Evanston senior Enyaeva Michelin entered the Class 3A girls cross country state meet having lost to only one person all season, defending state champion Katelynne Hart.
Hart, a Glenbard West sophomore, had beaten Michelin by 26 seconds in their previous meet, the Lake Park Sectional.
Yet, Michelin ran right with Hart for nearly two miles of the state race on Saturday at Peoria’s Detweiller Park. Hart gained separation in the final mile of the race, but Michelin took second in a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 30 seconds. Michelin finished just eight seconds behind Hart, and one second ahead of Hart’s winning time a year ago.
“I knew it would be my last cross country race in high school so it was also a bittersweet moment,” said Michelin, who plans to run cross country and track at North Carolina. “But crossing the finish at state was a feeling I can’t even describe. It’s a feeling like no other.”
Michelin’s second-place finish is the best finish in Evanston history. The program’s previous best was a 10th-place finish by Stephanie Goodrich in 1991.
“She’s a special athlete and I knew she’d surprise a lot of people,” Evanston coach Rosette Ochoa said of Michelin. “I expected a top-10 (finish), but I didn’t necessarily expect her to be the state runner-up.”
It was a big improvement from last year when Michelin ran with severe shin splints and placed 117th.
“After last year, I had to tell myself that whatever I placed, from fourth to 25th, just becoming all-state would be a huge jump and something I would be proud of,” Michelin said.
Michelin leaves next year’s returning Wildkits with a blueprint for high-level success.
“She inspired a lot of our athletes. She wanted to cultivate a competitive culture in cross country,” Ochoa said. “She set the tone by working hard and her dedication showed them that what she has done is not impossible if you value yourself as an athlete.”
New Trier girls
The New Trier girls cross country team entered the 2017 season with little fanfare. It was a young team lacking a clear No. 1 runner.
No standout ever emerged this season; however, that worked in the Trevians’ favor, according to their coach.
In a display of running as a pack, junior Caroline Trukenbrod, junior Leah Ulrich, sophomore Bridget Forbes, sophomore Maddie Dieffenbacher and junior Ellie Finnigan were only separated by nine seconds in Peoria and the Trevians placed 13th at the Class 3A state finals.
“They moved as a pack and the way they finished was as well as we could have expected,” Trevians coach John Burnside said. “They stayed dedicated to improvement as a pack all year.”
Trukenbrod placed 83rd in 18:04 and Dieffenbacher and Finnigan placed 103rd and 104th, respectively, in 18:13 as the final two finishers in the Trevians’ pack.
“It’s almost unbelievable to have kids finish that tight,” Burnside said. “Last week (at the sectional) they were 11 seconds apart and I can’t ever tell who’s going to be the top finisher. One through six, every week, has been a completely different look.”
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Sophomore Marlee Fradkin and senior Savannah Noethlich were New Trier’s sixth and seventh finishers at state.
Noethlich is the team’s lone departing senior from a group that embraced its dark-horse status.
“They started the season unranked. I think people looked at us and said, ‘There’s no front-runner, and no returning all-state athlete,'” Burnside said. “But it was that lack of a front-runner that really brought them to improve as a group.
“These girls have sort of eliminated their own ceilings by working together and moving up. I’m super excited to see what they can do next year.”
New Trier boys
The New Trier boys cross country team placed 19th at the Class 3A state meet in Peoria. The team’s top five runners consisted of Graeme Lane, Ford Baker, Patrick Norrick, John Izzo and Owen Eskandari. Charlie Forbes and Alex Kogen also competed for the Trevians.
Lane placed 90th with a time of 15 minutes, 25 seconds. Baker finished 97th in 15:28 and Norrick placed 102nd in 15:29.
Loyola girls, Evanston boys
After missing her sophomore and junior seasons because of injury, Loyola senior Lainey McKinley placed 110th at the Class 3A girls cross country state meet. She finished in 18 minutes, 17 seconds.
“She wasn’t happy with the way the season ended but she had a tremendous season and she’s such a determined athlete,” Loyola coach ChrisJon Simon said.
“She worked hard to stay in shape for cross country when a lot of kids might have walked away, and she was determined to have a great senior year.”
McKinley was the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference individual champion, placed fourth at the Niles West Regional and took 17th at the Lake Park Sectional.
Evanston’s Joey Eovaldi placed 157th (15:51) in the Class 3A boys race.
Gary Larsen is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press