Hugs and tears. Then hugs and cheers.
Heart in throat, Westmont cross-country coach Steve Wolf rode a wave of emotions Saturday at Detweiller Park, first consoling his girls team after its painful third-place finish, then wrapping junior Chris Bailey in a great big bear hug after Bailey won the Class A championship in 14 minutes 55 seconds to become Westmont’s first individual state champion in any sport.
“As a coach of both the boys and girls teams, I have to have a split personality,” said Wolf. “That’s what it was like today. I feel bad for the girls but great for Chris.”
Bailey, who finished 10th here last fall and was the Chicago area’s best hope for a trophy, didn’t have it easy.
He led wire-to-wire but not before holding off a game Jeff Erickson of Eureka. Erickson caught Bailey at the 1 1/2-mile mark and ran elbow-to-elbow with him before fading in the last 880.
“I was a little worried,” admitted Bailey. “But he (Erickson) actually helped me by catching me. I needed someone to pick up the pace or else I might have fallen back.”
Bailey said he used the girls team’s tears to calm his own fears.
“Coach Wolf told me `They’re down. We’re counting on you.’ I just used that to motivate myself. Sure that was a lot of pressure, but I like pressure.”
– The Westmont girls wore buttons on their jackets that read, “We can deal with it.”
The sentiment came in handy after the top-ranked Sentinels finished third with 130 points, behind Winnebago (119 points) and runner-up Byron (126).
“We thought we could win it,” said Westmont senior Julie Greenfield, who finished third overall to lead the Sentinels. “I’m not happy with the way I ran, and as a team we thought we could do better.”
Sophomore Sue Gibson of Trenton Wesclin successfully defended her individual title, finishing the 2.1 mile-course in 12:22. Tina Conge of Seneca was second (12:27), followed by Greenfield (12:29). Stacy Siler (13th), Linda Jurkowski (50th), Julie Jaidenger (57th) and Linda Lin (83rd) rounded out Westmont’s scoring.
Westmont entered ranked No. 1 by the Timely Times but was hurt by the absence of No. 2 runner Julie Arsenau. A senior, sge suffered a broken right leg last week at the Herscher sectional and watched on crutches Saturday. She was 23rd last year.
– East Peoria earned a double dose of Class AA glory: junior Tim Broe won the boys race in 14:22 over three miles and junior Jenelle Deatherage captured the girls title in 11:43.
– Coaches John Birkett of Sycamore and Mike Sullivan of Sterling wandered through the crowd, picket sign and petition in hand.
They’re leading a growing movement for a three-class cross-country system. Currently 65 percent of schools (226 total) are designated Class AA; 35 percent (146) Class A. Birkett wants a separate class for schools of between 600 and approximately 1,000 enrollment.
