TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The showdown between two of the top-ranked girls cross country teams in the region provided the drama everyone anticipated.
Carmel (Ind.) came out four points better than New Trier (Ill.) Sunday at the Nike Cross Nationals Midwest Regional, 45-49. Luckily for both squads the top two teams advance to the NXN race Dec. 3 in Portland, Ore.
Sunday’s race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course was as much a battle against the conditions as opponents. The runners had to face 30 mph winds at both the start and finish straightaways. The added depth in the field was only further motivation to focus on a strong game plan.
“This race was different because of the level of competition,” Carmel’s Sarah Bennett said. “We knew that each of us had to be really on her game in order to make it out and no one could have an off day. In some smaller races in the state, you knew that you had your team having your back. Today you had to go out there and earn it for yourself and your team.”
Bennett, who finished 13th in 19:06.2, said the team attacked the course nearly the same way it did two weeks ago when the girls won their second consecutive Indiana state title. Bennett was second that day, but she gave way to teammate Renee Wellman early in the Nike regional and stayed packed with her teammates.
“We took it out how we had at the state meet just a few weeks before – just keep it calm at the beginning,” Bennett said. “Then just see how it sets up and try to pick off people as you move along, pick it up and finish strong.
“We ran as a pack through a little after the first mile, and then we started to break up. I know my teammate Haley Harris and I were together from almost the 2.5k mark to the 4k, so it’s always nice having teammates push you throughout the whole race.”
Wellman, who was the team’s fifth runner in 20th place at state, charged all the way up to eighth (18:55.7) at Nike. Harris was also a medalist, finishing in 19th(19:15.0).
Carmel is making a second consecutive trip to NXN after finishing in seventh place last year.
New Trier, running as Northshore Tsunami, improved upon an eighth-place finish at the Midwest regional last year to earn a qualifying spot for the Portland, Ore., race. New Trier put three girls on the medal stand – Courtney Ackerman in seventh (18:54.8), Mimi Smith in 11th (19:00.5) and Jessica Ackerman in 12th(19:03.0). New Trier won the Illinois Class 3A title by more than 60 points.
The first five across the finish line were the five individual qualifiers for NXN.
There was a lead pack that created some separation in the first mile, and then Amanda Fox of Naperville Central (Ill.) and Samantha Nightingale of Blue Springs South (Mo.) distanced themselves from the lead group and made it a two-girl race.
The pair switched positions a handful of times over the final mile, but neither one could shake free. It wasn’t until the final 100 meters that Fox finally pulled away from Nightingale to secure the individual title by a stride in 18:09.1.
“I always wanted to stay neck-and-neck with her and just keep battling it out, and at the end I just tried to make a last surge and go for it,” said Fox, who set a new Illinois Class 3A record with her 16:24 for 3 miles. “It’s everything I could ask for in a senior year.”
Fox said she opted not to run in the Nike regional meet following a disappointing season last year, but she was familiar with the race after a 12th-place finish as a sophomore.
Nightingale had entered the meet undefeated on the season and finished runner-up in 18:09.9.
“It was back-and-fourth the whole time,” Nightingale said. “Taking second to a great competitor, I’ll take it. I’m going to Portland, so I’m perfectly fine with how I am right now.”
Avery Evenson of Harland (Mich.) took third (18:36.6), and Kaylee Flanagan of Lake Park (Ill.) was fourth (18:37.8).
Ohio Division I champion Claudia Saunders of Cincinnati Princeton secured the final qualifying spot in fifth (18:39.6). Saunders finished 12 seconds ahead of sixth place, but she said she never felt confident about advancing until she neared the finish line.
“I didn’t want to look back because my coach is always telling me not to do that,” said Saunders, who was racing in her first NXN regional. “I had counted, and I knew I was moving up on third and fourth, so I thought I should be OK.
“This is awesome because I wasn’t really expecting it. I knew I had a good shot because I knew I had beaten all the people in Ohio, but there are always strong people from other states, but it feels great.”
