URBANA — By the end of the 2008 season, the Uni girls cross country squad had a total of just five healthy runners, the bare minimum needed to qualify as a scoring team.

This year the Illineks have expanded to 13 strong to form definitive varsity and junior varsity squads.

That depth paid off last weekend as the girls placed fourth in the IHSA Class 1A regional meet at Kickapoo State Park, advancing to Saturday's sectional contest in Decatur. Four Illineks finished in the top 25, double the number from a year ago.

At the beginning of this season, three girls established themselves as the top runners on the team. In a sport where the difference between competitors is frequently measured by mere seconds, they turned in times that were often minutes faster than many of their opponents.

In the No. 1 position was senior captain Elizabeth Russell, a four-year varsity veteran.

Rounding out the 2 and 3 spots were team newcomers Sarah Vaughen, a freshman who made Illinois Elementary School Association all-state as a subbie in 2008, and Emma Coverdill, a multi-sport junior in her first year of cross country.

As the season went on, a fourth Illinek began attracting attention as well. Sophomore Christina Harden, another newcomer to the team, made such tremendous improvement that by the time she competed in regionals, she finished only three seconds behind Coverdill.

These four athletes have all come from very different running backgrounds, but they have come together on the team and worked hard to have a very successful season so far.

Christina Harden: Just for fun

Sophomore Christina Harden has emerged as Uni's No. 4 runner. Gargoyle photo by Will Fernandez (click to enlarge)

This summer, many Uni cross country runners put in lots of mileage to prep for the '09 campaign; junior Albert Anastasio, for example, ran a whopping 530 miles.

But for the girls No. 4 runner that wasn't the case.

"The organized morning runs were on the days that I had driver's ed, but I probably wouldn't have gone to them anyway," said Harden. "I think I ran maybe a mile over all three months [of summer]."

With the fitness classes at Uni being her only previous experience in running, Harden didn't think she would make a huge contribution to the team. But she still joined feeling that she should at least participate in one sport at Uni.

"I expected to be among the slowest, and I never thought I would make varsity," she recalled. "I thought it was going to be more of a social sport rather than a 'Hey, you might actually be good at this, so you should push yourself more' kind of sport."

In her first cross country meet, Harden had a decent showing with a time of 25 minutes, 3 seconds — good enough to place as the team's No. 5 runner. In the next couple of meets she placed anywhere between the No. 5 and 7 spots.

But then at the Tuscola Invitational, Harden began to dramatically improve her time.

Even though she finished that meet sixth on the team, Harden ran the three-mile course in 23:08. Into the next meet, she kept on improving and finally established herself as the Illineks' No. 4 runner.

She finished the regular season at the Cumberland Invitational on Oct. 10 with a time of 22:36, just 13 seconds behind Coverdill.

With a regional time of 21:58 two weeks later, Harden had knocked more than three minutes off her pace since the beginning of the season — a remarkable feat.

Her teammates attribute the improvement to Harden's ability to run a great second mile in the three-mile races.

"She is a second-mile angel," stated Coverdill.

Harden's strategy has paid off, and now she has joined the top tier of the girls cross country team.

Emma Coverdill: From under water to over hills

Junior Emma Coverdill has made the successful transition from swimming to cross country. Gargoyle photo by Will Fernandez (click to enlarge)

A passionate athlete, Coverdill really wanted to participate on a fall sports team at Uni. She tried swimming with the Killer Whales her sophomore year, but just didn't enjoy the experience.

"The morning practices really got to me, and I wasn't that great," she said. "Even though I had swum for like six years, I didn't think the sport was the one for me."

Coverdill, who also participates on the basketball and soccer teams, wanted to maintain her tri-sport athlete status, so she decided to pick a new fall sport this year. The choice was between cross country and volleyball.

"I have never played volleyball before," said Coverdill, "and I didn't mind running in soccer, so I just chose to run cross country."

So far she has enjoyed the new sport very much.

"I really like talking to people while I am running," said Coverdill. "The social aspect is great and practices have been fun."

Although she planned to run every day during the summer, Coverdill couldn't run nearly as much as she wanted to. But when the season started she put in as much time and effort as she could to shape into a valuable contributor. The practice regimen of alternating long runs and workouts has definitely paid off.

Her PR on a three-mile course so far is a 21:40, which came at the Peoria Woodruff Invitational. The No. 3 runner isn't completely satisfied with her performance so far.

"I really want to help out the team as much as I can," said Coverdill. "I need to run faster, which means I have to overcome all of the mental and physical challenges. It hurts 'good' when I am running, but it still hurts, and I want to get over that to get even a better time in the future."

