Highland girls cross country falls short of top 12 finish at Class 2A state meet
During the entire 2019 cross country season, the Highland girls team had been very good if not superb in meet after meet no matter where they ran or what conditions they ran in.
In the biggest meet on the biggest stage of the season, the Lady Bulldogs runners struggled a bit more than usual and ended up with a 16th place finish with 434 points out of 25 teams at the IHSA Class 2A meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria on Saturday, Nov. 9.
It was the second-best finish in school and program history for Highland but Lady Bulldogs coach Doug Bradley said he felt the team could have had a little higher finish if things had played out better through the race.
“There’s no sugar-coating it. We didn’t run well, “ Bradley said. “They’ve been on a historic run up to this point and this race is hard and I’m learning there is no way to predict how a kid will run here (at state).”
In spite of the tough finish there were a few brights spots for the Lady Bulldogs as Grace Meyer led the club finishing in 64th place with a time of 18:48.41.
“The star of the day was Grace Meyer,” Bradley said. She ran a smart race and was really consistent each half-mile after the first one.”
Meyer posted an all-time personal best with her performance by .12 seconds.
Julia Loeh finished in 89th place (19:06. 9), Faith Brindley in 86th place (19:09.96), and Maddie Dortch in 154th (19:59. 72.). Jessica Borror, who was fighting a hip injury, gutted out the race finishing in 164th place (20:13.06).
“Jessica Borror, bless her heart, ran with a hip injury that impacted her race,” Bradley said. “She fought as hard as she could but she wasn’t her usual self.”
Liv Heinzmann placed 178th (20:35.28) and Paige Schaible placed 188th to round out the Lady Bulldogs finishers.
In the boys division, Bulldogs senior Nick Hanratty finished 114th overall in his final race for Highland.
“Nick Hanratty was really aggressive early as he ran his first half-mile in 2:17,” Bradley said. “His 4:52 mile was also .02 seconds ahead of his best (time) and that is how a senior wanting to be an all-stater should have attacked it.”
After an excellent first mile, Hanratty started to lose steam and failed to maintain his strong early pace.
“His next mile was a chore and he just couldn’t sustain his great start,” Bradley said. “Regardless, he’s had an outstanding season and he’s the kind of kid every coach would love and I’m pretty lucky he that was on my team.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 1:08 PM.