Girls-
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Grace Schager (Sr., Carol Stream (Glenbard North))
Season Summary: Schager was runner-up to Helen Sachs from Michigan at the Team Midwest race, soaring in an amazing 16:50.3 time at LaVern Gibson, a top-five performance all time on that arduous layout. This was Schager's first 'loss' of the year after smoking all Illinois competition (she remains undefeated vs. Illinois athletes). The discourse surrounding Schager after her Lake Park 16:00.2 PR was whether she could attack the 15:53.6 Detweiller record. This never came to pass due to the course conditions, but her 16:40.4 3A state championship run was the fastest by 25 seconds on the day and would have likely produced a sub-16 time on dry ground, especially given how conservative her race ended up being.
Outlook for Nationals: This will be the final race of Schager's high school XC career--her next XC race will be in a Notre Dame uniform. For most of the regular season, Schager's Lake Park run was the fastest speed rating time in the nation until Abbey Nechanicky (MN) and Irene Riggs (WV) surpassed this during the season. That time remains the seventh fastest in the country, just ahead of Sach's win over Schager. National running like this is new for Scahger but the experience gained from Team Midwest is valuable and should afford her some useful information for the national race. How far ahead Riggs will remain to be seen, but Schager should swim in the top 10 the whole race and use her patented 2nd half of race negative-splitting to move up even farther.
Tatum David (Sr., Olney (Richland County))
Season Summary: The shape of David's season reveals she was clearly planning for this host of national meets all along. After striding it out for an easy First to the Finish win in under 17:00 at Detweiller, David was third at Nike XC town (17:28) before coming away with the 2A IHSA state title in 17:05 on soggy ground. David was then third at Team Midwest, and with a 16:54 5k PR, she had cut 34 seconds on the same course since October 1st and showed she is running best at the right time. This was further confirmed as she won the Champs Midwest Regional XC title in 17:16 on a tough Kenosha 5k course, ahead of the likes of Sachs and Paityn Noe (IA).
Outlook for Nationals: David will be easy to find in the pack--meet directors gave her the '1' bib as the top individual returner from the 2019 meet. That year, as a freshman, she finished 17th in 18:01 and was Illinois' first finisher. This year, she looks to be ahead of 17th and finish in the top 10 along with Schager. This will not be David's last meet of the season, but don't expect her to save anything for San Diego on Dec. 10th as Illinois' only representative at Champs Sports. David has a strong shot to finish top five this weekend.
Who's Running: Hailey Erickson (Sr.), Lily Ginsberg (Jr.), Cameron Kalaway (Sr.), Samantha Patterson (Sr.), Meg Peterson (Fr.), Ireland Wildhart (So.), Veronica Znajda (So.)
Season Summary: What more can be said about Prospect's season? In a year where the preseason rankings did not give much credence to Prospect's title chances, all the Knights did in response was gear up for each big race and crush performances from 1-5 to produce a host of remarkable achievements. Halfway through the season, Prospect's upwards trend toward a historic postseason was evident, so we took the chance to document their in-season battles with York up to that point. If necessary, refresh your memories with a clear retrospective here.
Of course, Prospect was an incumbent power on the legs of Hailey Erickson (who truly emerged as a frontrunner this season), Lily Ginsberg, and Cameron Kalaway. But the heights of success for the Knights were most enabled by the breakout seasons of underclassmen Veronica Znajda and Meg Peterson. As their growth came to fruition throughout the year, so too did the potential of Prospect's pack.
Prospect had just produced their best performance of the season at Nike XC Town Twilight. From that weekend, Prospect leaned back into a slow crescendo up to the state meet. First, Prospect dropped a 25-point win on the MSL conference field, before a Regional win and a 40-point sectional win. These weren't 'easy' efforts for Prospect, but something was clearly being saved for the next couple of weeks. The Knights entered a much-anticipated showdown with the two-time defending 3A champ Duchesses of York.
Prospect is a track power, with their track strength flexed in time trials during the year (including a 9:01 combined team for 4x800.. in AUGUST... and their top five all breaking 5:04 in the 1600 the week of the conference). With this in mind, the adverse course conditions in Peoria for the state championship, a muddy mess plowed through by the lead truck, seemed to work against Prospect's favor, eliminating the typical dirt track Detweiller runs. But great teams don't make excuses, and Prospect produced their best race to date, scoring an unimaginably low total of 39 points to beat York's 58. Five all-staters, five in the top-18, 17:47.7 team average (in slop), the lowest state point total for girls EVER, no matter how you cut it, it was a fantastic, complete team job for Prospect's first state title.
