By Xander Lundblad
Head coach: Coach Chad Hillman
Years coaching at BHS: 14th year in IHSA
Asst. coach: Coach Samantha Miller
Last season’s highlights:
The cross country team took third in the state, and that was the second girls’ athletic trophy in school history. The team won the Upstate Eight conference title and IHSA regionals, as well.
Top returnees:
Some of the top returnees are senior Maia Haworth, juniors Emma Stephens, Mary Grace Golden, Daphne Kolody, and Anna Malay, and sophomore Alexa Andrews, all of whom were state runners last year and are looking to improve off of their times.
Top newcomers:
“The top newcomers for Batavia will be freshman Audrey Pellico and Mia Gianfrancesco,” said assistant coach Mrs. Miller. They have put themselves on a different level than the other freshman.” There are however, many freshmen, so it will be entertaining to see who will step up.
Outlook for this season:
The Bulldogs will look to maintain or improve on last season while trying to improve their chemistry to produce a big year. The main goal is to earn another trophy and only go up, and of course, the dream is to win state.
Top teams in your league/area:
“This year the conference seems to be pretty narrowed down to Batavia and Geneva,” said the assistant coach. However, outside of the conference, Yorkville, the defending state champs, have been moved up to Batavia’s class, 3A, making things more interesting for the state and regional meets. Batavia and Yorkville meeting up should be competitive and fun to watch. Minooka is the defending state champs, so Batavia makes state look out for them.
Top runners in your league/area/state:
One top runner in the conference this season will be returning all-state runner Emma Ehrhardt from Geneva High School. Lindsey Payne from Glen Ellyn and Madison Marasco from Schaumburg are also runners to watch out for that are near this area. But most of Batavia’s competition is out of our conference and in far away schools like Minooka.
Overall the team is very good and we will see if they can accomplish their goals and win state.