Lemont Girls’ Cross Country Posts Third Straight Top 15 Finish at IHSA State Finals

Lemont High School’s girls’ cross country team posted its third straight finish among the top 15 teams in the state. Head coach Tim Plotke’s Indians were 14th of 25 teams at the 2016 IHSA Class 2A Girls’ Cross Country State Finals, which were contested at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Lemont was making its eighth IHSA State Finals appearance in 10 years.

Lemont posted a team score of 368 to place 14th. Belvidere North (68) was the 2016 IHSA Class 2A State Champion.

The Indians’ top finisher was junior Beata Drzoda, who covered the 3-mile course in 18:21 to place 49th individually. Senior Bridget Kunkel, who like Drozda was competing in her third state finals, placed 58th in a time of 18:57. Junior Jaycee Shickel(83rd; 19:18), freshman Cassie Hamilton (89th; 19:21) and sophomore Julianne McClatchy (106th; 19:32) rounded out Lemont’s top five, while senior Saray Patino (137th; 20:04) and freshman Delaney Dewalls (174th; 21:56) also competed.

Lemont was making its ninth team state finals appearance in girls’ cross country. After making its initial appearance in 1991, it advanced to state finals competition five straight years from 2007-2011, and again in 2014 and 2015. Its best team state finals finish was a fourth-place showing in 2014; it was eighth overall in 2015.

Taylor Campos ‘16 is Lemont’s top state finals finisher ever on a 3-mile course; she earned all-state honors by crossing the line 23rd in a school-record time of 17:56 in 2014. Nikole Hoster ‘98 placed 12th on a 2-mile course at the 1996 IHSA Class AA State Finals to mark the program’s best individual state finals finish.

Lemont advanced to the state finals after winning the IHSA Wheaton Academy Sectional, which was contested at Kress Creek Farm in West Chicago on October 29. The Indians (69) outlasted Riverside-Brookfield (88) for the program’s third sectional title. Drozda (5th; 19:09.8) and Kunkel (10th; 19:28.2) each earned all-sectional honors on the 3-mile course. Hamilton (13th; 19:35.3), McClatchy (18th; 19:50.1) and Shickel (23rd; 19:59.5) completed Lemont’s top five. Lemont has previously won sectional crowns in 2008 and 2014.

The Indians advanced to sectional competition after narrowly winning the IHSA Hinsdale South Regional at Katherine Legge Memorial Park on October 22. Lemont’s top five runners all placed among the top 20 at the regional, including all-regional performers McClatchy (6th; 19:08.2), Hamilton (19:14.9) and Kunkel (10th; 19:33.53), as well as Drozda (14th; 19:36.8). and Shickel (19th; 19:51.6). Lemont (57) edged Rosary (63) for the program’s sixth IHSA Regional title overall, and its third in as many years. Its previous regional crowns came in 1991, 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015.

Lemont again won the South Suburban Conference-Blue Division cross country title this fall, posting a perfect team score of 15 while sweeping the top six places in the individual standings. Drozda (19:07) won the individual title, and was followed by Kunkel (19:42), Hamilton (19:53), Shickel (20:00), McClatchy (20:06) and Patino (20:28). Plotke was tabbed as the league’s Coach of the Year.

Girls’ cross country is the second Lemont High School sport to be represented in IHSA State Finals competition this year. The boys’ golf team was 11th at the Class 2A State Finals.

Photo: Beata Drzoda | Courtesy of Lemont High School