Neighbor News
St. Peter's Zucco and Tork Qualify For IESA State Cross Country Meet
The seventh graders lead their team to a fifth place finish. The boys place seventh in a competitive field.
Saturday was 7th graders Kaitlin Zucco’s and Mary Tork’s day to shine as they led their team to a fifth place finish at IESA Sectionals at Westmont High School. Zucco placed sixth in 13:49 and Tork placed ninth in 14:07 on the two mile course with many twists and turns. 5th graders Julie Drew and Caitlin Gallagher placed 29th and 30th while 6th grader Greta Prange rounded out the Rockets scoring in 34th place. The young team scored a respectable 93 points and were only two points out of a fourth place finish behind Downers Grove St. Mary.
It wasn’t an easy road for either Zucco or Tork and both had their share of challenges to overcome. Zucco began the morning with a bad limp from an injury sustained during practice. She wasn’t sure how far she would get in the race but courageously battled through the discomfort for the best race of her season. Tork, who had been fighting asthma and subsequent cramping all season put herself into 9th place early in the race and never gave up the position.
For the boys, running against defending state champion Clarendon Hills Notre Dame as well as La Grange St. Francis (7th at state in 2014) was going to be a challenge. With many of the teams in the sectional from the competitive Suburban Parochial League as well as some talented newcomers, the St. Peter boys can be proud of their seventh place finish. Led by 7th grader Ben Robertson in 28th place, the Rockets scored 194 points, only four points behind sixth place Woodridge St. Scholastica.
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La Grange St. Francis won the girls sectional followed by Notre Dame in second with Elgin Harvest Christian Academy placing third. On the boys side Notre Dame won the sectional with 53 points and will go on to defend their state title. Downers Grove St. Mary nearly beat the perennial Notre Dame champions by scoring 56 points. Third went to St. Francis.
Zucco and Tork will run at the Class A IESA State Championship Cross Country Meet on Saturday at Maxwell Park in Normal. There they look to improve even more on their outstanding sectional performance and set the stage for the St. Peter girls team to return to the state meet in 2016.
