MEDLEY INSIDER: Staying grounded

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The Geneva girls cross country team rolled to the IHSA Class 3A West Aurora Regional title behind the race’s top five runners.

Tess Ehrhardt (second, 19:08), Kelly Shogren (third, 19:11), Rachel Hammond (fourth, 19:19) and Megan Brady (fifth, 19:21) flanked individual champion Kelly Whitley, but the two-time defending 3A champs left the course wanting more.

“It’s kind of just moving up the ladder,” Vikings coach Bob Thomson said. “It’s not going to be an easy sectional by any means, so we’ll see.”

Traditional powers St. Charles East, Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South will be among the teams running alongside Geneva at today’s sectional at LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve. The girls race is set to begin at 10 a.m. while the boys start at 11.

Friday’s rain saturated what usually runs as a fast track, and more precipitation in the forecast today would only make runners used to conditions they already are familiar with. Before running in the slop during last week’s regionals, the weekend of conference meets and several regular-season weekend meets left teams with what Thomson has called “incomplete data.”

“I guess it wasn’t raining or snowing last week, so that was the positive end of it,” Thomson said. “Even if the times are going to get faster for us – and that’s what we’re working toward – they’ll get faster for everybody.”

The Geneva boys won a regional crown behind 1-2 finishers Kevin McDowell and Kevin Sparks and will look to join the girls team downstate again.

The boys took third place at Peoria’s Detweiller Park a year ago.

The East girls, led by sophomore Mallory Abel, are defending last fall’s third-place trophy.

Knight time
Kaneland also will try to advance both of its teams to state at the Class 2A Belvidere Sectional at Belvidere High School.

The girls’ regional split time of 42 seconds between runners 1-5 was its best this season. The boys team returns much of the nucleus that finished in the 2A top 10 a season ago, including Matt Reusche.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Kelly Whitley
Geneva, Jr., cross country
What she did: Whitley led the Geneva girls’ charge to perfection at Saturday’s IHSA Class 3A West Aurora Regional at Waubonsee Community College, winning the race in 18:54. Her fellow Vikings also claimed spots 2-5 as Geneva defeated Bartlett for the regional team title by 48 points.

Coach Bob Thomson says:  “If icing on the cake is Kelly and the team winning it, I don’t know what a perfect score would be.”

WHAT WE LEARNED LAST WEEK ...
Getting through the IHSA State Girls Tennis Meet is tough. Friends and singles rivals Kayla Fujimoto of Geneva and Emily Reuland of Rosary missed playing one another when their teams met in a dual earlier this season, but the two got the chance to showcase their skills separately in a tour of the northwest suburbs. Fujimoto, an Indiana recruit, fell in the third round, while the Bowling Green-bound Reuland was eliminated in the fourth.

WHAT WE’LL LEARN IN THE WEEK AHEAD ...
Which St. Charles team gets Upstate Eight Conference girls swimming bragging rights? The UEC meet at Neuqua Valley begins with diving events at 9 a.m. before the swimming starts at 1 p.m. East and North figure to fight for the league crown, and North Stars topped the Saints, 100-86, on Oct. 15 behind Angie Chokran’s four titles. East will host its crosstown rivals and other swimming powers in an IHSA Sectional on Nov. 14.

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