ST. JOSEPH — How good is the Uni girls cross country team? Competing without senior Shivani Khanna, who has been one of Uni's top runners for the last four years, the Illineks came within 6 points of beating defending champion Eureka at Saturday's St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic.

Eureka entered the meet ranked No. 3 in Class 1A by Illinois Prep Top Times, while Uni was ranked No. 4. Thirty-one schools competed in the Spartan Classic, and 22 had enough runners for scoring purposes.

Last year, running at full strength, the Illineks dropped 82 points from their previous year's performance to came within 5 points of defeating the Hornets, who took the title 100-105. (The lower score wins in cross country meets.)

On Saturday, without Khanna, who was sick, the Illineks stayed within half a dozen points of Eureka as the Hornets won 110-116.

According to head coach Doug Mynatt, Khanna's absence probably cost Uni 40 points. If she had been healthy and performed up to her usual standards, Uni likely would have finished in the neighborhood of 76 points and won the meet handily.

"Figuring conservatively, we trade a 60th place for maybe a top 20 place [without Khanna]," Mynatt said. "It's definitely frustrating, but it shows promise. Teamwise we ran a good race."

Rounding out the top five after Eureka and Uni were Tremont, third (122); St. Joseph-Ogden, fourth (123); and Bloomington Central Catholic, fifth (180).

Michelle Mehnert led the way again for the Illineks, as she has all season. The senior placed fifth out of 156 runners, completing the 1.96-mile course through downtown St. Joseph in 11 minutes, 56.09 seconds. Her time was 6 seconds slower than last year, but she made up for it by placing one spot higher.

Finishing ahead of Mehnert were Eureka's Olivia Klaus, first (11:10.78); Tri-Valley's Stephanie Brown, second (11:31.06); Bureau Valley's Alisa Baron, third (11:31.95); and Bloomington Central Catholic's Kelly Curran, fourth (11:40.27).

Sophomore Elizabeth Russell was Uni's No. 2 runner, placing ninth with a time of 12:16.44 — 2 seconds slower than last year but five spots higher.

"I thought we could have taken it a little bit faster," Russell said. "Our times didn't seem as fast as we were hoping. But we really pushed it this week. The weather wasn’t ideal — a little bit humid."

Improving both her time and placing was Uni's No. 3 finisher, junior Elaine Gu. She placed 15th in 12:30.25, a leap of 11 places and 11 seconds from 2006.

"I'm pretty happy," she said. "My goal was to break 12:30."

Showing even greater progress was Isaure Hostetter, who did an excellent job as the team's de facto No. 4 runner. She covered the course in 13:12.07 and finished in 33rd place (32nd for team scoring purposes) — a remarkable jump of 46 seconds and 47 places over last year.

"She’s doing a great job," Mynatt said of the sophomore, who has varied between being the team's No. 5 and No. 6 runner since senior Jennifer Roloff fractured her foot several weeks ago. "She's realizing whether she’s in the fifth or sixth spot how important that is. She’s making great improvement."

Fellow sophomore Katherine Allen finished the scoring for the Illineks, placing 59th in 13:32.86 (55th for team scoring purposes). It was Allen's first run on the course. The former Uni swimmer is in her inaugural year as a high school cross country runner.

Also competing for Uni were sophomore Brittany Scheid (94th, 14:20.09) and senior Samantha Nguyen (119th, 15:15.38).

All runners who placed in the top 100 received trophies at the afternoon awards ceremony.

For the Illineks, the Spartan Classic was the last meet they will have for two weeks. They won't compete again until the Mahomet-Seymour Invitational on Oct. 6. So what will they do in the interim?

"Intense training!" both Gu and Russell said in unison.

Mynatt was a bit less emphatic.

"This next week will be hopefully a little bit of a recovery, mentally and physically," he said. "We'll try to have a little fun this week. Give them a little rest, a little mental rest, a little mental recovery. Then we'll start gearing it up for those next two meets, Mahomet and Amboy, which is a very important meet for us."

MORE PHOTOS: UNI AT ST. JOSEPH-OGDEN SPARTAN CLASSIC

The race begins. In all, 156 girls finished the 1.96-mile course, and 22 of 31 schools had enough runners to qualify for scoring purposes. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

THE SEASON SO FAR

2007 GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY VARSITY RESULTS

Aug. 28: Kickapoo Kickoff Classic (3 miles)

• Story: Mehnert leads Illineks to Kickoff Classic title
• Team finish: 1st place, 27 points (out of six scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 1st (20:56) (top seven runners listed)
• Uni No. 2: Elaine Gu, 5th (21:47)
• Uni No. 3: Shivani Khanna, 6th (22:05)
• Uni No. 4: Elizabeth Russell, 8th (23:06)
• Uni No. 5: Jennifer Roloff, 9th (23:28)
• Uni No. 6: Isaure Hostetter, 23rd (25:17)
• Uni No. 7: Katherine Allen, 24th (25:19)

