Josie Welin, Kroy Girls Pull Off Big Wins At Shazam Champs

PHOTOS I VIDEOS I RESULTS

Chillicothe, IL-

When the season was initially in uncertain status because of the pandemic, no one had a clue in how things would look for the fall, much less a cross country campaign. The IHSA released guidelines on how to conduct races as well as the size of races. Coaches and meet directors figured things out in a hurry with duals, tri's, and quad meets. And the most popular of them all was flight style invitationals to accommodate large numbers of competitors. The Shazam meet management would uphold the same frequency when they took over after the sectional round.

One runner who took over the scene during the post-season was junior Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest HS. Welin, who finished 16th in last year's state meet, used the pandemic shutdown to her advantage. She was able to find solitude in training alone and on her own timeline. Perhaps, the time to strengthen the mind brought Welin to this point. 

Division 3 is the creme of the crop as they say and with virtually the best girls all in one race- this time it's flight #4.

Welin took the opening pace out as hard as she had in recent weekends, this one is a blistering first mile 5:25 that made the all-star cast looked as if they were standing still. Ali Ince (Normal Community), Katrina Schlenker (Batavia), Maggie Gamboa (Naperville North), Aly Negovetich (Grant), Samantha Poglitsch (Wheaton-Warrenville South), and Brooke Johnston (Lake Zurich) were some of the key namesakes clocking between 5:38-5:41.

Some onlookers seemed worried that Welin's torrid pace would soon catch up to her. However, as she passed the halfway point, the lead stretch to over 20 seconds. The next official checkpoint would be the second mile inside the woods.

Welin rolled past a sizable group of onlookers in 11:07, 10 seconds faster than course record holder Ava Parekh of Chicago Latin ran on Friday. But more importantly, the current chase group led by Schlenker, Negovetich, and Gamboa were 30 seconds back in 11:37. 

The last portion of the race featured a reversal of the opening half-mile and Welin was flanked by a bevy of fans which inspired her toward a record pace march. The third-mile checkmark was negotiated in 16:54, and it was clear sailing across the finish line in an unmatched time of 17:25.64. For the third straight week, Welin won a virtual contest against the field. She is crowned the distance queen of the weekend.

Schlenker held off Gamboa for second 18:00-18:02 and Negotevich, who lost for the first time this season, took fourth ahead of Michaela Quinn of York 18:11-18:17. 

The team battle was meant to go to top-ranked Naperville North (North Naperville XC Club) who hadn't lost a meet in the post-season in five years to a state opponent. 

The opening flight looked solid for the Huskies who placed second and third behind Kate Donaldson and Logan Brennan's 19:30 and 19:33.

Lucy Westlake of Naperville North won flight two in 18:48. York (Kroy XC) hit harder with their two placements Katelyn Winton and Katherine Klimek who went second and third 18:58 and 19:01. Naperville North's fifth girl would now become Brennan because Sophie Golobitsh clocked a tough 19:34 in this flight.

The third flight would be pivotal as Brooke Berger of York maintained a sizable lead to win in 18:12. This was a surprise to many because she displaced Naperville North's key runners Audrey Mendrys and Petersen Campbell- both went second and third in 18:31 and 18:36. The damage had been done and it didn't matter what happened in flight 4. The Lady Dukes scored the biggest win in program history 58-71.