For the eighth time in 11 years, the Cyclones women's cross country team has captured the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference championship. They took first at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course in Geneva, IL.
"I'm so proud of the women for regaining the conference title. We have a really strong women's legacy, and it's something we've talked about since the beginning of the summer," said Head Coach Dimitri Dimizas. "One of the great things about this team is they are all ready to step up for each other, and they did that."
The Cyclones knew someone on the team had to get in the mix of Waubonsee Community College's top two women runners. Moraine Valley's top runner all season, Desiree Mendoza, had an off day but her teammates stepped up when they needed to. Mia Villa (21:38.2, 2nd place) and Annabel Lipkie (22:48.0, 4th) earned personal bests in this 5K race.
"The beauty of being on a team like this is having your teammates step up. Mia's second place finish is even more impressive considering she's missed most of the season due to injury. She's still gaining fitness and is getting into form at exactly the right time," Dimizas said. "Annabel is a racer. We've known this since last year, but it's always a joy to watch. This isn't an easy course to run on, but she loves it and proved herself again."
Rylee Milenkovic finished fifth overall in 22:55.9 while Mendoza took sixth in 22:55.9 followed by Mariah Karamagianis (23:17.1, 7th) and Hannah Raimbault (25:03.9, 10th).
"Des put herself in contention early on, but it just wasn't her day. I know she wanted more, but I give her a ton of credit for pushing through. The team needed a pack, she knew that, and she did what was needed for the team," Dimizas said. "Rylee and Mariah have been dealing with shin issues the past few weeks but still ran so well to not let any Waubonsee runners break up the pack. I couldn't have asked for more from them and am excited to get them even healthier next weekend. Hannah hasn't had a chance to do much running lately, but she needed to keep her competition in sight which is what she did."
For finishing in the top 10, all six Cyclone finishers earned All-Conference honors. Lipkie and Karamagianis earned their second consecutive All-Conference honors and are hoping to get another All-Region spot at regionals next weekend.
"We've got a good battle ahead of us against Carl Sandburg College, which has been nationally ranked twice this season and has two All-Americans from last year," Dimizas explained. "We're looking to get as many qualifiers as possible but also are aiming to sneak in and grab the team title."
The Cyclones compete at the NJCAA Region 4 Championship at Lockport High School on Saturday, Oct. 26, 11 a.m. This will determine who competes at the national championship in November.
A complete list of results can be found here.