Fenwick runners Bridget Brunick and Juliana Gamboa will race at the IHSA Class 3A cross country state finals Saturday, Nov. 7, at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
Both qualified individually at the Oct. 31 Lyons Township Sectional, according to the Wednesday Journal. Gamboa, a senior, placed eighth with a time of 18:12.6, earning all-sectional honors. Brunick, a junior from Oak Park, finished 14th at 18:32.9. Both were among the top 10 individual qualifiers from runners not on the seven advancing teams.
This is Gamboa's fourth trip to the state meet. It is Brunick's third. Their 2023 and 2024 berths came in Class 2A, before Fenwick moved up to 3A.
The Fenwick girls team placed 11th at sectionals with 186 points in its second year competing in 3A. That wasn't enough to advance as a squad, so Gamboa and Brunick head to Peoria on their own.
"A lot of girls who qualify individually go down alone but being able to go down with your teammate and your best friend is awesome," Brunick told the Wednesday Journal after sectionals.
Gamboa said she was glad to share the trip with Brunick, calling it "a really special experience" to go to state with a teammate who is also her best friend, according to the Wednesday Journal.
Gamboa, a two-time Class 2A all-stater, has been Fenwick's top runner all season. She finished second at the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Meet on Oct. 17 with a time of 18:09.3, behind DePaul's Emily Stecky, who won in 18:01.0. Brunick placed seventh at that meet (18:26.3), and both earned all-conference honors, the Wednesday Journal reported in October.
Fourth-year Fenwick girls cross country head coach Latoya Zubowicz-Hill praised her senior class at the start of the season. "These (seniors) were my first group when I came in, and they learned the culture and work ethic I wanted to build," she told the Wednesday Journal in September.
Saturday's race at Detweiller Park will be the last cross country meet Gamboa and Brunick run together as Fenwick teammates, with Gamboa set to graduate in the spring.
