Panthers take first steps to being competitive

The fact that the Regina Dominican girls cross country team placed 19th among the 20 teams competing at the Class 2A IHSA state finals in Peoria Saturday probably didn't create much of a buzz in the harrier world.

But this could be the start of something big at the Wilmette school.

Despite the squad's No. 1 runner -- Jacqueline Ave Maria -- missing the entire season with a stress fracture, first-year head coach Mark Thompson brought the Panthers along in time to earn the school's first trip to the State Meet since 1993.

And the team's top three finishers in Peoria -- junior Amber Seo, sophomore Ellie Heinrich, sophomore Aileen Campanaro -- were all underclassmen who will be joined by a healthy Ave Maria next fall.

Thompson's biggest task when he was hired just before the start of preseason practice was to get his runners into more of a competitive mind-set.

Thompson, who competed at the University of Tennessee and the University of Illinois, knew the cupboard wasn't bare when it came to talent.

"Based on the talent I saw, I knew they had potential," he said. "But along the way we lost three or four girls who didn't want to be in that competitive a program. And the mind-set seemed to be that there was not a whole lot of interest in Regina being good as a team.

"It took awhile for us all to get focused on the same goal, and the dramatic change didn't come until we won the regional."

Regina ruled the Gordon Tech Regional on Oct. 25 by placing all seven runners -- Seo, Heinrich, Campanaro, Julie Campanaro, Brittany Metoyer, Karina Kedo, Alexis Kedo -- in the top 20 and outscoring Payton Prep 29-34.

Seo and Heinich ran 2-3 in times of 20:52 and 20:55, respectively, in that race.

The Panthers then grabbed a state berth with a fourth place finish at the Jones Sectional at Niles West High School. They totaled 128 points, led by Seo (10th, 19:36), and Heinrich (11th, 19:42).

On a windy and raw day Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria, the Panthers scored 496 points and did manage to beat Illiana Christian's total of 521.

Seo was clocked in 19:36, good for 87th place overall, followed by Heinrich (100th, 19:15), Aileen Campanaro (126th, 20:21), Julie Campanaro (155th, 21:14), Metoyer (160th, 21:51) and Stephanie Park (166th, 22:53).