Bolingbrook girls ready to take on regional

All of the hours and miles of training come down to one race that lasts less than 20 minutes on Saturday as the Bolingbrook girls cross country teams aims to qualify once again as a team for sectionals.

The Raiders host their own regional at DuPage River Park in Naperville. Race starts at 10 a.m.

Unlike last season, Raiders coach Brian Zeglin brings a group of girls who have raced in the regionals before and look to not only improve their personal times but also improve the team's spot from last season.

"All of the sophomores that will be running have run at the regional as freshmen so this is not new to anyone. The girls have been there before and we have ran against some of the toughest competition," Zeglin said. "I have no concerns on how the girls will and handle things. It is all about going out and performing."

The Raiders will race on their home course for the regional However, there have been many changes since the 2008 race that will challenge the girls. The IHSA did a complete overhaul of the teams in the regionals and Bolingbrook will almost see a completely new lineup.

The Bolingbrook Regional increases from seven to nine teams this year and besides Bolingbrook, only Lockport and Romeoville remained in the regional. This year the Raiders will see Neuqua Valley, Oswego East and all of the Plainfield schools.

"I know it is going to be a little different but we have run this course every week and we know it well," senior Shelby Manning said. "It is going to be close, but I think our girls have dropped enough time so we can get the last spots."

Neuqua, Lockport and Oswego East look to be the front-runners of the group and then it will be anybody's race as only five of the nine teams will advance to the Lockport Sectional.

"I don't think we have seen the best performances from most of the girls yet," Zeglin said. "If they (the girls) go out there and run their best races ,I think we will be truly surprised about what we can achieve."

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