Midlothian, IL- It was a beautiful day at the Midlothian Meadows forest preserve. The temperature was in the high 50s to low 60s with almost no rain and some sun showing. The weather lead to some huge performances by some stacked fields and may have been the most surprising sectional of the week
The girls' varsity race started off the day with a great tone. From the gun, Brenna Cohoon of Downers Grove South took an early lead within the first seven seconds of the race. Cohoon led a pack that consisted of Kate Dickman of Lyons Township, McKenna Revord of Hinsdale Central, Juliana Stogsdill of Plainfield North, Melissa Weidner of Downers Grove South, and Erin Reidy of Downers Grove South through the first mile at a quick 5:38 mile. Not far behind the pack was a runner trying to find her footing this year, Abby Lopez of Argo. Lopez really moved up in the second mile with Cohoon as the duo came through the second mile in 11:28 with Dickman, Revord, and Weidner about four to six seconds behind them.
The pack had dropped Reidy and Stogsdill in the second mile as Reidy was now in sixth and Stogsdill was in seventh. Revord and Dickman started to make their move with 1200 meters left in the race and Cohoon sensed it with 800 meters to go she found a new gear dropping the pack of Lopez, Weidner, Revord, and Dickman.
Cohoon didn't look back and won the sectional title with a 17:01. It is weird to think that Cohoon has never broken the 17:00 barrier. It seems like she most definitely will at Detweiller Park this upcoming weekend. This was a race that second place finisher Revord needed as she ran a 17:08 after some not so great performances at her past few meets. Weidner (3rd, 17:13), Lopez (4th, 17:14), Dickman (5th, 17:15), Reidy (6th, 17:32), Stogsdill (7th, 17:41), Marta Kogucki of Lyons Township (8th, 17:45), Kennedy Warden of Downers Grove South (9th, 17:46), and Rebecca Diddia of Downers Grove South (10th, 17:47) rounded out your other all-sectional honorees.
The Mustangs dominated here winning easily with a score of 29 points. They ended up placing 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 10th, 13th, and 15th. Other teams that qualified were Lyons Township (59 points), Hinsdale Central (80 points), Downers Grove North (104 points), and Plainfield North (164 points). The individual qualifiers were Lopez, Cassidy Martin of Plainfield South, Nora Mcclorey of Marist, Paola Gonzalez of Morton, Ella Jeffries of Sandburg, Laura Durkin of Fenwick, and Marie O'Brien of Fenwick.