Hart rolls to an easy WSC-Silver Conference win

Hinsdale Central impressive in Girls title win; Klysh, York, sweep Boys Varsity titles

By Michael Newman

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Elmhurst – There were two certainties at Saturday’s WSC-Silver Championships at Berens Park.

The first was that Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West would win her fourth cross-country conference title. The second there would be two new course records.

The course record was a given since this was the first time that this course layout at the park would be raced on.

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Hart tuned up for the upcoming Illinois state series with a convincing win in the Girls Varsity race running 16:12 for the conference win. She won by 63 seconds ahead of Hinsdale Central’s Mckenna Revord who was timed in 17:15.

The Glenbard West senior had looked not herself when she won at Naperville Twilight more than a week ago. In this race, she was back to her old self gliding around the course in an effortless manner.

“Twilight was a mid-season rust buster just trying to get back in there,” Hart said. “This was only the second time this season we had run together with our full lineup. We always shoot for this meet.”

Hart was in the lead at 200-meters into the race. By the time she passed 1-mile in 5:10, her lead had grown to over 25 seconds. It did not seem to matter to her. Her eyes were focused on the next turn, the next time heck point. If you want to call it being in the zone, Hart was in there.

“I just wanted to get out faster than I did at Twilight. I think I was too conservative there,” Hart added. “Today was just about competing and enjoying. I was happy with my splits (5:10 at 1-mile, 10:41 at 2-miles). The last mile I just tried to stay smooth. I was happy with my race overall.”

Hinsdale Central has progressed to the point where they could be a trophy team in Peoria on November. Saturday’s race was another case to support that in winning the Girls team title with 50 points even though the team did not have their overall best performance of the season.

At the same time, their split on their top five has improved making them a threat. Revord and Emma Watcke ran with each other for the first 2.5-miles of the race. Watcke did not have her best finish of the season but still finished 10th overall. Taylor Wagner finished nine seconds behind Watcke in 11th. Freshman teammate Catie McCabe was three seconds back in 12th. Fifth and sixth runners Louisa Bronson and Sarah Fischer finished together in 15th and 16th. The split from Watcke to Fischer was a splendid 20 seconds.

The strength of this conference has showed all season in the Girls teams as six were ranked in the top 20 entering this meet. Glenbard West showed their strength as they scored 58 points to finish second behind Hart’s win, Audrey Altman’s third-place finish, and Delaney Engel placing eighth. York finished third (81 points) led by Brooke Berger’s ninth-place finish.

Lyons Township, behind top 10 finishes from Kate Dickman (6) and Maggie Abbs (7), scored 88 points to finish fourth. Downers Grove North finished fifth (102 points) with Melissa Jachim and her fifth-place finish leading the way. Oak Park-River Forest finished sixth (103 points) led by the fourth-place finish from Josephine Welin.

#2 ranked York entered this meet on a high note after an impressive performance in Indiana on October 5. This race was not at the same level as their last effort two weeks ago. They charged towards the finish line in their last race. In this conference race, they held on to their spots in the final mile.

Not at the top of their game, York still had enough to defend their conference title scoring 40 points.

“We’ve been taught here ever since we have been freshmen that the team comes first,” said conference individual champion Daniel Klysh. “We did not take anything for granted. It was not easy today. There are so many great teams in this conference. I am glad we got the job done.”

Klysh stayed with race leaders Jack Ehlert and Owen Hays of Lyons Township along with Glenbard West’s Pierce Cousins for the first two miles. Klysh pulled away on the final kilometer to capture the win running 14:40. Ehlert was next (14:50) followed by Cousins (14:56), Sawyer Madell of Lyons Township (14:58), and Evan Cummins of Downers Grove North (15:00).

York, even not at the top of their game on this day, still had a 33 second on their top five runners. Michael Moriarty was the team’s second runner (7th) followed by Ethan Kern (9th), Colin Hill (10th), and Will Yasdick (13th).The split from Moriarty to Yasdick was only 10 seconds.

Downers Grove North ran a 24 second split on their top five to finish second with 64 points. Lyons Township was one point behind in third (65 points). Glenbard West (87 points) and Hinsdale Central (111 points) finished fourth and fifth.