Provax leads Northside in CPL meet
By Dave Surico
Opportunity knocked and Taylor Provax gave it her best shot.
The result was a third-place individual finish in the Chicago Public League freshman championship Saturday at Washington Park in the South Side.
It was an unusual spot for Provax, who ran varsity all season. But coach Jon Gordon placed her in the freshman race to give her a run at an individual achievement.
"At first I wasn't too sure how I felt about it," said Provax. "I didn't know what it really meant that I was going down to freshman. But I realized I could do really well if I stayed in the freshman race, so I wanted to come out and do my best, and I did.
"I felt like it went really well. The thing about the course was some of it was really uneven, but I managed."
The two-mile freshman race featured a smaller loop before entering the 1.5-mile main course.
Provax went along in third before taking the lead near the end of the opening circuit.
"At the turn (onto the main course), the girl behind me came up. I tried to stay on her tail," said Provax. "I kept behind them (Young's Julia Martinez and Shianne Baggett) most of the time and they started pulling away. So I tried to push myself.
"I probably could have strategized a little better and stayed behind them a little further in the race, but I'm proud how I did."
Provax posted a time of 13:47.6 over a wet course as she led Northside to a third-place team finish for coach Gordon.
"That was awesome seeing Taylor take third overall and get that recognition at the freshman level," he said.
The presence of her classmate proved a welcome addition for Phoebe Randall, who finished second for the Mustangs and sixth overall in 14:19.79.
"It was really fun, Randall said. "I followed Taylor most of the time and that was a challenge. It went really well. It felt really good. I'm surprised I'm not tired. I really pushed hard and I think it really paid off.
"I think the team did really well, Taylor especially. Oh my goodness, she's a good leader. I'm really glad she ran with us today because I think we really pushed the whole team. I think we're just going to get better. I think we have a really good team and as we get older I just think we're going to get better and better."
Coach Gordon agrees, but puts a caveat on future Northside cross country success in any gender.
"Were hoping that our freshman are going to run 300 miles before track (season) and then do 500 miles in the summer," said Gordon. "I give an automatic varsity letter if they run 500. To this day I haven't had an athlete run 500 and not make varsity.
"So we're hoping they take that from this and help us out with seniors graduating."
Anna Pezanoski-Cohen (14th place, 14:57.91), Hyunji Ward (16th, 15:08.75), Clare Scheib-Feeley (23rd, 15:52.17), Eva Stoops (40th 17:32.64) and Ryan Speese (41th, 17:35.34) also competed for Northside in the 69-runner event
Individual winner Julia Martinez (13:37.63) outfinished teammate Shianne Baggett (13:38.00) for team champion Young.
Final team standings
1, Young, 35. 2, Lane, 52. 3, 3, Northside, 62. 4, Mather, 66. 5, Jones, 140. 6, Steinmetz, 175.
