ETHS Girls Need More Help From Back In The Pack

The top 3 runners for Evanston’s girls cross country team this season --- Stella Davis, Rory Malia and Sammy Schuneman --- are enjoying banner years so far.

But the Wildkit 1-2-3 punch is still going to need a little help from their friends in the future, starting with next week’s conference championship meet at Vernon Hills.

Evanston’s postseason hopes as a team still rest with the No. 4 and No. 5 slots on the squad, a fact that was glaring again Saturday as the Wildkits earned a 6th place team finish at the Wheeling Invitational.

Davis (2nd in 18 minutes, 29.74 seconds), Malia (10th in 19:16.27) and Schuneman (14th in 19:29.08) all registered solid performances in the team’s final regular season tuneup on windy 3-mile course at Heritage Park in Wheeling. But the gap between the trio and No. 4 finisher Sophia Hinton (61st) and No. 5 runner Sam Caldwell (64th) needs to be closed --- sooner, rather than later according to ETHS head coach Beth Arey.

“Two weeks ago, I’d have said we were in a good place as a team,” said Arey. “But we took a step back at Peoria and again today. The girls are really driven to get Downstate as a team, but we won’t get there unless we start competing better. I’m concerned about those steps back that we’ve taken, even though it was good to see our top 3 run so well today.

“Sophia is usually our No. 5 runner. It looked like she put in a better effort today and she did close the gap on some of the others. But she’s still too far behind. And Sam just wasn’t competitive today.”

Evanston’s total of 152 points was paced by another impressive invitational performance from Davis, a junior who is seeking to complete the track-cross country “double” she started last spring when she reached the Illinois High School Association state finals in the 1600-meter run. She’s picked up the pace in her bid to advance in cross country after falling just short of that goal as both a freshman and sophomore.

To date, Davis has scored top 8 individual finishes at major weekend invitationals twice at Peoria, site of the state finals, and at Hinsdale Central and Warren.

The junior standout has become a student of the sport and tries to scout the opposition in advance, so she knows what she’s up against in big meets. But it wasn’t clear prior to Saturday just which schools would be running their full varsity squads --- some opted to send JV squads to the girls race --- and Davis wasn’t certain just where the challenge would come from.

Davis was joined in a pack at the front, where she can usually be found, along with Delilah Helenhouse of Benet Academy, Emily Offutt of Wheaton North and Maddie Romaine of Wheaton North. Helenhouse pulled away for a victory in 18:27.82, but Davis passed both Wheaton runners down the stretch to earn runner-up honors.

“My time wasn’t what I wanted today, but I am happy I passed those two girls at the end,” Davis declared. “I did look at who was going to be here today and I know a lot of schools didn’t race their (top) varsity girls. I knew there wouldn’t be that much competition, and competition is what makes me run faster.

“The top 5 is where I want to be in every race and I’ve had a lot of PRs (personal records, including a best of 17:40 the first weekend in Peoria) this year. I’ve been training with the boys team (at Evanston) recently, just a couple of times a week, and that was really helpful. It’s more motivation for me when I do that, although I train with the JV boys because I’m nowhere near as fast as the varsity boys. It’s a lot of fun running with them.”

“Stella could have run faster today,” acknowledged Arey. “But she was on her own today because we didn’t know what the competition would be. We didn’t know if there’d be someone good sitting behind her, or who would be the next runner to take off in a race when she was in the lead. She still had stuff left at the end, so I know she has more in her. She needs to be able to run in the mid 17s to make it to State, I think, and she has to KNOW that she’s capable of that.”

Both Davis and Arey, a former standout at Downers Grove North now in her second year as ETHS head coach, will have more homework to do to help keep those dreams of a trip to State alive.

The IHSA recently announced a new path for the Wildkits in pursuit of a trip to Peoria, and will send them in a new direction with a regional run at Oak Park-River Forest leading to a possible sectional appearance at Lake Park. Usually the Kits are routed through the Hoffman Estates/Busse Woods Sectional, but not now.

“I tried to set up our schedule this year so we’d see those teams in the sectional as many times as we could,” said Arey, noting that Saturday’s appearance at Wheeling came mostly because that’s the site of the anticipated regional ETHS would be part of. “I thought I was being strategic and I thought I’d done my homework. Now I have more homework to do.”

So does Davis, who doesn’t shy away from any challenge.

“At first I was scared about it, because I like running on the same courses. But you never know what will happen,” she said. “Right now I’m ranked 7th in the new sectionaI and I don’t think the level of competition will be harder than the other one was. The whole team really wants to make it to State and I believe in this team. One race (today) doesn’t tell you everything.”