Jill Borza is building on her cross country success with a simple yet challenging formula.
“This year I’ve been training a lot harder in practice than normal,” Borza said. “I’ve noticed it’s really starting to pay off with my mental toughness during races.”
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The Marist junior showed her tenacity when she overcame 90-degree heat to win the Tinley Park Invitational Championship Division race on Sept. 23 at Midlothian Meadows.
Borza led Marist to the team championship in sweltering conditions, and she didn’t make an issue of the excessive heat.
“It was definitely hot,” Borza said. “But everyone is racing in the heat, so you can’t really complain about it.”
Marist had a void to fill with the graduation of two-time Class 3A All-Stater Maryclare Leonard. She led the RedHawks to numerous team titles in four years before she moved on to Notre Dame.
“We really miss Maryclare, but we have a really strong pack as a team,” Borza said. “I’m really proud with how the team has been doing overall this year. We’ve all been working really hard and pushing each other.”
Proof of that came Saturday at the St. Charles North Invitational. Borza and freshman Cecelia Light ran 1-2 at the Tinley Park meet, but Light was Marist’s top runner Saturday and Borza was No. 2.
Borza believes the Richard Spring Invitational last month in Peoria was a revelation for the RedHawks.
“I think that was the first meet where we really started to notice that we can all run together as a pack,” Borza said. “That really pays off during races.”
As freshmen, Borza and Colleen Murphy finished among Marist’s top five runners in the 2015 Class 2A state meet. The RedHawks returned to Class 3A last year and didn’t qualify as a team for the state final. Leonard and Murphy qualified as individuals.
“We’d like to make it downstate as a team this year,” Borza said. “We’ve done that once before in 2A, but now we’re going to go for it in 3A.”
A special time: Sandburg senior Dylan Jacobs won the Peoria Invitational on Saturday in 13 minutes, 57.50 seconds, the fifth-fastest time ever at Detweiller Park, according to MileSplitIl.com.
Jacobs realized a goal of running under 14:00 on the state meet course. He clocked 14:10 last year when he took third in the Class 3A state meet.
Next for Sandburg is the Oct. 14 SouthWest Suburban Conference meet at Dellwood Park in Lockport, and the Oct. 21 Marist Regional at Midlothian Meadows.
Locktoberfest: Defending Class 3A state champ Neuqua Valley was the class of the 20-team Lockport meet Saturday at Dellwood Park. Neuqua was a 32-97 winner over runner-up Plainfield South.
Young, fifth in the state last year, was fourth behind Wheaton North.
Lincoln-Way Central (ninth) and Lockport (12th) were the best Southland teams in the meet. Central’s Jared Kreis (13th, 16:09) was the top area individual. Lockport coach Tom Razo is confident the Porters are on the upswing.
“The team is going in the right direction,” Razo said. “We’ve got a bunch of young kids who are hungry. The culture is changing, so it’s exciting. It’s exciting for the kids, it’s exciting for me as a coach.”
Tim Tierney is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.