Young soph Joravsky blazing her own trail

For four years, Lane's Stephanie Hughes dominated girls cross-country in the Public League, winning the last four individual city titles and cementing her legacy as one of the best female distance runners in Public League history.

Now it might be Rachel Joravsky's turn.

The Young sophomore is considered one of the top female distance runners in the city, now that Hughes has graduated and will run at DePaul.

Joravsky puts comparisons to Hughes aside.

''I think about her a lot,'' said Joravsky, who also plays basketball. ''But I'm excited to make a name for myself in the city.''

Joravsky finished 55th in 18 minutes at the state meet in 2006 at Peoria's Detweiller Park. Joravsky said her biggest challenge this fall is doing well at state. Her goal is to finish in the top 25 and earn all-state honors.

Young coach Bob Geiger thinks she can finish a lot higher with a much faster time.

''She's been running with the boys and putting in longer runs,'' Geiger said. ''She is capable of going 17 [minutes] flat, if not under. We sat down a couple weeks ago and I told her she could go 17, and she said, 'Why don't I just win state.'''

Geiger said Young never has qualified an entire team for the state meet, but he's hoping this might be the year to do it. Besides Joravsky, the Dolphins have a good core of sophomores led by Devyn Thompson.

Joravsky ran about 500 miles during the summer. She lives near Montrose Harbor, where she does eight-mile runs -- some up a hill -- that Geiger said have made her much stronger than last year.

''My dad [Ben] used to make me and my sister Hannah [now a sophomore at Iowa] run to stay in shape,'' Joravsky said. ''I used to be so slow.''

As a freshman, Joravsky finished second in the Public League cross-country championships to Hughes.

But in the spring, Joravsky beat Hughes in the 1,600-meter run at the city track championships. Joravsky and Thompson were 1-2 in the event with Hughes third.

Hughes won 18 Public League championships, both team and individual, in her career at Lane. But Geiger doesn't feel comfortable bringing up Hughes' achievements to Joravsky on a regular basis.

''Stephanie set the tone,'' Geiger said. ''I try and downplay as much as possible anyone being a legacy or a symbol. If you put them on that pedestal, [their achievements] are almost unattainable.''