Michelle Mehnert, Shivani Khanna, Elizabeth Russell, and Elaine Gu led this ground-breaking team to Uni's first-ever girls sectional title and a fourth-place finish at state, tied for second best in school history. Better yet, all of the top seven runners will return next year.

By Carl Zielinski
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Monday, Nov. 27, 2006, The OG, sports

THE UNI GIRLS cross country team had a lot to live up to at the start of the season, as last year's team was a Class A regional champion and went on to place 20th at state.

The team rose to the occasion.

Not only did the 2006 Illineks outplace last year's team at regular-season meets such as the Peoria Woodruff and Amboy invitationals, they performed 20 points better at their regional, won their sectional, and finished 16 places better at state.

Returning from the Nov. 4 state finals with fourth-place finish was no small accomplishment. The girls were ranked No. 6 in Class A before the meet and were facing tough competition. Not since 1992 had a Uni girls cross country team placed that high. Only the third-place 1988 and 1991 teams finished higher.

News-Gazette All-Area Runner of the Year Michelle Mehnert

(No. 295) gets ready to make her final push at the Class A state
finals Nov. 4. (photo by David Porreca) (click to enlarge)

In fact, led by News-Gazette All-Area Runner of the Year Michelle Mehnert's seventh-place finish, this year's Illineks came within three points of third place.

Not only was this team among the best in Uni history, but it was also the first Uni girls cross country team to win a sectional, and only the second cross country team to do so regardless of gender. The 1984 boys team was Uni's only cross country team to win a sectional title before this year.

Surprisingly, two of this year's consistent top three runners were both newcomers to the varsity squad. Mehnert, a junior, transferred to Uni from Centennial High School last year and continues to swim with the Champaign County Aquachiefs, while freshman Elizabeth Russell ran cross country for Uni's subbie team in 2005, finishing one place away from state at the IESA sectional.

Mehnert and Russell placed in Uni's top three for every meet this season, usually with Mehnert first and Russell vying for second with junior Shivani Khanna.

This one-two-three punch pulled the team through numerous meets in the face of strong state-ranked competition. In particular, Mehnert's time at state of 18 minutes, 6 seconds followed by Khanna's personal best of 18:55 helped place the Illineks above 22 other teams.

While Mehnert and Russell each are very talented, they had different reasons for joining the team.

“I ran the mile in track,” said Russell, “and it was really fun. I just thought that running more miles would be more fun.”

On the other hand, 2005 Uni graduate and fellow Aquachief swimmer Drew Hauffe recommended the team to Mehnert, who readily took his advice and joined.

“He said that if I wanted to join any Uni team, cross country would be the best, and that it is the most fun. And it has lived up to that expectation so far,” remarked Mehnert.

It would seem she made the right choice, as in her first year of high school cross country she became the first Uni girl to place in the top 10 at state. (Only two Uni boys have accomplished that feat, Adam Reynolds in 1997 and Joshua Folk in 1990.) The News-Gazette's selection of her as the All-Area Runner of the Year was a first for any Uni runner, male or female.

It appears that she greatly exceeded her goals for the season.

“My goal was to get all-state honors [a top 25 finish at state], and an 18:36,” Mehnert said. “Honestly, I had no idea other than that what I was going to accomplish this season.”

Head coach Doug Mynatt has strong feelings about Mehnert's ability next year.

“Michelle has a great deal of potential to improve,” he said. “She is a gifted athlete, a hard worker, motivated, goal-oriented. I know she already has her sights set high for individual honors next year.”

No matter how talented Mehnert and Russell are, there would have been no team without top returners such as Khanna and sophomore Elaine Gu, who placed consistently in the top four with Mehnert, Khanna, and Russell.

Both Khanna and Gu were instrumental in last year's trip to state and were extremely important in this year's postseason. In fact, only state champion Winnebago had a better scoring top four at the state finals this year than the Mehnert-Khanna-Russell-Gu foursome.

The other top returning varsity runners were juniors Jennifer Roloff and Samantha Nguyen. Roloff eventually emerged as the No. 5 runner and turned in a personal best at state. Freshman Isaure Hostetter filled the seventh spot consistently this year.

Possibly the most vital characteristic of the team was the ability to run as a group.

“The whole team managed to pack up really well, and we really fed off of the crowd,” said Nguyen after the Peoria Woodruff Invitational on Sept. 9, when the Illineks came in third against some of the best teams in the state.

The girls, as well as their coaches, seemed to be in agreement about the group's superior packing ability.

And for good reason, as the results backed up their conclusion. At the Clinton Quad Meet on Sept. 19, only six opponents ran in between Uni's fourth and seventh runners, with none between the top five.

At the Amboy and Mahomet-Seymour invitationals, Uni's top four runners were only 30 seconds apart. The top four runners from Uni at sectionals were all in the top 20, which gave them significant padding against other, more widely spaced teams.

The most spectacular example came at the St. Joseph regional on Oct. 21, when Mehnert, Khanna, Russell and Gu placed one-two-three-five in a stunning display of athleticism on the notoriously demanding Kickapoo State Park course.

While the team's success this year was remarkable, what makes it even better is that there is still room for improvement next year. As Mynatt pointed out, “We won't lose any of our top seven runners to graduation, so we should be able to return even stronger next year.”

“We know what we are capable of now,” said Mehnert, “and we know we will be in contention from the beginning next year.”

Khanna agreed: “We all ran really hard, and we plan on coming back even stronger next year.”

If the girls can build on their success from this year, Uni can look forward to a history-making squad in 2007.

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)

Sept. 19: Clinton Quad Meet: 1st (22 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 2nd overall (20:47)

Sept. 23: St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic, 2nd (105 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 6th overall (11:50, 1.97-mile course)

Oct. 7: Mahomet-Seymour Invitational, 2nd (76 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 6th overall (19:23)

Oct. 9: Amboy Invitational, 5th (196 pts)
Top Uni runner: Shivani Khanna, 17th (18:49, 2.9-mile course)

Oct. 21: St. Joseph Class A Regional Meet, 1st (24 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 1st (19:18.99)

Oct. 28: Stanford Olympia Class A Sectional Meet, 1st (64 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 2nd (18:55.2)

Nov. 4: Class A State Final Meet (Peoria), 4th (176 pts)
Top Uni runner: Michelle Mehnert, 7th (18:06)