The varsity girls cross country team at their home meet, the Minooka Conditioner, placed first with 7 points overall on Sept. 8.

Even though the race was postponed a day due to inclement weather, the girl’s cross country team ran the next day and gave it their all.

On the week of homecoming, the Minooka Conditioner was planned to take place on the 7th of September. Unfortunately, it was rescheduled for the next day due to a big storm that happened at Central Campus. Finally, on the 8th, the girls finally ran the Minooka Conditioner, which is unlike any other race. 

This meet is laid out in a relay style. 

“It is a different format, it’s a relay type meet, which is just something different. It gives the kids a chance to push themselves hard for one mile at a time,” head cross country coach Kevin Gummerson said. 

In this meet, the athletes switch in and out between their partners. In total, they run four miles, but two miles individually. The girls were up against Oswego and Plainfield North, a smaller meet. 

One of the runners running in this meet was junior Ella McCollom, who placed first in the race with her partner Gabby Kics. 

“The first mile went out really fast, but the second mile was definitely more difficult, McCollom said. “There was no one around me so it’s harder to push the pace when you’re not necessarily racing anyone.”

In this race, McCollom and Kics finished with a time of 23:23.0. 

Plainfield North was second as a team with 19 points, and Oswego took home third with 24 points.

In addition to McCollom and Kics, other Minooka girls who scored were teams of Audrey Boles and Kathryn Cichon (2nd); and Cassie Furhman and Taya Gummerson (4th). 

The format of this meet might be the hardest part. 

“The break is nice because you obviously get a break but then your legs start to tighten up when you’re just standing around for 6 minutes between races,” McCollom said. 

Winning the meet with just 7 points helped their  impressive start to the season

“These girls have worked hard all summer and our first three meets, we’ve won all three of them so it can’t get any better than that!” Gummerson said. 

Minooka hosts its next meet, the Flight Invitational, on Saturday, Sept. 18, at Channahon Community Park .