​OPRF Girls Cross Country Narrowly Misses Trip to State Meet

For the second year in a row, the Oak Park and River Forest High School girls cross country team finished in sixth place at sectionals and narrowly missed being one of the top five teams advancing to the state meet. The team qualified for sectionals by finishing in fifth place the week before at the Wheaton North Regional.

On a cool, damp and windy day at Lake Park High School on Saturday, October 28th, the team had its best race of the year and beat higher ranked teams in nearly pulling off an upset. Wheaton Warrenville South and Glenbard West, two teams highly ranked nationally, finished first and second. Fenwick High School finished 11th.

OPRF's 219 points were nine points shy of the fifth-place slot, occupied by Maine South. See the full results here.

It was the last cross country meet for OPRF teacher and head girls cross country coach Tom Tarrant who will retire after the school year.

Across the three-mile grass course, the girls varsity team was represented by junior Violet Harper (18:43), junior Hannah Thompson (18:44), freshman Nora Wollen (19:04), junior Eleanor Kallay (19:07), senior Talia Brookstein-Burke (19:15), freshman Maggie Rose Baron (19:23), and junior Molly Ryan (20:28).

The Huskies are a relatively young team, suggesting the program is positioned to make a strong showing in coming years. Nine seniors finished ahead of juniors Harper and Thompson, whose overall finish of #31-32 was tops for OPRF. In addition, Wollen was fourth among all freshmen, with Baron placing seventh among the 17 first-year competitors who were in the 137-runner field.