By Carl Zielinski
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Monday, Sept. 18, 2006, The OG, sports

TUSCOLA — The pressure on the girls cross country team to do well at Saturday's Tuscola Invitational was immense after Illinois Prep Top Times ranked the Illineks third in the state among Class A teams.

But the girls came through in spades as junior Michelle Mehnert once again led Uni to a first-place finish. Mehnert herself finished fourth with a season-best time of 19 minutes, 20 seconds, a 14-second improvement on her time at the Peoria Woodruff Invitational a week earlier.

The meet featured 12 scoring teams. The Illineks finished on top with 56 points, followed by Central A&M (75) in second and Tri-Valley (98) in third. Tri-Valley had been ranked ninth in the state going into the meet. Central A&M was unranked.

The victory was Uni's fourth in six meets this season.

Two other Illineks broke the 20-minute barrier: junior Shivani Khanna (eighth, 19:48) and freshman Elizabeth Russell (ninth, 19:52). Sophomore Elaine Gu almost joined their ranks, placing 12th with a 20:05. All of those times were season bests.

Juniors Samantha Nguyen (28th, 21:32) and Jennifer Roloff (32nd, 21:38), senior Nicole Helregel (72nd, 24:36), and freshman Isaure Hostetter (73rd, 24:36) followed, although Helregel was not counted as a member of the race's varsity team. Sophomores Caroline Brown (25:12) and Joy Shapley (25:13) rounded out the Uni squad.

“We really proved ourselves worthy of that ranking,” said Khanna. “We won with a really good first-through-fourth split.”

The girls will look to further their winning streak Tuesday at a quad meet in Clinton.

2006 VARSITY RESULTS
(Meets at the U of I Illini Meadows in bold; courses are three miles unless otherwise indicated)

Aug. 29: Kickapoo Kickoff Classic, 1st (27 pts)
Top Uni runner: Elizabeth Russell, 1st overall (20:34)

Sept. 2: Chrisman Cowchip Classic, 2nd (18 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 2nd in No. 2 flight (19:57)

Sept. 5: Twin City Championship, 1st (32 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 1st overall (20:29)

Sept. 9: Peoria Woodruff Invitational, 3rd (122 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 8th overall (19:34)

Sept. 12: Home Meet, 1st (16 pts)
Top Uni runner: Shivani Khanna, 1st overall (20:46)

Sept. 16: Tuscola Invitational, 1st (56 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 4th overall (19:20)