Freshman Caroline Lucas powers Crystal Lake South runners to second at Kaneland Sectional

MAPLE PARK – It hasn’t even been three months since Caroline Lucas attended freshmen orientation at Crystal Lake South.

Now she’s got plans to be at Detweiller Park next Saturday to run with her teammates in the Class 2A girls cross country state finals.

Senior teammate Liv Pinta (18:34.36) and Lucas (18:34.88) stayed in stride during Saturday’s Class 2A Kaneland Sectional as the duo finished in 13th and 14th place, respectively, to lead the Gators to second place (127) and qualify for the state meet. Rockford Boylan (93) was crowned sectional champs.

“I had no idea of what to expect,” Lucas said. “It’s just been a really good experience. It’s new. I’m excited.”

It was far from new for Pinta who ran the Maple Park course two years ago as a sophomore.

“I think we both did well,” Pinta said. “I think that our team is going to come back stronger next week so we’re excited for next week. We’re glad that we qualified.”

Junior Tori Pinta (19:12.34), senior Laynie Ripley (19:02.52) and sophomore Cecelia Piemontese (19:48.33) all finished sub-20 to send the Gators to Peoria.

Finishing right behind them were their neighbors from Crystal Lake Central, which took third place (129).

Hadley Ferrero (18:23.35) led the Tigers, taking ninth place overall. Fellow senior Brynn Matthaei (19:07.15), sophomore Skyler Ferrero (19:10.90), junior Jacqueline Orris (19:17.59) and junior Gwen Kidd (19:23.12) also helped the team earn a state berth.

Rockford Boylan senior Reese Kohnle (17:40.77) was about 20 seconds faster than her nearest pursuers, which included Fenton junior Josslyn Wade (17:59.82) and Carmel senior Izzy Bing (17:59.94),

Wade became the first all-state performer in Fenton girls cross country history. She’s also the first Bison to qualify for state twice. She also drew perhaps the largest ovation during the awards ceremony which was held in Kaneland’s gymnasium.

“It’s amazing and I just hope to keep having fun and pushing myself and finding new things that I can do,” Wade said. “I remember last year not knowing I could do that. I didn’t know I could run that fast and it’s given me a new perspective on pushing my boundaries and showing others there’s more to get.”

Other teams qualifying included fourth-place Carmel (167), sixth-place St. Viator (167) and seventh-place Grayslake Central (208) which was the final team before the cut.

Corsairs senior Norah Belmonte (18:38.60) and freshman Maya Markley (18:40.41) ran times that were amongst the individual qualifying times for state.

Junior Emily Walberg (18:25.63) paced St. Viator while junior Ava Jenner (18:39.32) led Grayslake Central.

Burlington Central senior Abigail Burke took fifth (18:05.14), Grayslake North junior Madison Peterson (18:10.16) and senior Yaremi Ramos (18:17.10) followed each other to take sixth and seventh place overall, and Rock Falls senior Ariel Hernandez (18:20.41) placed eighth.

“It was kind of nerve-wracking because coming into this race I was projected 22nd and one of the last individuals to place for state,” Hernandez said. “It feels really good. I feel like the hard work paid off.”

Hernandez found running during her freshman year in school and hasn’t slowed down. She’ll take her talents to NIU where she’ll continue to run.

“I feel like running has really changed me for the better,” she said. “I was working on the gray areas for softball and didn’t come out (for cross country) until my sophomore year. I started running everyday in the spring of freshman year. I wasn’t really happy with myself so I found running.”

You would’ve found her running in costume if you ran across her on Halloween earlier in the week.

“I even ran in my Halloween costume and I ran in a taco suit,” she said. “I ran almost four miles in my taco suit.”

A pair of PRs pushed Grayslake North junior Madison Peterson (18:10.16) and senior Yaremi Ramos (18:17.10) into sixth and seventh place.

Antioch senior Rosalyn Gonzalez (18:30.81), Freeport junior Johanna Rudolph (18:35.07), Sycamore junior Layla Janisch (18:40.39) and Dixon junior Kamryn Rogers (18:45.54) also qualified to run at state.