By Michael Newman

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Peoria, Ill --- As McKenzie Yanek (Pleasant Valley HS IA) passed the two mile mark in 11:12, the fans around that checkpoint started asking who is that?

They had a right to ask that question. The sophomore from Iowa ran in this race last year finishing twelfth running 17:37. Her track season last spring produced two all-state performances in Iowa in the 1500 and 3000 Meter Runs. What got her noticed was her race at the beginning of September at the Pleasant Valley Invitational. There she won the 4000 Meter Girls Varsity race in 14:03. Naperville North’s Elly DeTurris finished third in that race 48 seconds behind.

On this day, it was all Yanek. The seven second lead that she had on Lindsay Graham (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) and Mimi Smith (New Trier HS, Winnetka) at the two mile point doubled in the last mile. Yanek improved her time by almost 50 seconds from a year ago in winning the Girls Varsity race at the Rich Spring Invitational at Detweiller Park with a 16:48 time.

“I was just hoping that I would improve from last year,” Yanek said after her run. “I was just trying to stay positive in this race. I knew there was going to be a lot of people at the start and it would take a while to stretch out. I just wanted to relax and know that I could make a move later in the race.”

She made her move just after the mile. The Pleasant Valley runner passed that point in 5:27 followed closely behind by Maryjeanne Gilbert (Notre Dame HS, Peoria), Megan Carroll (St. Viator HS, Arlington Heights), and Graham. She started to push the pace at that point and started to extend her lead at that point.

The #3 Palatine Girls team was not concerned with the action that was going on up front. Their main concern was staying within touch of each other. Not within eyeshot, but so close that they could touch each other. They had five runners within the first twenty five. Glenbard West had two runners up front (Graham & Lisa Luczak) but could not match the pack that Palatine had. Led by the fifteenth place finish by Liz Cox, the Pirates easily won the team championship scoring 94 points. Close behind Cox was Amy Kieliszewski (16^th), Cassidy McPherson (18^th), Kelly O’Brien (19^th), and Jessica Lincoln (26^th). The five put together an incredible seven second split on the five. That was great news for Palatine Coach Joe Parks, but still there is plenty of time left in the season.

“The girls did a good job hooking up during the race and working together.  The times were a tad slower today than I would have predicted, but we made some progress.  It was nice to see the girls feeding of one another and working in a pack.  We know we still have to improve greatly if we want to contend with Naperville North and a fully loaded Glenbard West,” Parks said. “I think we can, as Sabina Yosif lost a shoe 300m in and ran the whole way without, Jess Lincoln is battling some allergy issues, and Liz Cox was only two days removed from stitches coming out of her foot, after cutting it the end of last week and missing some training. They are not excuses, but encouraging to know if we can get all things clicking at the same time we should be better, as we will have to be come November.”

New Trier placed second behind the Pirates with 140 points paced by the third place finish by Mimi Smith. What was encouraging for Trevian Coach John Burnside was the nine second split between second runner Kaitlin Frei and fifth runner Cara Kelleher.

“We have the strategy that we are comfortable with. We just have to get better with it,” Burnside said. “You are always looking for that plan that is going to work. I think the girls are now comfortable with the plan. We just have to execute it. We just need to keep improving as a group.”

For Glenbard West, it is not back to the drawing board or time for re-evaluation for Coach Paul Hass after their third place finish. “We did not run poorly, but we did not run our best either. There are no excuses. Palatine ran great,” said Hass. “It was great competition. You chalk it up to experience and learn from that. The girls know they can run better and hopefully they will. We have seven weeks until the state meet and we have a lot of time.”