As the Trevians prepare for state, they are definitely confident that they are running their best at the end of the season. Girls Cross Country won both the regionals and conference meet, including a second place finish in the sectional meet.
New Trier has had a successful season thus far. They have a lot of second place finishes in very competitive meets, and they believe they can be a top contender at state. “We are finishing strong,” head coach John Burnside said.
At Regionals, the Trevians got some unlikely help from two freshmen: Cameron Coughlin and Oona Jung-Beeman who came out of nowhere to run great races (19:35 and 18:55, respectively. Seniors Courtney and Jessica Ackerman both ran their usual strong races (17:42 and 17:30 respectively). Jessica ended up winning the whole meet for the second straight year. Sophomore Mimi Smith also had a great race (17:37), as the Trevians went on to win the meet, really hitting their stride going into Sectionals.
New Trier also ran very well in the class 3A Sectional meet at Niles West. The Trevians were led by Courtney Ackerman who finished fourth (17:13), followed by Smith who placed seventh (17:27) and Jessica Ackerman who finished ninth (17:38). The Trevians scored a total of 68 points, but that was not enough to beat Glenbard West who scored 60 points. Nonetheless, the Girls Cross Country team is still confident that they are running their best, as they venture downstate next weekend to compete at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
One of the Trevians’ biggest strengths this year has been their depth. “Really what we have been able to capitalize the most is the fact that we have a pretty complete team,” said Burnside. They don’t rely on the same people every week to compete. “We have the ability to be flexible. Somebody is going to step up for us,” Burnside said.
This year will be especially tough for the Trevians at state because of the high number of quality teams in Illinois this year. “Illinois [cross country teams] on the girls side is ridiculous. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Burnside said. The goal all season for the girls cross country team has been to consistently stick with the best teams in the state. “The goal has been to see how well we can compete with the very top end teams and always make sure we are competing with those elite teams,” Burnside said.
As the Girls Cross Country team looks forward to this year’s state competition, it will be hard to replace their seniors from last year, most importantly Julie Jackson. Despite their losses, the Trevians still return their top three finishers last year: Courtney Ackerman, Jessica Ackerman and Smith.
Coach Burnside acknowledged that this team is as strong as their state champion team last year, but because of the competition, the Trevians will have to be better. “The competition is harder this year, so this team is going to have to do better in comparison to last year,” Burnside said. The Trevians’ three top finishers last year in the state meet were all-state, so the Trevians will definitely still be looking to win state.
The Girls Cross Country team will be looking to continue running strong and finishing their great season with a bang at state.