th place finish at the cross country state finals last year. Freshman phenom Ava Parekh from Chicago Latin took 2nd place in her first high school 3-mile race with a nice 17:37. Unfortunately, the trip to Peoria for returning 2A state champion Jenna Schwartz of Waterloo was not a pleasant one. The Waterloo bus ended up with a flat tire, but the incident had no bearing on Schwartz who rode with her parents and was the only Waterloo runner. She ended up placing 7th overall. Other notable performances include a 4th place finish from sophomore Marianne Mihas of Chicago Latin, and 8th place finish from Cameron Hough, a senior from Richland County (Olney). Mihas won the 1A state championship in the 1600m the past spring, 6th last year at FTTF and 18th at cross-country state last year. Mihas and Parekh look to be a deadly dynamic duo. Hough's previous PR was a 19:04 from her freshman year and she ran an 18:22 to finish 8th.