Pfau surprises self with top-five time

Notre Dame senior Tori Pfau hardly could believe her eyes when she glared at the time clock while nearing the finish line at the Notre Dame Invitational on Saturday.

Pfau had been running her 5-kilometer races in the 22-minute range this season before Saturday. She was hoping to run the home course in the 21-minute range.

"I was actually amazed because I was trying just basically to get 21s because I had been running all 22s so far this season," Pfau said. "I was coming to the finish line and I saw 19:59. I knew I wasn't going to get in the 19s, but I was happy I got in the low 20s."

Pfau covered the course in 20 minutes, 9.06 seconds to run one of the top-five times in the history of the Notre Dame girls program, coach Bill Davis said.

Pfau was the top local girls finisher at the meet, placing ninth.

She helped the Notre Dame girls finish sixth with 147 points, the best finish of any local girls team.

"Coach really stresses trying to win on our own course," Pfau said. "It's one of the flattest ones we run, so that's always a plus. ... It really helps to run this course because I know where the 1 mile and 2 mile and 3 mile is. So I know where I can start kicking it in."

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Notre Dame's Tori Pfau finishes the girls varsity cross country Saturday at Notre Dame Regional High School.

Pfau was one of two local runners to place in the top 20. The other was Kelly's Tara Johnson, who finished 13th in 20:20.20.

"She [Pfau] ran really well today," Davis said. "That's one of the top times we've ever had run period. ... She's a natural runner. She's just a girl who came the first day of practice and seemed like she could go and not get real winded. She had that innate ability to be able to do that."

Festus won the girls team title with 36 points.

Festus senior Alyssa Allison won the girls race, setting a course record and meet record in 18:23.86.

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Team standings — 1. Festus 36; 2. Ste. Genevieve 73; 3. Herculaneum 75; 4. Sparta (Ill.) 102; 5. Dexter 145; 6. Notre Dame, 147; 7. North County 149; 8. Farmington 167; 9. Saxony Lutheran 201.

Top 10 — 1. Alyssa Allison, Fes., 18:23; 2. Hannah Blalock, PB, 18:55; 3. Eileen Schweiss, Herc., 19:05; 4. Sadie Darnell, Fes., 19:16; 5. Lydia Huelskamp, SG, 19:31; 6. Tiffany Smith, Fes., 19:39; 7. Jennifer Bauman, SG, 19:54; 8. Megan Arnold, Herc., 20:06; 9. Tori Pfau, ND, 20:09; 10. Ashley Brewster, SG, 20:10.

Local finishers

Kelly — 13. Tara Johnson, 20:20.

Saxony Lutheran — 22. Kristin Dippold, 21:21; 29. Lucy Gage, 21:51; 53. Claire Skelton, 23:53; 64. Tori Winter, 25:39; 65. Sarah Winningham, 25:57.

Notre Dame — 31. Morgan Morris, 22:02; 42. Katie Obermark, 23:01; 43. Jill Schnurbusch, 23:02.

Chaffee — 36. Sarah Reischman, 22:29; 50. Elizabeth Schlosser, 23:23; 52. Randi Wiley, 23:41.

Oak Ridge — 48. Shelby Proctor, 23:21; 59. Erin Owens, 24:41.