Photo: Enyaeva Michelin of Evanston Township HS (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

Class 3A

The decision was not that hard to name Enyaeva Michelin as the 3A Girls Most Improved Runner of the Year.

The senior from Evanston Township High School finished 117^th her junior year at the IHSA 3A State Meet in 2016 running 18:30. You could see the improvement in her during the track season that spring when she earned all-state honors by finishing seventh in the 3A 800 Meter Run at the IHSA State Meet. Her confidence grew during the summer first winning the 1600 Meter Run at the Midwest Distance Classic (5:03.47). Michelin’s times continued to drop during the summer competing in USATF Junior Olympic Meets. She won the national championship in her age-group (17-18) running 4:32.81 for 1500 Meters.

The success for her on the track transferred over during her first cross country race of the year when she dropped her personal best for 3-miles by over one minute at the Hinsdale Red Devil-Hornet Invitational (17:21). She won the First to the Finish 3A race (16:48.9) finishing ahead of Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt. Michelin ran under 17-minutes three more times during the season including 16:30 to finish second behind Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart at the IHSA 3A State Cross-Country Championships.

With the success of Michelin in the “mile” at the end of last summer, it will be interesting to see Michelin and Hart race against each other at that distance on the track.

Congratulations to Enyaeva Michelin of Evanston Township High School as the 2017 ILXCTF.com 3A Girls Most Improved Cross-Country Runner of the Year.

Class 2A

It was hard to choose one runner in this loaded classification.

Shanice Garbutt of Danville was one runner that we considered. The future University of Illinois Student/Athlete finished 96^th her junior season and then coming back to finish third last November in the 2A Girls State Championship. We looked at her record closer her junior season finishing second in her regional and third in her sectional before running a not so great race at state. Garbutt came back during track season to finish seventh in the 3A 3200 Meter Run with a 15 second personal best (10:48.15).

Sabrina Elder of Belvidere North was another runner that was considered. After finishing 42^nd at state her junior year in 2016, she came back to run a personal best 17:44 to finish 17^th overall and the second runner for Belvidere North at the state meet.

Addie Pulley ran a personal best of 18:47 for 3-miles her sophomore season in 2015. Pulley ran a seasonal best of 19:25 her junior year. She did not run in the state series that year and missed all her track season last spring.

Pulley’s times dropped this fall running 18:06 to finish 10^th at the First to the Finish Invitational in September. Her personal best dropped to 17:46 in November to finish 19^th at the 2A State Meet. After a not so great junior season, the success that she had this fall put her in this position as the 2A Girls Most Improved runner of the year.

Congratulations to Addie Pulley of Alleman High School in Rock Island as the 2017 ILXCTF.com 2A Girls Most Improved Cross-Country Runner of the Year.

Class 1A

19 of the top 25 finishers in the 1A State race in November were either Freshmen or Sophomores. There were two runners that we considered for this honor.

Veronica Hein of Decatur St. Teresa High School finished 42^nd in her freshman season in 2016. She earned all-state honors this fall by finishing 18^th in the 1A State Championships.

Laura Krasa did not make it to the state meet her junior season on 2016. She finished 28^th at the Effingham St. Anthony that fall. Krasa bounced back in a big way this cross-country season. She finished in the top five in the eight races that she competed in. She finished fourth at the Carlinville Sectional. Krasa followed that up by finishing 10^th in the 1A State Meet to earn all-state honors.

Congratulations to Laura Krasa of Judah Christian High School in Champaign as the 2017 ILXCTF.com 1A Girls Most Improved Cross-Country Runner of the Year.