Even as longshots, Vikings eye three-peat
By JAY SCHWAB – jschwab@kcchronicle.com
The two-time defending state champion Geneva girls cross country program does not believe it has shown its true colors this season.
One big race on Saturday in Peoria could put all that angst to rest.
Despite returning the majority of its talent from last year’s Class 3A state champions, Geneva enters this weekend’s race at Detweiller Park in Peoria as an underdog.
That doesn’t sit well with junior Kelly Whitley, who has been the Vikings’ leader during its run of brilliance the past couple years.
“We still have almost everyone we did our freshman year and almost everyone from last year,” Whitley said. “We worked hard all summer, and all school year. I think we’re kind of ready to show who we really are. I don’t think we’ve really showed that this season.”
That starts with Whitley, who, at last week’s St. Charles East Sectional, was not the first Viking to cross the finish line for the first time in races she has participated in the past two years. Whitley finished 12th individually in 19:20, behind teammates Kelly Shogren (seventh place) and Tess Ehrhardt (10th).
As a team, the Vikings finished third at the sectional, the most recent evidence that the Vikings haven’t been as dominant as they have grown accustomed the past couple years.
“We haven’t done as well as we have in the past but maybe to some degree they’ll just step it up when it matters most, and I guess we’ll find that out,” Geneva coach Bob Thomson said.
The reasons for the Vikings’ struggles – relative to their lofty standards – are numerous. Meghan Heuer, one of last year’s top runners, transferred to St. Charles North. Several of the girls in the Vikings’ loaded junior class have changed physically, and their bodies have responded differently to workouts than in the past. And an extremely water-logged fall has slowed race performances, causing Thomson to scale back his expectations during practices, too.
Still, Thomson is reluctant to relax his goals for this group, even though teams such as Prospect, Palatine and Schaumburg are considered likely bets to dethrone the Vikings on Saturday.
“If you can finish the race and know ‘I couldn’t have run any faster, I didn’t leave anything on the course, I know I did the very best I could have done,’ if all seven of them can say that, then it wasn’t meant to be if we don’t win, and it was meant to be if we do,” Thomson said.
Thomson is hoping his team’s state experience will come into play. Only one Viking, sophomore Cory McLauchlan, has not run at the state meet. Five of Geneva’s top seven – Rachel Hammond, Liza Tauscher, Megan Brady, Whitley and Ehrhardt – are part of the program’s dynamite junior class, while Shogren has enjoyed a breakthrough senior year after injuries previously dampened her output.
Any chances of another Geneva state title are likely linked to Whitley recapturing her past form. Whitley finished second in the state individually both last year and as a freshman.
“I feel like I am capable of that,” Whitley said. “Anything can happen at the state meet. It can be the best day or it can be the worst day, and I think we’re all ready to have the best day.”
St. Charles East is the other Tri-Cities program to qualify as a team for the meet. The Saints are led by sophomore Mallory Abel, who took sixth at sectionals. Grace Gordon, Jessica Evans, Sarah Hill, Holly Robertson, Colleen Earl and Jacki Leibforth are also among the Saints' top seven.
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