Beth Arey didn’t really require a reminder that the pace at the Illinois High School Association state cross country meet hasn’t slowed a bit since she herself was a standout runner at Downers Grove North and Lewis University 30 years ago.
But the Evanston girls cross country coach --- and Wildkit state qualifiers Stella Davis, Rory Malia and Sam Froum --- got one, anyway, on Saturday afternoon at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Davis’ hopes of earning an All-State finish (with a top 25 showing) were dashed by a fast field and she settled for a 55th place individual finish with a time of 17 minutes, 49.20 seconds over three miles.
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Both Malia (125th in the girls race in 18:24 flat) and Froum (93rd in the boys race in 15:11.60) ran times almost identical to their best regular season performances but couldn’t climb higher in the elite fields of runners.
Davis placed 30th at the 3A state finals as a junior, and factoring in the number of seniors who graduated and finished ahead of her in that race --- plus the progress she’s made --- had higher aspirations this time around. But the competition doesn’t stand still in Illinois and sometimes even your best isn’t quite good enough.
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“Stella ran exactly what she’s been running all year. Her time was fine,” said Arey. “I thought she raced well Saturday. And Rory had her fastest time there (after two previous races on the course) and it just comes down to if places weren’t the issue, their performances were fine. This is just a fast state.
“Stella was in the top 20 mix after she went out fast and she was in the right position. She just wasn’t able to sustain the hard pace that the other girls were running.”
Barrington sophomore Mia Siriois captured the individual state crown with a winning time of 15:53.40 to the 16:30.60 effort posted by the runner-up, York freshman Karlin Janowski. In one of the closest team races in the big-school history of the meet, Barrington scored 130 points to edge out both York (131) and Downers North (132) for the team title.
Froum, in his second trip to the state finals, moved up approximately 20 places. New Trier rival Ben Crane ran away from the field to win in 14:03.11, eight seconds ahead of Grant Schroder of Downers North. Downers North outscored Plainfield North 83-154 for the team championship.
