The early musings show some very good teams whose main goal is to be a hostile opponent to those who hold positions in the upper hierarchy
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Head Coach/coaches: Jim Halford/Lisa Halford, Haley Hunter
Last year's finish: 8th- Woodstock Sectional
Key returners: Ezzie Posner (Sr.), Brigid Hull (Jr.), Isabel Ashley (Jr.), Abby Kuderna (Sr.), Carly Sasman (Jr.)
Projected top 7: These girls are our top 5. Ashley Coe Jr., Maddie Ives So. and Hannah Arends Jr. round out our top 8.
Newcomers: At this point, we do not have any high impact freshman coming in.
Coach Halford's thoughts on the team: For the last four years we have been a top 12-15 team. We have always had a goal to have five runners average between 18:45 and 19:00. This will be realistic as our top four averaged 18:53 last year. The last four years we probably would have qualified out of any other sectional. We will probably be back to the Belvedere Sectional which includes last years top 3 teams. Our goal is to put ourselves in a position to be a top 7 school in the sectional, with the above mentioned time goal for our top 5.
Head Coach: Wayne Edelman
Last year's finish: 16th- State Championship
Outlook: All-Stater Katie Castelli is expected back and ready to lead things this fall. She is on a mountain high after placing fifth in the 3200m state final this past spring. However, although there are four starters back, there is a huge wedge between Bergstrom and the rest of the team. The time gap could be a reason that the Lions might have a difficult time pushing for a high ranking this fall.
23. Highland
Head Coach/coaches: Doug Bradley/Bob Vance
Last year's finish: 21st- State Championship
Key returners: Sam Hengehold (Sr.), Jessica Borror (Jr.), Julia Loeh (Jr.), Grace Meyer (Jr.), Paige Schaible (Jr.), Faith Brindley (So.), Danielle Little (So.), Britin Machuca (So.).
Projected top 7: Sam Hengehold, Jessica Borror, Grace Meyer, Julia Loeh, Paige Schaible, Faith Brindley, Britin Machuca.
Newcomers: Chloe Marti (Jr.) Maggie VonHatten (Jr.) Krista Rittenhouse (So.) Madalyn McCall (So.) Maddie Dortch (Fr.) Liv Heinzmann (Fr.)
Coach Bradley's thoughts on the team: I'm excited to see how this team competes. We lost one senior and are adding some talented newcomers. I really like the consistency that I see in the summer mileage so far. It tells me that they are willing to work. The giant question is, how hard are they willing to go for each other when the gun sounds? If the upperclassmen (Hengehold, Borror, Loeh, Meyer, and Schaible) push the right buttons in bringing the less experienced girls along, then this team could be very exciting come October.
22. Carbondale
Head Coach/coaches: Greg Storm/Stephen Arvanis
Last year's finish: 25th- State Championship
Projected top 7: Madeline Prideaux, Anna Schurz, Sadie Torre, Rose Kippenbrock
Newcomers: N/A
Coach Storm's thoughts on the team: As we had last year we should have a solid 1-2 and hope to keep getting progression from our 3rd -7th girl. We experienced some injury/sickness issues with our back group last year which caused the gap to bigger than expected from our 2nd -5th runner. We hope to have 7 of our Top 8 returning which will help when it comes to experience even though we will only have 1 senior in the group. We are slowly developing this summer and will work to round into racing shape towards the middle of the season and can continue the push to the postseason.
Head Coach: Scott Nelson
Last year's finish: 20th- State Championship
Key returners: Minnie Rolston (Jr), Madeline Andelbradt (So), Gabby Hernandez (Jr), Leah Gaul (So), Clare Kolker (Sr)
Outlook: The Spartans return five of their top seven including the top four runners. The key, as it is with most teams, having a lockdown scorer at the #5 position, is a must.