It was dark when Anna Wilcox arrived at Katherine Legge Park on Saturday morning. While the course at KLM is known as one of the toughest cross country courses in the area, Anna revels in the home-course advantage KLM provides and was ready for the challenge of qualifying for State. The sun was coming up as Anna started her warm ups. Anna was preparing to turn in her best performance of the season and one of the most clutch races in recent Hinsdale South history.
Anna needed to finish as one of the top ten individuals who was not on a qualifying team. Going into the race, Anna was ranked as the 12th individual so she knew she had to turn in a great race to qualify. Anna had struggled recently in the second mile of her races so her goal was to run a fast but controlled first mile and then focus on running a solid second mile. When Anna finished her first mile in 6:26, she was well on her way to her goal. Not only did Anna keep a steady second mile, but she ran an unbelievable P.R. of 19:16, which was nearly a minute faster than her previous P.R. While the course at KLM was a little short, it was still a difficult course and the P.R. Anna set eclipsed her time on the same course a week ago. When finished, Anna found out she had run the 8th-fastest time at KLM in Hinsdale South history and her P.R. now stands as the 14th-fastest time in the history of a team that goes back to 1979. And she isn't done yet because Anna ended up finishing as the 7th individual and will be running at Detweiller Park in Peoria next Saturday.