2015: Re-live the all-time state record-breaking run by Naperville North senior Judy Pendergast
Pendergast post race interview
Individually, it was one of the deepest fields in state history with 79 girls breaking 18:00 (the second most in IHSA meet history). But the build-up to the record run by Pendergast came at the Dupage County meet on October 15, approximately three weeks before the state meet. In that affair at Lake Park HS, Pendergast blitzed the field in 16:05, leading the sub-16:00 talk.
Coach Dan Iverson was asked whether or not his star pupil could go under the watershed mark, he replied, "absolutely!"
The prognosis would be put to the test right out of the gate. The weather conditions changed a bit prior to the race. It felt a bit windier and cooler adding to the speculation that times may suffer.
The opening half-mile told a different tale as Pendergast moved well in under 2:30 and a sizable gap on the impressive field had already formed.
It was clear that no one was going to be with her. She would motor past the first mile in 5:08 and over and 12 seconds ahead of Caitlyn Shepard (Sr., Lake Zurich). The previous best initial mile holders were Kaylee Flanagan (Lake Park) and Madeline Perez (Glenbard West) who ran step for step in 5:13.Perez ran away to a state record 16:02 in that one back in 2012.
Pendergast had no competition but somehow hit 7:46 at the halfway point and then the deuce in 10:26. "I ran a personal best in the two-mile," she said during the aftermath.
Pendergast was able to keep her form during the final quarter-mile incline and smash the old record in a stunning 15:53.8. She became the first girl under 16:00, and was celebrated nationally and it should have been. It is an amazing feat that may stick for more than a few good years, but for the time being Pendergast is the absolute best of all time.