HP_092018

30 | September 20, 2018 | The highland park landmark sports
hplandmark.com
Giants battle through a cold, without top runners
HP finishes 14th at
invitational
Gary Larsen, Freelance Reporter
Highland Park junior Celia
Thomas has been battling a cold,
and she had to wake up Saturday
morning to the prospect of running
on a hot day on a difficult
course.
Thomas was the Giants’ top
finisher at the Libertyville Invitational
on Saturday, Sept.
15, with teammate Jacqueline
Levinson finishing one-tenth of
a second behind her.
“I’m happy with the way
(Thomas) battled through it.
She’s battling sickness, It’s a
hilly, tough course, and she ran
hard,” Highland Park coach Curt
Hanson said. “She’s had a great
year so far. She’s typically our
fourth girl but she’s had a lot
of (personal records) so far this
year.”
Thomas fought the good fight
despite the circumstances.
“I’m just achy and weak, so
it’s not really fun,” Thomas said.
“It’s hot, there’s a lot of rolling
hills and it gets tough when
you get back in the woods. I ran
slower than I ran earlier in the
week but considering the circumstances,
it wasn’t too bad.”
The Giants competed without
their top three runners for various
reasons, so a high team finish
was unlikely heading into the
race. They finished 14th in the
field but Thomas applauded her
team’s effort.
“I’m proud of my teammates,”
Thomas said. “A lot of our top
runners are out today. (Levinson)
really helped me the last
mile. She passed me and then we
stuck together the last 400 (meters).”
Abby Michaels, Rachel Hau,
and Nateciya Gidron-Noutai
rounded out Highland Park’s top
five finishers.
There’s a pack mentality and
then there’s what New Trier did
at this year’s Libertyville Invitational.
The Trevians took first in the
16-team field by placing four of
the top seven finishers and five
of the top 20 among 141 participants.
But senior Leah Ulrich
was less than surprised by her
pack’s performance.
“With a team of two hundred
you’re going to have a lot of
people who are close, and our
top people this year are really
close,” Ulrich said. “It’s really
been awesome.”
New Trier returned six of its
top seven runners from the team
that placed 13th in Illinois at
last year’s Class 3A state finals.
The course at Adler Park in Libertyville
on Sept. 16 provided
coach John Burnside’s girls with
a challenge that they handled
well.
“For a lot of the girls this was
Day One and they had to come
out on hills, in the heat,” Burnside
said. “So what could have
been really terrible ended up
being challenging, but a great
opener for us. I’ve come to learn
from this group of kids, to not be
surprised.”
Junior Bridget Forbes led the
way by placing third, Ulrich was
fifth, with Marlee Fradkin sixth,
Ellie Finnigan seventh, and Eileen
Wolff placing 17th.
“(Wolff) was our fifth and
that’s a huge improvement since
last year, and that’s just her taking
on her own development and
working with the group, and getting
better,” Burnside said. “As
a senior, to see her doing that is
great.”
Forbes finished in 19:15.6,
one second out of second place
behind St. Viator’s Katie Castelli,
and Ulrich finished only three
seconds behind Forbes.
“I knew we’d run really close
as a pack, and our pack did really
well today,” Forbes said.
“This was only my second race
this year, so I was happy with
how I ran.”
Burnside was impressed by
Jacqueline Levinson (left) and Celia Thomas finished one second apart at this year’s 16-team Libertyville
Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 15. GARY LARSEN/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
Forbes’ approach in Libertyville.
“She really attacked the back
half of that first mile, to put herself
in position to get to the front
by the second or third mile,” he
said. “She didn’t wait too long or
go too early. It was a well-constructed
race.”
Jocelyn Basler led Regina Dominican
to a 13th-place finish in
Libertyville, with Erin Phelan, Isabelle
Spiewak, Anna Greifelt, and
Nora Ann Clancy rounding out the
Panthers’ top five finishers.
Lockport’s Kate Wojcikiewicz
entered her senior season of
cross country with the obvious
desire to run the best times of
her high school career. As a team
leader, she also wants to help the
Porters to do even better than the
top-25 finish in Class 3A that
they managed last year.
But her main goal for the 2018
season goes beyond team or individual
performance.
“This summer I made sure we
did a lot of team-bonding stuff,
because I wanted girls to fall in
love with cross country the way
I fell in love with it,” Wojcjkiewicz
said. “That was kind of my
goal.
“We did a lot of trips together
and stuff, just to make sure everyone
is friends and everyone is
having a fun time. The races are
hard but you get to hang out with
your friends, and that’s special.”
Lockport coach Regan Cronholm
appreciates everything that
Wojcikiewicz gives her.
“She’s a leader,” Cronholm
said. “I can always count on her.
She knows how to talk to the
girls during the races to encourage
them and get them going.
And as a runner, she’s been in
the top seven all three years so
far. She’s a battler.”
The Porters placed fourth in
Libertyville, led by Wojcikiewicz’s
ninth-place finish. Teammates
Anna Kozak, Josephine
Bober, Abby Kozak, Alexandra
Skibicki, and Samantha Weisner
all finished in the top 30 among
the field of 141 runners.
“They ran exactly how they
were planning on running,”
Lockport coach Regan Cronholm
said. “They stayed in a
pack until the mile and then
broke off a little bit.
“I’m pleased with their performances
today. We’ve had a
different top seven almost every
race and that’s cool to see.
There’s always that battling
within the team for those top positions.
It’s very healthy competition
and they really work well
together.”
Wojcikiewicz is a veteran of
the hilly course at Adler Park.
“There’s one hill here that’s
definitely difficult. It’s kind of a
grind to get up,” Wojcikiewicz
said. “But this is my fourth time
running here. I tried to stay focused
and I wanted to give it one
more good run on this course.
“The team worked really hard
today. There’s a really good
team atmosphere. We went out
together through the (first) mile,
we were talking, and then I split
off from them there. But I know
they’re all working hard in every
race.”