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Sports
Learning curve : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisLearning curve
| Oswego boys advance to sectionals, three girls qualify for East Peoria
| by Kristin Sharp
| 10/29/2009
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With nearly all of Oswego's runners competing in their first-ever regional, there were plenty of unknowns going into last Saturday's Class 2A race at Sandwich High School.
Sophomore Jared Konrardy, a returning varsity runner for the Panthers, missed the 2008 race due to illness, but made up for it in a big way this year as he captured fourth place overall to earn an individual medal and help lead Oswego to a second place team finish.
The top five teams advance to next Saturday's East Peoria Sectional at Illinois Central College. Yorkville easily won the regional championship with five runners in the top 11 to finish with 34 points. Oswego earned runner-up honors with 64 points while DeKalb (92), Lincoln-Way West (103) and Sandwich (112) also advance. The boys' race is set for 11:30 a.m. next Saturday.
"The goal this year was to get to sectionals because I'm looking at the future so it was really important we made that step to get that experience for next year," Oswego boys' head coach Dan Whipple said. "All I kept talking about this week was this meet. My personal goal was second place. I knew Yorkville was really strong. They did it."
Konrardy battled his way into the top five after the second mile, catching two Yorkville runners in the process as he finished fourth. He covered the wet, muddy course with a time of 16:53.
"It wasn't that bad. It was muddy at some points, but in the back loop there was nice, soft ground and that helped a lot," Konrardy said. "I think I can do better. I've been sick the past three weeks, so hopefully I'll feel better for sectionals."
Sophomore Zack Kingsbury clocked in at 17:12 to place 10th overall, senior Adam Hiemenz finished 14th with a time of 17:31, freshman Caleb Beck clocked in at 17:39 to place 17th and sophomore Troy Schwerin completed the team score in 19th place with a time of 17:50. Sophomore Adam Lowry (17:59) and sophomore RJ Salerno (18:35) also competed for Oswego.
"Our goal was to stay close together. We wanted to make it to sectionals and we knew we'd have to do that in order to advance. We're a young team so we just have to keep improving as a group so we can focus on junior and senior year and placing at state," Konrardy said.
The girls were the first to race on Saturday morning and Oswego junior Alyson Fisher had a strong start set a pace for sixth place overall. Lincoln-Way West junior Monica Hahn took an early lead and held on to win, but Fisher settled in with the lead pack of runners before being separated after the second mile. Fisher reached the finish line in 20:12 and later was named the first individual qualifier into the sectional race.
"Our coach wanted us to go out with an aggressive mile so that's what I tried to do. I don't know if it was overaggressive, but towards the second and third mile I was really feeling it," Fisher said. "I was hoping for top five, but the conditions had a lot to do with it. It was windy. I'm happy with it."
"Alyson had a really great race. She was running with some good company and those Yorkville girls are very, very good," Oswego girls' head coach Eric Simon said. "We're excited for next week. She loves that course."
Yorkville won the sectional title with 42 points while Lincoln-Way West (56), Joliet Catholic (64), Morris (104) and DeKalb (108) became the top five teams to reach the sectional. Oswego finished 17 points behind DeKalb to miss a team qualification.
Sophomore Riley Vann finished 20th overall with a time of 21:45 and earned the fourth individual spot to advance to sectionals while freshman Alex Choi placed 30th with a time of 22:18 and was the fifth and final individual sectional qualifier. The three Oswego runners will advance to the East Peoria Sectional next Saturday to race at 10:30 a.m. at Illinois Central College.
"Last week we ran a little stronger at conference because we were more packed together, but we're definitely at our peak right now," Fisher said.
Sophomore Kendra Hughes placed 33rd in 22:37, senior Jessica Seeger placed 36th in 22:57, junior Tatiana Anaya clocked in at 23:05 to take 37th and sophomore Caroline Skibinski finished in 23:09 to place 39th overall.
"For a lot of these girls this was new and it's one of those years where we've had things happen. We've got a small team and it's a learning experience," Simon said. "We're going to keep working to get better. We put a lot of good things in place this year and we're focusing on the process and the framework of things. They've done an awesome job with that this year. We'll get better."
The top five sectional teams and the first seven finishers not members of qualifying teams will advance to Detweiller Park in Peoria for the state race on Nov. 7.
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