Their win at Team Midwest was nearly a replication. Erickson, Ginsberg, Peterson and Znajda finished within 8 seconds of each other from 9th to 13th. The difference was their fifth, Kalaway, who was another 39 seconds behind in 57th. The flux of individual athletes makes the place gap somewhat misleading, as Prospect kept their team total to 52 points, but this race represented probably their third best race of the year.
Outlook for Nationals: Saratoga Springs, NY ran the best team race in the country so far this year at the New York Team Regional (called Kinetic). The Girls' title appears to be theirs to lose, but Prospect is on the shortlist of teams occupying the next tier. Prospect will definitely be running for a podium spot on Saturday.
The key for Prospect appears obvious: the two best races of the year for Kalaway (Nike XC Town Twilight and IHSA State) were also the two best races for Prospect. There are complete pack teams competing for the other trophy positions so a compressed 1-5 spot is necessary. Prospect still needs stellar runs from the rest of their group, and they will need to work despite their inexperience at National Competitions of this nature. As it is, the Knights will conclude their season as Illinois' best chance for a top finish.
Who's Running: Lily Beerhalter (Sr.), Bria Bennis (Sr.), Brooke Berger (Sr.), Katherine Klimek (Jr.), Maggie Owens (Jr.), Michaela Quinn (Jr.), Maggie Quinn (Fr.)
Season Summary: The aforementioned York/Prospect documentary from earlier in the season gives an in-depth look into how York fared throughout a title defense season that saw all eyes on their new green 'YORK' jerseys as favorites once again. From the onset, Bria Bennis established herself as the team's best runner in a way that no Duke had over the previous two years of championships. York's varsity mix was more veteran than Prospect's with Brooke Berger, Katherine Klimek, and Michaela Quinn as the most dependable scorers, and eventually senior Lily Beerhalter as a key pack piece with Maggie Owens spending most of the year recovering. Maggie Quinn and Lily Bianchi were York's lone underclassmen who filled in during the year.
The Dukes were an Anna Harden win away from a perfect seven-point win at the Wheaton North Flight Classic. York then rode a Bria Bennis sub-17 performance and six finishers in the top eight to crush WSC-Silver with a 19-point win. This was the best that York's pack would look in the postseason, but the Waubonsie Valley sectional, Bennis, Quinn, and Klimek all finished top five to lead what was also a complete team performance. York snuck the rest of their top seven into the first 21 race finishers, and with Bianchi still in the lineup, York had 37 ahead of Naperville North's 84.
The muddy state meet was a fantastic run for the Dukes, who were tied with Prospect at 13-13 through three runners. Unfortunately for York, despite placing six in the top 26, the buzzsaw Knights won 39-58. York's 58 points are easily the state record for the fewest points by a non-winning team at state on the girl's side. Quinn, Klimek, and Bennis were all-state and the Dukes got another trophy, this time 2nd.
'KROY' left no doubt at Team Midwest Champs by scoring 73 points for second, way ahead of Hilliard-Davidson OH's 187 points in third. Quinn finished two seconds ahead of Bennis for the first time of the season, Berger was 15 seconds back, and a pack of Quinn, Klimek, and Beerhalter all finished simultaneously ahead of Prospect's fifth. Owens now slots in for Bianchi.
Outlook for Nationals: York has stayed in MileSplit's top 10 throughout the whole season and remains in a position to compete legitimately for a top-five spot. Like it has been for everyone, the season has been lengthy for York, and the hope is the last three weeks have provided time for them to recharge for one last thrust during this fantastic three-year run. Although this program has never qualified for this Team National Meet, KROY did finish top five at the Garmin RunningLane national meet last year with mostly the same group. Experience is key to York, then.
Michaela Quinn and Bennis have been the best runners of the whole season and will try to make York's ascent concrete with top-50 finishes. Beerhalter, Berger, and Maggie Quinn have been consistent throughout the year as well-- but watch for what Katherine Klimek produces. Klimek was York's best postseason athlete in 2021, and hasn't reclaimed that form yet this year but could swing the tides for York with a strong run.