Welcome to the Girls Cross Country home page. For additional information on the Girls Cross Country program please contact Head Coach Mr. Matt Haffner at matthew.haffner@ignatius.org. For a complete faculty and staff contact list, please visit our Contact Info page.

 

 

IHSA Sectional Champions
1987, 1989

IHSA Regional Champions
1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2005

Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Champions
1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1989, 2008

Introduction

Cross Country is an endurance sport which incorporates both team and individual components. Saint Ignatius has a modified no-cut policy with respect to this program. This policy allows the student-athlete the opportunity to develop at her own rate without being presented with the need to match the talents of others in order to secure a team position. This does not diminish the competitive aspect of the sport.

Team

In the sport of cross country, there are three different team levels: varsity, freshman/sophomore, and open. While all three levels practice together on a daily basis, the team is divided into these three levels for meets. Race distances range from 2.0 to 3.1 miles. Runners are expected to make and achieve individual goals, while working together with their teammates in order to achieve team goals throughout the season. The standards for earning a varsity letter are: 1) running in two varsity races during the season, 2) running 20:30 on a 3-mile course, or 3) running 21:15 on a 3.1-mile course.

Saint Ignatius competes in the Girls Catholic Athletics Conference and the Class AA division of the IHSA. All-Conference honors are extended to any athletes achieving first through 14th place finishes in the conference championship. State Championship participation is determined by meeting state-determined qualifying standards at the IHSA Regional and Sectional Meet levels.

Last Season Recap

The frosh-soph girls cross country team finished the season with a record of 101-19. Highlights included a one-point win in the 15-team Tinley Park Invite and a third-place finish at the Niles West Invite in a field of 20 teams. Key contributors included Mada Hauck (21:17 for 3-miles and 3 top-10 finishes), Xitlalic Soto-Sida (21:15, 1 top-10), Marissa Ruiz (21:59), Sarah Devitt (21:24) and Cora Byrne (21:50, 1 top -10). Sophomores Emily Brennan, Jennifer White and Andrea Bonaccorsi and freshman Emily Bridges (20:41 in her first meet) missed most or all of the season while sophomores Kelly Kohler, Laura Kurek and Erin Boulger spent most of their time with the varsity this season.

The JV girls’ cross country team finished with a final record of 152-20 and in 3rd place at the GCAC Championship. After finishing 5th and 6th at Fenton in our first meet, the team finished in the top three during the last seven races including a victory in the Tinley Park Invite. Clare Murphy was the individual champion at Tinley Park and Theresa Dunham won at Lake Park. The JV team was successful because of its depth. Fifteen different girls recorded top-10 Invitational finishes at the JV level – Emily Bridges, Mada Hauck, Kelly Kohler, Laura Kurek, Lucy Conroy, Caitlin Dunham, Olivia Kaplan, Sophie Rambaud, Theresa Dunham, Haley Feller, Jackie Hrabak, Clare Murphy, Claire Sexton, Sophia Usow and Elaina Valtierra.

The varsity girls’ cross country team finished in 3rd place in a closely-contested GCAC Championship. Colleen McNulty (4th), Elizabeth Faber (5th), Claire Sexton (9th), Kelly Kohler (14th) and Julia Brucks (15th) earned all-conference awards. The varsity team won at Argo against 30 teams with top-10 finishes by McNulty (2nd), Theresa Dunham (3rd), Elizabeth Faber (8th) and Claire Sexton (9th).

Injuries slowed the Wolfpack a bit in the championship portion of the season, but the results from the season were impressive. Varsity top-10 Invitational finishes were accomplished by McNulty (6 times), Faber (6), Sexton (2), and Dunham and Clare Murphy.

Colleen McNulty was named to the All-Regional Team after her 4th place finish. Senior Elizabeth Faber qualified for her second consecutive State Championship where she finished 147th. Last year she ran as a member of the 18th-place Wolfpack team which missed out on qualifying this season by 3 seconds per mile per runner.