Running right on time: Bay girls secure 12th straight crown

To Whitefish Bay girls cross country coach Mike Miller, trusting senior second runner Emma Fallone is akin to having faith in the accuracy of an atomic clock.

They're both just never wrong.

"Emma is such a great leader," he said. "I just trust her pace clock so well. When I see her out there with most of the team with her, I know we're in good shape, that we're in safe hands."

And Fallone was right as rain, as she was one of five Blue Duke runners in the top 10, as the reloading Bay squad safely cruised to its 12th straight North Shore Conference title at Tendick Park on a windy Oct. 15 morning.

"We've definitely learned how to pack it together," said Fallone. "We're not too worried about our own individual races. We just try to do what's best for the team and try to uphold the Bay tradition of excellence."

Blue Dukes win easily

And the Blue Dukes, which were led by Emma-Lisa Murphy's third individual NSC title of her career, were excellence personified, as they scored 32 points to easily race past Homestead, which was second with 70, while Nicolet, which was led by third-place individual finisher Lauren Cunningham, was seventh.

"The kids have really come such a long ways since the beginning of the season," said Miller. "Such a great race by all of them."

Led by seniors like Murphy and Fallone.

Murphy let a few other runners block the wind for a time, but then cruised past them for an impressive 14:56 effort on the 4,000-meter course. She was 33 seconds ahead of Homestead's Lauren Holtz (15:29). It was Holtz's best effort ever at the NSC meet.

Even as she was way out front, Murphy was still thinking team.

"Our goal was to get five in the top 10 and we did that," she said, "because we really wanted to secure that 12th title in arrow. And we did it. Five girls together accomplished one major goal.

"This has been an amazing season. Our goals were not super high going into it (because of so many new runners) but the underclassmen came along just so well this fall. It was such a great learning experience for them. They worked so hard to get better."

Overcoming injury

And Bay was even missing one of them, as Sydney Wellenstein was out with a sprained ankle.

Also earning first-team all-league honors along with Murphy were Fallone in sixth (15:52), Sara Coffey in seventh (15:59), and Alana Blegen in eighth (16:02). Finishing out the scoring and earning second-team honors was Elise Hotz in 10th (16:11).

Other runners included Frances Puerner in 19th (16:54) and Madeline Crider in 25th (17:07). Puerner earned third-team all-league honors.

Miller could not help joking that the Bay run of dominance is so old that when it began, freshman Hotz was only 2 years old.

"Oh my," he said.

Homestead coach Victor Vilar was pleased for Holtz, who had a tough NSC meet last season.

"Finishing in the top two was her goal," said Vilar. "Some parks have a certain mystique about them for her, but here she was able to push that aside. She should be very proud of herself for her efforts today.

"Winning is always a major goal, but Emma-Lisa's a great runner," said Holtz, who battled a case of bronchitis earlier this season. "I was super motivated today. It wasn't easy with the wind but I felt really good out there. I was trying to coast off people and finish better than fourth or fifth. I've been working harder and it's paid off. This will really give me more confidence."

Others helped team

Other scoring runners for the Highlanders included second-team all-league selections Elisabeth Balistreri in 12th (16:30) and Meredith Frank in 13th (16:33) and third-team choices Lindsay Berman in 21st (16:59) and Helen Lewis in 22nd (17:02).

Also running were Abby Claussen in 28th (17:25) and Alex Holtz in 47th (18:16).

Vilar was very pleased for the junior varsity, especially for individual race champion Greta Kobylinski (17:35).

For Nicolet, Cunningham was clocked in 15:34 for spot as the Knights scored 164 points. She was the only one to earn all-conference honors for the team as Hilary Miller was 29th (17:19) and Christie Crossman in 39th (17:46) were the next best finishers.

"It was a good run for Lauren," said Knights coach Mike McKenna of Cunningham. "She's taken huge steps forward this season and keeps getting better and better."