The Benet Academy Cross Country teams have been hard at work since early August.  Enduring the heat in the late summer and the rain towards the end of the season, the runners have given their all this season.  The hard-work, months of practice, and early mornings were evident at the Conference meet, held at Benet Academy, when both teams won all three events; but the season’s journey was far from over.  Both teams went on to compete at the Regional meet at the Katherine Legge Memorial Park in Hinsdale, where they ran so well they were able to advance to Sectionals the following weekend.  Not only did the teams get to advance, but the leading runner on the girls’ team, senior Louisa Diamond, won the Regional Girls’ race.  

While being part of the toughest sectional in the state might have intimidated some, the girls’ team had incredible success and was able to advance to the State meet in Peoria.  This is especially impressive considering that four of the thirteen postseason runners are freshmen, which certainly gives the program hope for returning to Peoria in future years.  In addition to the girls’ team qualifying for state, two individuals from the boys’ team, sophomore Finn Richards and junior Charlie Phelan, also qualified.  The boys varsity team is mostly sophomores and juniors, and as sophomore Finn Richards stated, “ The whole varsity team is returning next year, and I can’t wait to see how much we will improve and what we will be able to do.”

Getting to go to State was a great experience for the teams, inspiring many to work even harder this coming season so they can return next fall.  Junior Charlie Phelan described being at State as “There was definitely a different feeling there, compared to any of the other races, because every runner there was there because they deserved to be there, [and] they had proved themselves over months of work.”  Despite the very windy and rainy conditions runners faced at the State meet, our runners persevered and made Benet proud, with Louisa Diamond finishing 22nd and being named an all-state runner.  The Benet cross country program has much to look forward to in the coming years with such incredible talent from the underclassmen.  Their hard work and dedication paid off in Peoria, but their work is far from done, as they all work towards running at State again next year.