LHS Girls Cross Country Team Finishes 12th At State Finals

LEMONT, IL — The girls cross country team finished 12th at the IHSA Class 2A state finals and Lemont High School sophomore Kaylie Politza established three school records. The school said Politza earned all-state honors for the second straight year after finishing fifth individually among 209 runners. The Indians placed 12th of 25 teams at the event.

Additionally, junior Nick Kania and freshman TJ Polen each made their state finals debuts at the 2019 IHSA Class 2A Boys’ Cross Country state finals.

Politza established a new program record with her fifth-place finish; she and Nikole Hoster ‘98 (1996 Class AA State Finals) previously held the school record with 12th-place finishes. Finally, the school said Politza crossed the line in 17:22.80 to break her own school record for a 3-mile race.

Sophomore Destiny Vargas (69th; 18:49.77) and seniors Cassie Hamilton (107th; 19:18.12), Marin Schiffman (108th; 19:18.23) and Hannah Troy (119th; 19:27.87) finished among the team’s top five at the state finals. Juniors Kailey Wasyliw (150th; 19:55.76) and Jenny Martinez (173rd; 20:27.07) rounded out Lemont’s state finals contingent.

According to LHS, Benet Academy, which was the only team to finish ahead of Lemont in both IHSA Regional and IHSA Sectional competition, won the 2019 IHSA Class 2A State Championship.

Lemont was making its 12th team state finals appearance in girls’ cross country.

In the boys’ race, the school said Kania was 71st individually in a time of 16:06.23, while Polen was 158th in a time of 16:46.80. They became the first teammates in program history to each earn individual state finals berths in the same season.

Head coach Tim Plotke’s girls’ program secured its 13th South Suburban Conference-Blue Division title in 14 seasons, while the boys’ team finished as the SSC Blue runner-up. Politza was the SSC Blue individual champion this fall, while Polen paced the boys’ team with a fifth-place finish.

Boys and girls cross country are the second and third Lemont High School sports to be represented in IHSA state finals competition this year.