By Mike Clark
Ainsley Carter was missing her usual running partner, but that didn’t prevent the Lane junior from taking care of business.
Carter, last year’s Public League runner-up, won the city title on Oct. 18 at Washington Park to highlight a dominant performance by the Champions.
Lane, ranked 19th in Class 3A by Milesplit Heartland, had eight of the top 10 finishers to win with 19 points. Payton (70), Young (76), Northside (99) and Jones (126) completed the top five.
Carter won in 18 minutes, 24.8 seconds with Payton’s Macy Ferschinger taking second at 18:31.3.
“I could hear the Payton coaches yelling at her to get back up on my shoulder and it really just motivated me to keep pushing and not let her pass me,” Carter said. “I think at about (with) 1,200 (meters) to go I started to pull away from her a little. Then when I saw where the 800 was marked on the ground I was just trying to lengthen my stride and just finish with everything.”
Lane was without freshman Sienna O’Malley, who ran a 17:24 on the state course at Detweiller Park in Peoria earlier this fall.
“We were hoping to go out together the first two miles, keep it controlled and then really finish strong,” Carter said of O’Malley. “Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to race today. But I was able to still kind of execute the plan.”
Having an elite runner to run with has been a boon for Carter.
“I’ve had some huge (personal bests) this season,” Carter said. “It’s been nice to train with Sienna. We’ve really been able to push each other and I’m excited. I think we’re gonna do big things in sectionals and state.”
Guadalupe Lopez, another freshman, was third for Lane in 18:41.2, followed by Antonina Leary (fourth, 18:53.4), Samantha Borg-Breen (fifth, 19:02.3), Sydney Van Aken (sixth, 19:07.4), Amy Herzog (seventh, 19:07.8), Izzy Ide (ninth, 19:32.5) and Gillian Katz (10th, 19:42.1).
The only non-Lane runner in the top 10 besides Ferschinger was Kennedy’s Viviana Tryfonopoulos (eighth, 19:22.2).
“The girls are really rounding into form,” Lane coach Kris Roof said. “The rest of the girls pack is looking really good right now. … Our top 14 girls, if you take away (No.) 1 and 2 they’re all within 30 seconds. …”
“They’re just athletes. They were basketball and volleyball girls. We’re not pounding mileage on them.”
Like the boys team, the Lane girls also won their regional, defeating neighborhood rival DePaul Prep 43-59. Payton finished fifth. Carter, Lopez, Herzog, Borg-Breen and Siegrist finished fifth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th to lead the Champions.
Photos by Keyshawn Aytch/OSA
