Senior Elaine Gu heads to the finish line. Gargoyle photos by Katherine Allen (click to enlarge)

Senior Maddy Levin (left) placed 27th. (click to enlarge)

Junior Brittany Scheid trails a Judah Christian runner. Freshman Shruti Vaidya is next to Scheid, partially obscured. (click to enlarge)

KICKAPOO STATE PARK — Junior Elizabeth Russell finished second at the Class A St. Joseph regional meet on Saturday to help the Uni girls secure the final team berth in the upcoming sectional meet at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School.

Russell ran the Kickapoo course in 19 minutes, 52 seconds. She and first-place winner Chelsea Blaase (19:02) of St. Joseph-Ogden were the only female runners to finish the Kickapoo three-mile course in under 20 minutes.

Senior Elaine Gu joined her Uni teammate in the top 10 with a seventh-place performance (21:08).

Rounding out Uni's scoring were senior Maddy Levin (27th, 23:38), freshman Shruti Vaidya (31st, 23:56), and junior Brittany Scheid (34th, 24:21).

Junior Katherine Allen was unable to run due to an injury.

"We were really lucky that we had no rain," commented Scheid. "The weather was a lot better than I could have expected; it was perfect for running.

"I think that Elaine, Elizabeth, and Shruti gave some surprisingly good performances, given the course and conditions. Of course we could have come out farther ahead if Katherine was not injured, but we don't really have any control over that."

As a team, the Illineks ended up only three points out of fourth place and eight points out of third.

SJO easily won the title with 34 points, while St. Thomas More was second (56).

Villa Grove was third (93), Tolono Unity fourth (98), and Uni fifth (101). Only two other scoring teams competed in the meet: Oakwood (sixth, 153) and Judah Christian (seventh, 168).

"Our main goal going into regionals was to qualify for sectionals, and we did that, so I'm happy," said Gu. "We were a little surprised to barely qualify and finish in fifth, but we were less than 10 points away from third place and Katherine wasn't running."

At last year's St. Joseph regional, Russell finished fourth (19:51) and Gu eighth (20:50) as Uni placed second to SJO, just six points behind the Spartans.

But in its own way, the team's performance this year was quite impressive, given the loss of star runner Michelle Mehnert (who went on to finish third at state in 2007) and key veterans Shivani Khanna and Jennifer Roloff.

In addition, the Illineks have had to deal with the challenge of small numbers all year. With the injury to Allen, only five Uni girls competed Saturday, the bare minimum needed to have a scoring team.

Despite those obstacles, the Illineks will now compete in Saturday's PBL sectional, where they will try to advance to the state finals for the fourth straight year. To do that, they will have to finish among the top five in the 20-team meet.

"Even though it is very unlikely that we will make it to state, I think that our six-person team should feel pretty accomplished," said Scheid.

Besides the four other teams advancing from the St. Joseph regional, Uni will compete against the top five teams from the Beecher regional (1. Beecher, 2. Herscher, 3. Hoopeston Area, 4. Bishop McNamara, 5. Gardner South Wilmington), the top five from the Monticello regional (1. Bloomington Central Catholic, 2. Decatur St. Teresa, 3. Tri-Valley, 4. Maroa-Forsyth, 5. Monticello), and the top five from the Robinson regional (1. Altamont, 2. Shelbyville, 3. Teutopolis, 4. Effingham St. Anthony, 5. Robinson).

If Uni does not qualify for state as a team, individual runners such as Russell and Gu can qualify individually by being among the first seven runners who are not members of the top five teams.

The girls race at PBL is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., followed by the boys race at 11.

"This Saturday will probably be our last race for the season," Gu said. "Elizabeth has a shot at qualifying for state, and I will definitely try my best. Whatever happens, I have had a great season with my amazing teammates."

Class 1A St. Joseph Regional Girls Meet at a Glance

Top 5 Runners

1 Chelsea Blaase, Fr., St. Joseph, 19:02.39
2 Elizabeth Russell, Jr., Urbana (Uni High), 19:52.68
3 Jolee Paden, Fr., St. Joseph, 20:13.52
4 Mara LaPayne, Jr., Villa Grove, 20:32.47
5 Taylor Stobb, Fr., Champaign (St Thomas More), 20:45.88

Team Results

1 St. Joseph-Ogden, 34
2 Champaign (St. Thomas More), 56
3 Villa Grove, 93
4 Tolono (Unity), 98
5 Urbana (University), 101
6 Fithian (Oakwood), 153
7 Champaign (Judah), 168

Uni High Results

2 Elizabeth Russell, Jr., 19:52.68
7 Elaine Gu, Sr., 21:08.83
27 Maddy Levin, Sr., 23:38.04
31 Shruti Vaidya, Fr., 23:56.54
34 Brittany Scheid, Jr., 24:21.96