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November 8, 2024

Huntley's girls cross country team qualified for the IHSA Class 3A State Meet. Team members are, front row from left: Cori Kilvinger, Isabella Ciesla, Haley Rahman and Aspen Maldonado. Back row from left: McKenna Corso, Abbie Williams, Mackenzie Billard and Morgan Sauber.
Steve Peterson
Huntley’s girls cross country team qualified for the IHSA Class 3A State Meet. Team members are, front row from left: Cori Kilvinger, Isabella Ciesla, Haley Rahman and Aspen Maldonado. Back row from left: McKenna Corso, Abbie Williams, Mackenzie Billard and Morgan Sauber.

Sports • November 8, 2024

Girls runners ready for state meet

By

HUNTLEY — The Huntley girls cross country team will have a chance to conclude their season against the best.

The girls team finished in fourth place, with 156 points and gained an IHSA Class 3A State Qualifying spot. The IHSA State girls cross country meets is Nov. 9 at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

Isabella Ciesla, a junior, finished 11th as she led the girls team with a time of 17:45.3 on the three-mile sectional course.

“The girls’ goal at state is to finish in the top 10, which has been our goal since the beginning of the year,” Huntley coach Matt Kaplan said. “All the girls who ran at state in 2023 had a great experience.”

Ciesla was building confidence as she won the Fox Valley Conference race earlier.

“It definitely was the middle mile when I ran faster, then I moved up from 14th in the last mile,” Ciesla said. “It’s great, we’re very excited that we made it to state as a team. As a team, we want to finish in the top 10, and individually run a good race.”

Also for the Red Raiders at sectional: Haley Rahman’s 18:24.3 was 35th and junior Cori Kilvinger’s time of 18:31.7, for 37th. Senior Mackenzie Billard had an 18:37.0, 43rd;  Morgan Sauber was next at 44th, 18:35.3, and junior Aspen Maldonado ended 48th in 18:49.4.

Kaplan praised the girls team’s efforts at sectional.

“I’m very proud of how our girls performed. Many of them ran new personal bests on the Lake Park course,” Kaplan said. “Ciesla ran tough and gave her team a great starting point with 11th overall, just missing all-sectional honors (top 10). Rahman and  Kilvinger did a great job holding positions and finishing strong for the team. Billard had her best race of the season to date as our fourth finisher.”

Rahman, a sophomore, was 45th at last season’s IHSA State Meet.

“It’s been a fun year,” Rahman said. “I definitely have the experience of running at state. Sectional was a good first step toward state.”

 

Regional results

 

Maldonado led the Red Raiders with a sixth place finish and a time of 18:33.41 at the Class 3A Machesney Park Harlem regional. The girls ran second to Batavia in team scores, 46 to 24 points.

Ciesla was next in seventh place, 18:38.61 and Kilvinger gave the team three top 10 finishes with a ninth place, 18:51.57. Sauber contributed a 13th place effort, 19:26.96 and Corso was 18th, 19:49.31.