Her teammates are confident that she will continue to improve.

"She will be a very valuable runner on the team next year," said Vaughen, "along with the way she has really helped the varsity team this season."

Sarah Vaughen: The "newbie" freshman

Freshman Sarah Vaughen is living up to the promise she showed last year as a subbie all-state athlete. Gargoyle photo by Will Fernandez (click to enlarge)

Has running a mile for PE ever seemed interesting to you?

After hearing that her older brother, John, ran a mile during his PE class, Sarah Vaughen wanted to start running as a sixth grader.

Although Vaughen's first sport was soccer, she has established herself as an outstanding runner. After her family moved to Illinois from Richmond, Va., she caught many people's attention when she earned all-state honors last year at the IESA Class A state cross country meet.

She finished 18th with a time of 12:34 on the two-mile course at Maxwell Park in Normal.

The following spring, Vaughen continued to display her tremendous running skill on the subbie track team. She finished the season with a great performance at the IESA Class 8A state track and field finals.

Vaughen placed sixth out of 38 competitors in the 1,600-meter run, with a time of 5:45.64. In the 800 run, Vaughen had a time of 2:38.35, which gave her a ninth-place finish.

After that extraordinary subfreshman running campaign, Vaughen began training for her first season of high school cross country. She would have to train harder to make the transition from middle school competition.

"I ran six days a week this summer," said Vaughen. "My goal was just to run a lot more than the previous summer since I was entering the high school level."

Even though Vaughen is a freshman addition, running with the high school girls has been a familiar territory for her. Her subbie year, Vaughen didn't have another fellow subfreshman to run with, so she ran with the high school team at practices. Now the only difference is that she also runs with them at meets.

Entering her freshman year, Vaughen didn't expect to be the No. 2 runner. But with the help of Russell, she has attained that spot and helped produce great results for the Illineks.

"Sarah has been a great addition on the team," said Russell. "It's fun for me to actually have a running buddy this year at practice. She will become even more beastlier in the coming years."

Her best finish so far this season has been fourth place at the Clinton Quad Meet, where the Illineks finished second.

After Russell graduates, Vaughen is poised to be the No. 1 runner and a great example for the other Illineks to follow. Vaughen still has three more years, and hopes are high for the freshman standout to lead the team to state in the near future.

Elizabeth Russell: The four-year veteran

Senior Elizabeth Russell is wrapping up four successful years in varsity cross country. Gargoyle photo by Will Fernandez (click to enlarge)

At Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School, Russell was no cross country star like she is at Uni. Actually, she didn’t even start out her running career on a cross country team.

“I joined the track team at Mahomet in sixth grade because it seemed fun,” said the senior. “I had never run before so they stuck me on hurdles, which were traumatic.”

But she didn’t let the scarring experience faze her.

“Even though I was running like 14-minute miles, I wanted to keep on running. That’s why joined the team at Uni [my subbie year].”

Russell didn't think too much about cross country, but midway through the season she finally began to recognize her potential.

She went on to run as a member of the subbie track team in the spring, and her exceptional talent began to shine through even more. Russell finished that season with finishing fourth at the 2006 IESA state track and field meet in the 1,600 run.

After an impressive subbie year, Russell joined Uni's high school cross country team.

As a freshman and sophomore, Russell was in great company. Standouts such as '08 graduates Michelle Mehnert and Shivani Khanna and '09 graduate Elaine Gu shaped Russell into an exceptional runner.

Russell started out with a huge splash in her first meet as a high schooler. She actually beat out Mehnert, who is now a swimmer at the University of Illinois, Khanna, and Gu to win at the 2006 Kickapoo Kickoff Classic.

Even though she didn't maintain the No. 1 spot on the team after that first meet, Russell had a huge impact on the team throughout the '06 season. The great combination of the top four runners resulted in a fourth-place finish at state in Russell's freshman year.

With the return of Mehnert, Khanna, and Gu in Russell's second year, the 2007 team produced more outstanding results. Although the team placed a disappointing ninth at state that year, Russell improved immensely. She started out with a 23:06 (three-mile course) but improved to a staggering 19:51 by the end of the '07 season.

"My freshman and sophomore years were really great on the team," she recalled. "I learned a lot from Michelle and Shivani. My first two years on the team were the most memorable, and the workouts were great."

