Lady Bulldogs lose top runners, but return proven senior
The Highland High School girls cross country team has lost a handful of key runners from last year’s state team, but the Lady Bulldogs bring back one of their top harriers in senior Sarah Beth Wiegman, who has a proven three-year track record.
Highland lost one of its top runners in sophomore Kate Marti to a season-ending knee injury — a torn ACL and meniscus — in June. Additionally, four-year stalwart Allison Zobrist graduated, and the team also lost a quality harrier in Breann Wernle, as well as Sarah Jansen and Brittany Cunningham.
Wernle has elected not to run this season, while Jansen also suffered a season-ending knee injury, and Cunningham was lost to a family military transfer.
“It has been a pretty rough off-season,” said HHS cross country coach Doug Bradley, who is assisted by long-time cross country and track and field coach Bob Vance. “Two significant knee injuries (Marti and Jansen) have taken two key athletes off the roster. Breann Wernle has communicated that she is not running this season. Her decision has sent shock waves through the program. Obviously, her loss creates a challenge for the team. It means we’ve lost three of the top four runners from last year’s state team. Another important returning athlete (Cunningham) was lost due to a military transfer.”
About a month after helping HHS’ 4 x 800-meter relay team capture a school-relay record with the fourth-place medal, sophomore Kate Marti was trying out for an elite soccer team when her devastating injury occurred.
Marti, who pulled off perhaps the rarest feat in school history last year as a freshman when she competed in the IHSA State Finals in all three seasons, will miss the cross country and basketball seasons. But she hopes to be ready to hit the track, and perhaps the soccer pitch as well, in the spring.
“Kate is an adrenaline junkie, and that caught up to her in early June,” Bradley said. “She is devastated that she’s going to miss out on the season, but she is optimistic that she can find her way back in time to qualify for another trip to Charleston next spring.”
Although Marti is a hard loss for the team, a bright spot is the team returns senior Sarah Beth Wiegman, as well as three other runners who all got state-meet experience when the team finished 20th in Class 2A last fall.
Key returners
Wiegman’s first priority is on the volleyball court, but that has not stopped her from being one of the program’s top harriers for the past three seasons — every one of which she has helped the Lady Bulldogs qualify as a team for the IHSA Class 2A State Cross Country Meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Bradley said Wiegman is a remarkable athlete, who in addition to competing in the state cross country meet all three years, has earned two 4 x 800 track medals (seventh in 2014 and fourth in 2016) in three years, and she’s a four-year starter in a very successful volleyball program. For good measure, she also throws the discus over a 100 feet and can long jump well over 14 feet.
“She is our engine, and the other girls all recognize that she doesn’t do anything halfway, and that’s the expectation she has for them, too,” Bradley said.
The other three who gained invaluable experience last fall were senior Courtney Hengehold and sophomores Lily Becker and Lexy Gilliam.
Bradley said Hengehold, the other senior, is the team’s grinder.
“She’ll be the first to tell you she’s not fast,” he said. “She’ll tell you that she’s not athletic. She’ll tell you that her favorite practices involve lots of pasta and bread. What you won’t get out of her is how she raises her performances at the most important times in a season. She has pushed through pain and anguish in critical situations to help us at conferences, regionals and sectionals. She has meant a lot to the program.”
Newcomers to the program
Good news as replacements for some of those lost are Lebanon transfer students, junior Brittney Nigh and her younger sister, Mackenzie.
“They’ve looked strong in their first few practices and have the potential to really help us,” Bradley said. “This team isn’t going to cash it in. They are such nice girls, but they aren’t the kind that give up without a fight. I’m as excited as I was about this team back in early June (before Marti’s injury). The road has gotten tougher, but I think our resolve has gotten stronger. “
Also in the mix for varsity spots are freshman Sam Hengehold, senior Sydney Nyquist, juniors Keely Rittenhouse and Hanna Rose, and sophomore Sarah Kampwerth.
In addition to Sam Hengehold, and the Nigh sisters, freshmen Kelsey Toft and Adrian Wille are also newcomers to the varsity program.
battling together to overcome losses
Given the injuries and losses, Bradley said it would appear that earning a fourth consecutive trip to state would be a pipe dream, but don’t be too quick to write off HHS.
“There is still some talent and heart on this team,” Bradley said. “It is critical that the girls stay healthy and that each one improves. It will take one heck of an effort, but this group is capable of challenging for a Mississippi Valley Conference title and a regional title.”
But competing for conference and regional titles will be a tall order given the talented teams that Mascoutah, Triad and Waterloo will be putting together this season.
“This season ends with a group of smiling, happy girls if they all share the workload,” Bradley said. “I’ll be asking a lot of the five that ran at state last year. They aren’t going to be taking many single-digit individual scores into the team score, so everyone has to contribute. Pack running worked well late last season, and if they buy into that philosophy early this year, I think that gives them their best chance at success.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2016 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Lady Bulldogs lose top runners, but return proven senior."