Wobbly Whitley pushes herself 'right to the limit'
By ERIC VAN DRIL
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| Geneva's Kelly Whitley struggles to the finish like Saturday to win the Leavey Invite at LeRoy Oakes in St. Charles. (Marcelle Bright – For The Chronicle) |
ST. CHARLES – There are 15 meters to the finish line of the Leavey Invitational and Geneva’s Kelly Whitley, one of the premier cross country runners in the state, appears half-unconscious.
Her legs are noticeably wobbly, she’s not taking full breaths and her eyes are glassy.
As she starts to lose her 2-second lead to Barrington freshman Rebecca Batliner, Whitley looks back and her instincts kick in. She summons a quick burst of speed for the next eight meters, but the burst significantly slows just before the finish line.
With runner’s instincts that appear to transcend mental and physical pain, Whitley (17:48.6) manages to reach the finish line and hold off Batliner (17:50.2) at LeRoy Oakes in a race that was the complete opposite of the boys race.
Rockton Hononegah senior Kevin Jacobs dominated the boys field, soundly defeating Wheaton North’s Jake Waterman and Geneva’s Kevin Sparks, the second- and third-place runners, by about 15 seconds each.
After Whitley hits the finish line, she dropped to her knees and, in less than one second, her body all but shut down. Two parent volunteers took her under her arms and carry her off the finish line.
“She was delirious and half-unconscious,” Eric Werner, one of the volunteers who escorted Whitley off the finish line, said. “We picked her up and took her to the end of the chute to get her out of the traffic zone, laid her down and put her legs up. And when she woke up [from her delirious state], she was apologizing for finishing second. We told her ‘Sweetheart, you won the race.’
“She pushed herself right to the limit.”
When asked what she was thinking during the stretch run, Whitley offered two simple sentences.
“I just wanted to get done and to finish strong,” she said.“Finish all the way through and get done.”
Though Whitley pushed herself to the extreme to win the match for Geneva, the two-time defending state champion Vikings’ girls cross-country team did not win the Leavey Invitational. Geneva fell to York, 72-74. The Dukes had five runners finish in the top-25.
“Everyone is happy with the way they raced,” Whitley said. “We all raced the best we could. I know the outcome wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but we have all season to go.”
The top-25 of the girls race included nine runners from the Tri-Cities, including a strong fourth-place finish from Mallory Abel (17:58.1) of St. Charles East. Erica Bauerbach (18:14.5) and Geneva transfer Meghan Heuer (18:14.8) placed seventh and eighth for St. Charles North, while Geneva’s Kelly Shogren (18:25.7) and Tess Ehrhardt (18:30.6) rounded out the race’s top-10.
Alexis Sampson (18:44.2) was Batavia’s top finisher, coming in 16th
On the boys side, the second-highest finish from a runner from the area, after Geneva’s Sparks, was a 14th-place run by St. Charles North’s Brad Wheeler (15:52:7).
The North boys finished second at the invitational largely because of its depth. The North stars received a 20th-place finish from Kyle Kuczynski (15:58.6) and Peter Johnson (16:09.7), Ryan Senci (16:11.9) and Billy Clink (16:14.2) were all in the top 33.
St. Charles East finished the meet in fourth largely because of strong runs from 15th-place finisher Jake Zahn (15:52.9) and Tim Johnson (15:54.4), who came in 17th.
Other notable races from Geneva include a 32nd place finish from Justin Rodriguez (16:13.1) and 38th from junior Connor Bartel (16:22.0).
The Batavia boys finished 15th overall. The Bulldogs’ top time was turned in by Sam Stoner (16:36.9), who finished 56th overall.