Although Gu rejoined Russell for the 2008 season, the girls cross country program took a huge hit. The team not only lost Mehnert and Khanna, but the majority of the team didn't return. At several meets, the Illineks didn't have enough healthy runners to officially score as a team. The girls failed to make it back to state at the end of the season.

"It was really unfortunate to only have three to four healthy teammates throughout the season," said Russell. "The lack of numbers made workouts really boring, and overall I just didn't enjoy the season."

Russell didn't let a bad season affect her passion for running. She decided to run in the Illinois Half Marathon (standard 13.1 miles) in the following spring.

Since she was on the girls soccer team, she couldn't devote a lot of time to running, but she still managed to find opportunities to train. While most players on the soccer team took the bus or got rides to practice, Russell would try to get some mileage in by running all the way from Uni to the DCR fields.

Gu and Brittany Scheid, a classmate of Russell's who is also on the cross country team, ran the half marathon with her. The three of them joined a mentoring/training group within the Second Wind Running Club.

"We met Sunday mornings for two to three hours," Russell said. "It was just some older runners giving motivational speeches. Then we would go running as a group. We started with four miles and built it up every week. The speeches were funny, and I was entertained by the chatter of us."

Her training paid off at the half marathon as he passed her "arbitrary" benchmark of two hours.

"I moseyed along all 13 miles at a reasonable pace. By the time 13 miles was up, I was not as thrilled to be running as when I started," reflected Russell, "but I brightened up a little when I learned that I had achieved my goal."

She finished the spring playing her other favorite sport, soccer. Russell had a huge impact on the team with efforts such as scoring the first goal in Uni's huge win against Class 2A Urbana.

Russell couldn't stay away from Uni even after the school year was over. She spent the summer working in the main office. As part of her training for cross country, Russell biked to work from home every day. Living in Mahomet, she had to bike an hour just to get to Uni.

She also went on occasional runs to prep for her final season of cross country — which has turned into an improvement over 2008.

"This year is great with so many more runners," said Russell. "Workouts are more bearable, and the team as a whole has been performing better since there is more of us pushing each other."

As the established No. 1 runner, Russell has led the team to eight top-five team finishes, including first place at the Uni home meet on Sept. 15.

Last weekend, she was one of the four Illineks to place in the top 25 at regionals. Her time of 20:57 earned 10th place, followed by Vaughen in 16th (21:30), Coverdill in 20th (21:55), and Harden in 22nd (21:58).

The Class 1A Decatur St. Teresa sectional meet is slated for 9 a.m. Saturday at Decatur's Hickory Point Golf Course. This could be Russell's final contest in high school cross country. But if the team places in the top five or if she finishes among the top seven individuals on non-advancing teams, she will compete in one more race: the Class 1A state finals Nov. 7 in Peoria.

Regardless of Saturday's outcome, however, her legacy among teammates is secure.

"Elizabeth is awesome," said Vaughen. "I think that the team will really miss her next year — both because she is super fast and also because she is a great captain."

A Runner's Starter Kit

If you have aspirations to join the cross country team or just want to run for exercise, take this playlist of running music, a list of courses to run in the C-U area, and the perfect pair of running shoes and get started!

The Playlist (contributed by Elizabeth Russell)

• "Good Morning" — Kanye West
• "Amor Verdadero" — Afro Cuban All Stars
• "Thugz Mansion" — 2Pac
• "PDA" — John Legend
• "Fireworks" — Animal Collective
• "Baby Love" — The Supremes
• "Rumba Mama" — Weather Report
• "Hip Hop Saved My Life" — Lupe Fiasco
• "Valerie" — Amy Winehouse
• "Keeping Me Awake" — Tarkio
• "Il Est Bel Et Bon" — The King's Singers
• "Spur of the Moment" — Ludacris
• "Autumn In New York" — Billie Holiday

The Places to Run (contributed by Sarah Vaughen)

• 1. The Course (Orchard Downs) — "Probably the place we spend the most time. Its not all that fun of a place to run because of the hills, but I think running on them really help in meets."
• 2. Crystal Lake Run — "It is always fun to run through the woods there as a change of scenery."
• 3. Detweiller Park in Peoria — "This is where the state meet is held. It is a super fast course and really fun to run."

The Perfect Running Shoes (contributed by Emma Coverdill)

• New Balance 506 spikes — "These shoes took two minutes off my time [on a three-mile course]. Also they are really comfortable; I haven't had blisters on my feet, and all my other shoes usually give me some."

The Snack and Meal (contributed by Christina Harden)

• Snack — Grapes. "The really good grapes, not those crazy, disgusting squishy ones."
• Meal — Any type of pasta.