Hinsdale C Boys, Prospect Girls Take Hornet-Devil Titles

Hinsdale IL-

The first big weekend of action was greeted with high humidity and sunshine. The Mercury was already at 80F when the first race took flight at 9a at Katherine Legge Memorial Park. As it's been for several years now, the Hornet-Devil Invitational would be the lead-in meet of a massive few days filled with cross country action. 

As customary of a host school to show hospitality and pleasantries, no one does quite like Hinsdale South and Central does. It was all smiles and games prior to the start of the first race.

Boys summary-

#2 Prospect coach Pete Wintermute had an alibi prior to the meet. "Well, we are keeping some of our top girls down in this one, and have been dealing with some sickness," he said prior to the start of the meet. Two of his charges that stayed underground were freshman Meg Peterson and sophomore Veronica Znajda (they would go 1-2 in the sophomore race). It is a calculated risk with such a strong field, but when you are deep as the Knights, it's best to keep the youngins down to gain some valuable experience.

The opening stages of the race was as conservative as the boy's race- the opening mile in 5:45 allowed just about all of the main players to sit comfortably. A stream of girls dotting #3 Naperville Central, Palatine, and a few others kept Prospect in their eyesight.

Individually, it was a sea of red with Naperville Central posing with its top three girls among the first eight runners entering the second mile.

Senior Audra Soderlind of Oswego would take over the chores and led through the second mile in 11:37. However, she began to show signs of labor with senior Hailey Erickson of Prospect within striking distance.

With the race cut to less than a half mile remaining, it was a track race for Erickson who had already seized the momentum from the field several minutes before. She would dash home for her first Hornet-Devil title in 17:40- more than 21 seconds better than junior Kate Tueting of Naperville Central.

Once again Prospect won the betting game and the spoils came a nice team title without a great effort from junior Lily Ginsberg who finished ninth and left the two frosh runners down at the lower levels. Had they been inserted into the varsity races, the margin of victory would have been greater.