Sept. 1: Chrisman Cow Chip Classic (3 miles)

• Story: Illineks dominate their class at Cow Chip Meet
• Team finish: 2nd place, 18 points (out of 10 scoring teams)
• Flight No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 2nd, 19:58 (named meet's top senior)
• Flight No. 2: Elaine Gu, 3rd, 20:35
• Flight No. 3: Shivani Khanna, 2nd, 21:06
• Flight No. 4: Elizabeth Russell, 2nd, 20:47 (named meet's top sophomore)
• Flight No. 5: Jennifer Roloff, 3rd, 23:28
• Flight No. 6: Isaure Hostetter, 4th, 24:34
• Flight No. 7: Katherine Allen, 2nd, 23:50
• Open: Samantha Nguyen, 7th, 24:21

Sept. 4: Twin City Championship Meet (3 miles)

• Story: Mehnert, Gu, Russell lead Uni to fourth straight Twin City title
• Team finish: 1st place, 39 points (out of six scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 1st (20:27) (six Uni runners finished)
• Uni No. 2: Elaine Gu, 2nd (21:09)
• Uni No. 3: Elizabeth Russell, 3rd (21:15)
• Uni No. 4: Katherine Allen, 16th (25:40)
• Uni No. 5: Isaure Hostetter, 17th (25:41)
• Uni No. 6: Brittany Scheid, 23rd (27:15)

Sept. 8: Peoria Woodruff Invitational (3 miles)

• Story: Illineks keep up with the competition
• Team finish: 4th place, 126 points (out of 15 scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 6th (19:32) (top seven runners listed)
• Uni No. 2: Shivani Khanna, 14th (20:03)
• Uni No. 3: Elizabeth Russell, 17th (20:09)
• Uni No. 4: Elaine Gu, 24th (20:29)
• Uni No. 5: Katherine Allen, 81st (23:10)
• Uni No. 6: Isaure Hostetter, 84th (23:18)
• Uni No. 7: Samantha Nguyen, 96th (23:45)

Sept. 11: Uni High Home Quad Meet (3 miles)

• Story: Highly ranked Illineks put plenty of distance between themselves and opponents
• Team finish: 1st place, 17 points (out of four scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 1st (21:25) (top six runners listed)
• Uni No. 2: Shivani Khanna, 2nd (22:20)
• Uni No. 3: Elizabeth Russell, 3rd (22:30)
• Uni No. 4: Elaine Gu, 4th (22:33)
• Uni No. 5: Isaure Hostetter, 8th (23:19)
• Uni No. 6: Katherine Allen, 9th (23:20)

Sept. 15: Tuscola Invitational (3.1 miles)

• Story: Uni girls win Tuscola Invitational
• Team finish: 1st place, 39 points (out of 12 scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 4th (19:59) (top eight runners listed)
• Uni No. 2: Elizabeth Russell, 5th (20:19)
• Uni No. 3: Shivani Khanna, 6th (20:22)
• Uni No. 4: Elaine Gu, 8th (20:39)
• Uni No. 5: Isaure Hostetter, 19th (21:53)
• Uni No. 6: Katherine Allen, 22nd (22:07.3)
• Uni No. 7: Brittany Scheid, 62d (24:31)
• Uni No. 8: Samantha Nguyen, 63rd (24:33)

Sept. 18: Monticello Quad Meet (3 miles)

• Story: Illineks dominate Monticello meet
• Team finish: 1st place, 23 points (out of four scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 1st (20:11) (top seven runners listed)
• Uni No. 2: Elaine Gu, 4th (21:40)
• Uni No. 3: Shivani Khanna, 6th (22:03)
• Uni No. 4: Elizabeth Russell, 7th (22:21)
• Uni No. 5: Isaure Hostetter, 8th (23:16)
• Uni No. 6: Brittany Scheid, 17th (25:32)
• Uni No. 7: Joy Shapley, 23rd (27:41)

Sept. 22: St. Joseph-Ogden Spartan Classic (1.96 miles)

• Story: see above
• Team finish: 2nd place, 116 points (out of 22 scoring teams)
• Uni No. 1: Michelle Mehnert, 5th (11:56.09) (top seven runners listed)
• Uni No. 2: Elizabeth Russell, 9th (12:16.44)
• Uni No. 3: Elaine Gu, 15th (12:30.25)
• Uni No. 4: Isaure Hostetter, 33rd (13:12.07)
• Uni No. 5: Katherine Allen, 59th (13:32.86)
• Uni No. 6: Brittany Scheid, 94th (14:20.09)
• Uni No. 7: Samantha Nguyen, 119th (15:12.76)

Next meet: Mahomet-Seymour Invitational, Oct. 6, Mahomet (directions); girls race to begin at 9 a.m., followed by boys race at 9:35 a.m.