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The Lions return a state qualifier from last year in senior Vanessa Flaherty, who also set a school record in the 800 during track season. Lyons coach Stetston Steele sees Flaherty as a frontrunner on a team full of experienced upperclassmen in 2015.
“We have a great group of seniors leading the way, about five girls with both track and cross country state meet experience,” Steele said. “Based on our summer training and what I’ve seen in terms of work ethic, I think we’ll have a good season.”
Flaherty, Hannah Dutler, Diana Kaskes, Claudia Lundgren and Natalie Jaramillo lead a senior core. Juniors Colleen O’Connell, Megan Ng, Brianna Liddell and Caitlyn Mangini join the mix among the top seven, along with sophomores Cara Paliakas, Lily Kedzuch and Kirsten Meyer.
There also may be a few freshmen in the fold who could contribute by season’s end.
“It’s so hard to tell,” Steele said. “They all ran so well over the summer and every meet our lineup could change.”
Nazareth
A 12th-place finish in Class 2A last year has this year’s Roadrunners itching to get back downstate. Nazareth returns four of its top seven runners from last season, led by junior Claire Ramsey..
“Claire was consistently our top runner last year and she worked hard over the summer,” Nazareth coach Joe Wejman said. “But our top four returners are all pretty close in ability.”
Ramsey placed 86th and returning senior Gianna Levato finished 93rd downstate last year, with finishing times that were separated by just eight seconds.
Seniors Levato and Colleen Cavanaugh and junior Maeve Roach round out the team’s top four returnees, with junior Allison Kusta, senior Brenna Fritzsche and sophomore Mia Longo vying to fill out the top seven.
“It’s a very smart group in the way they approach the sport but they also have a lot of fun together,” Wejman said. “Going to the state meet was an awesome experience and it will provide motivation to get back there.”
Hinsdale South
This year’s Hornets feature two returning all-conference sophomores in Elizabeth Lowery and Kiki Twardosz, for a team that improved greatly by season’s end for coach Gail Huster.
“Kiki had a good track season for us as a varsity runner and Elizabeth did a nice job indoors,” Huster said. “They’ll train together all year and they’ll be competitive.”
Lowery was the Hornets’ lead runner for most of 2014 as a freshman, until senior Sarah Leganski returned from injury by season’s end.
Returning senior Sydney Locke just missed all-conference honors last season, as did sophomore Rebecca Lowery. Sophomore Neha Chinwalla was last year’s top runner at the frosh-soph level, giving Huster four sophomores among this year’s top five varsity runners.
“We’re pretty young,” Huster said. “But they’re doing a nice job and we’re getting there. I’m looking for Sydney Locke and a few of the other seniors to be good leaders for us. It’s a great group of girls and they’ll work hard.”
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press
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