By Dave Surico
It's late in September, but the cross country season is brand new for Northside's Simmone Seymour.
The four-year runner could not train or compete since the start of the school year.
"My doctor thought I had a heart condition," said Seymour, who received clearance to run Monday. "I ran all summer hoping to be on the varsity. I thought I would do very poorly (today)."
After the race the senior was happy she was wrong. Seymour topped the Northside runners with a 25th-place finish in 14:48.91 at the Mather Invitational Tuesday at Legion Park adjacent to Northside.
Seymour led the school's contingent of junior varsity and frosh-soph runners against varsity competition.
"This is her second day of cross country for us," said coach Jon Gordon. "It's awesome for her to be the top (Northside) girl today,"
The freshman class also made some noise in the race. Anna Pezanoski-Cohen led a trio of medalists with a 31st-place overall finish in 15:00.76.
"It was hard. It took a lot to keep running because everyone was running so fast," said Pezanoski-Cohen, who placed fifth among first-year high schoolers. "I tried to pace myself with the people who are faster than me."
Classmates Phoebe Randell (37th, 15:13.46) and Hyunji Ward (44th, 15:26.23) earned individual sixth- and seventh-place medals respectively for their efforts.
Juniors Nina Coomes (39th, 15:15.58) and Lindsey Shallberg (64th, 16:08.59), sophomore Hannah Doruleo (63rd, 16:06.02), and freshman Ryan Speese (103rd, 17:44.58) also competed for Northside.
Morgan Park senior Nyala Eddings won the meet in 12:16.84; Ridgewood junior Catherine Hajduk ran second in 12:22.23.
Host Mather took the team title with 49 points, followed by Morgan Park (93) and Ridgewood (129).
Northside finished eighth in the 14-team meet.