They began talking about an undefeated season five months ago, while they pounded the pavement on long summer runs.
Maureen Nelligan, Kim Archer and several others on Sandburg’s girls cross-country team brought up that possibility a number of times.
“We always talked about that kind of stuff,” Archer said recently. “We’ve been looking forward to Nov. 9 since the summer.”
The Eagles are unbeaten heading into Saturday’s Class AA state meet in Peoria’s Detweiller Park, thanks to Nelligan, Archer and Melanie Glander, the top freshman in the Chicago area.
They could become the first SICA team to win the girls state championship in the meet’s 23-year history. York, behind Kara Henry, and Wheaton North, led by Samantha Polock, are the other favorites. Barrington, with outstanding junior Christina Fiduccia, could also be in contention.
“I’m not presumptuous enough to make outlandish predictions, but if we do what we’re capable of, we’ll be knocking on the door,” Sandburg coach Jim Frye said.
It won’t be the first time. In 1997 Sandburg finished second to St. Charles for the school’s only top-three finish. The Eagles were a surprise runner-up back then; this year it will be a stunner if they don’t win. The team ran fourth behind state champion Naperville North last season with only one senior in the lineup.
“We came back with a goal to win state, and we’re not going to accept anything less than that,” said Nelligan, who ran 11th as a junior in the 2001 state final.
Like Sandburg’s girls, Lyons Township’s boys team has made tremendous improvement in recent years. The Lions won titles in 1955 and 1956 and finished third in ’57 and ’72. But from 1979 through 1998, Lyons failed to advance to the state final while West Suburban Conference rival York won 12 of its 21 state titles in that span under coach Joe Newton.
This season is the first in three decades in which Lyons has measured up to York, beating the Dukes in three of four meetings, including the sectional race last weekend. That victory gives the Lions momentum and a slight advantage over York heading into the state final. Other teams that could prevent York from winning its third title in four seasons include Naperville North, New Trier, Wheaton Warrenville South and defending state champion Glenbard South.
Senior Alex Yount helped turn around Lyons’ program as a freshman as the team become a state qualifier for the first time in 21 years. This year he and front-runners Brad Topol, Ryan Kuphall, Jonathan Ruud and Eugene Marino hope to bring home a championship trophy.
“If we’re at our best and someone can beat us, we’re fine with that,” Ruud said. “But it would be really nice to win.”
In boys Class A, Winnebago, Normal U-High and four-time defending state champion Eureka will be contenders. In the Class A girls field, Wheaton Academy is a strong favorite to win its first state title behind front-runner Liz Frusti. Wheaton finished third the last two years and is expected to dethrone defending champion Timothy Christian.
Individually, Lake Zurich’s Sam Romanoski and Andrew’s Matt Withrow are expected to challenge Edwardsville’s Stephen Pifer for the Class AA boys title. Pifer beat Romanoski, last year’s state runner-up, earlier this season.
The Chicago area’s top Class AA girls will be hard-pressed to beat Normal West’s Meghan Braffet, who has won most of her races by significant margins. Those capable of pulling off an upset include Wheaton North’s Polock, Naperville North’s Lisa Bonistalli, Dundee-Crown’s Amanda Domich, Wheeling’s Jessie Morgenthal and Sandburg’s Archer, Nelligan and Glander.
Sandburg’s runners are motivated in part by their coach’s possible retirement. Frye is in his second year of retirement from teaching and is pondering a departure from coaching. He has been coaching for 34 years, the last 27 at Sandburg.
The Eagles also want to redeem themselves for missing a trophy finish last season–by four points.
