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Sports

Fast Friends Make Downers North History

Kothanek, Hesslau enjoying great running career that already includes first relay state title in school history.

Jillian Kothanek moved to Downers Grove when she was in first grade.

Shortly after that – she doesn’t remember exactly when – she met Gabrielle Hesslau in class at Hillcrest Elementary School. Though no one knew it at the time, it was the start of a close friendship that would have a profound impact on both girls and the local running scene.

Now juniors at , Kothanek and Hesslau are cross country and track stars who last spring forever stamped their names in the school history books when they teamed with since-graduated Gaby Effrein and then-freshman Stephanie Urbancik to win the state championship in the 3,200-meter relay. It was the first relay state title in school history for the Trojans.

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ROOTS

Kothanek and Hesslau first became friends when they joined the Brownies and Girls Scouts together.

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“We’ve always been in the same group of friends and it probably [started on] one of the Brownie field trips because we all got together and sold cookies in groups,” Hesslau remembered. “[Kothanek] was good at selling them.”

That was the beginning of a pattern in which the two girls shared just about every experience, from sports to academics to friendships and even food. The running part started in third grade.

“I remember doing the quarter-mile run in gym,” Kothanek said. “We did that together and we were always trying to beat the boys.”

Kothanek and Hesslau can beat most runners, boys or girls, with ease. Both had immediate success when they burst onto the high school scene as freshmen. They were major contributors in Downers North’s resurgence in cross country the past two seasons, helping the Trojans finish eighth in 2009 and 10th last year.

But the historic breakthrough came during track season with the relay title. Kothanek, Hesslau and Effrein had been on North’s 3,200 relay squad that had placed third at the 2010 state meet, so they had high hopes for the 2011 campaign.

Joined by Urbancik, they broke the school record in winning the event at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division meet on May 7. They won the sectional title the following week and entered the state meet seeded fourth.

ANATOMY OF A RACE

The Trojans broke the school record again during the preliminary round of the state meet on May 20, lowering the mark to 9:11.27, the fastest preliminary time.

The following day, anticipation was high and the crowd at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium in Charleston loud for the finals.

Hesslau ran the opening leg of the race and Urbancik the second. When Effrein handed the baton to Kothanek for the anchor leg, North was in second place, slightly behind Wheaton Warrenville South.

Kothanek immediately took off in pursuit of Wheaton sophomore Hope Schmelzle.

“Whenever there’s anyone in front of me I get nervous, so I have to pass to them,” Kothanek said. “So I passed her right away but the whole time she was right on me, so that was a little nerve-wracking. Usually I depend on my last sprint, my final kick.”

Kothanek began her kick before the final turn and her teammates, seeing that the race was neck-and-neck, started screaming even before the crowd reached full throat.

“As soon as we watched her going into that final kick we saw it coming and we knew if she was with the Wheaton girl at that point, from then on we’d have the race,” Hesslau said. “We started cheering early.

“Then we’re like, ‘wait, wait, don’t cheer yet,’ because we didn’t want to jinx it, but we knew once Jill started to break away she had it.”

So did Kothanek, who didn’t falter with history within reach.

“At that moment it was all on me, whether I wanted to try and push through,” Kothanek said. “I had to give it my all because that’s the last race for track season. I had to leave it all out there.”

Kothanek crossed the line the first in 9:09.61, another school record and the fifth-fastest time in state history (the record is 9:04.14, set by Barrington in 2008). Wheaton was second in 9:11.27, the same time the Trojans had clocked the previous day.

AFTERMATH

The Trojans’ accomplishment was magnified by the fact that they did it at such a young age, with the possibility of additional titles to come. But there is always tomorrow, and with it another race or training session.

“Sometimes I feel weird holding onto that moment, even though it’s probably my most proud moment,” Kothanek said. “I feel like I should move on, but it’s my biggest accomplishment so maybe I should hold onto it a little longer.”

Despite their talent and accomplishments, neither girl has a big ego, and Hesslau found herself looking back at the title for confidence.

“[Winning] was really nice,” Hesslau said. “People that we don’t even know were congratulating us about it. It was really cool like that a couple weeks after.

“But confidence-wise, at first it didn’t translate into confidence in cross country, but I think through the season it built more and more. You’d hear coaches yell, ‘come on, you’ve got to go now, you know you’ve got the kick.’ It’s like, ‘you know, I do have the kick. I’m a state champ and I can pick it up.’”

With Effrein now running at Wisconsin and former all-stater Samantha Fry competing at Yale, the Trojans struggled for the first half of this season.

But Hesslau and Kothanek have adapted to their new leadership roles and North won the West Aurora Stampede on Oct. 8, with Hesslau finishing third and Kothanek ninth, showing the way for senior Allison Proffitt, sophomores Meghan Bonfield and Micah Pfotenhauer, junior Jessica Bates and freshman Rachel Krusenoski.

“We were a little flat there for a long stretch and last week they just kind of worked themselves out of it,” Downers North Coach Tim McDonald said. “There was a spark and I think it’s only going to get better and better in the coming weeks.”

If the Trojans succeed in their goal of qualifying for the state meet again, Hesslau and Kothanek will have to turn in great performances, something McDonald has no doubt they will do.

“They’ve really had a great start to their careers,” McDonald said. “We talked about that with them last year and my measuring stick with them was kind of the two that preceded them – Sammy Fry and Gaby Effrein, and these two are much further along.

“When you look at where Sammy and Gaby were as freshmen and sophomores and where they ended up, they made a big jump. [Kothanek and Hesslau] were much further along at the end of sophomore year than the other two were and that’s a tribute to their ability. I think in the last 1 ¾ years that we have left together there’s going to be some great things going on.”

CHEMISTRY

 Kothanek and Hesslau both say their friendship enhances their running. They are together nearly every day. This semester they are in AP Chemistry and Spanish together and both are honors students; Hesslau has a 4.2 GPA and Kothanek a 4.175.

“It’s nice having Jill as a best friend because we’re always doing the same thing, like we’re always tired after meets and we’re [either] upset about losing a meet or [happy about] winning a meet,” Hesslau said. “She always knows when I need to go get yogurt or when I just need to not talk about running.”

“We see each other pretty much every day, maybe not on Sundays as much,” Kothanek said. “Our routine on Fridays is usually practice, pasta party and maybe a North [football] game or hang out with our cross country friends. Then Saturday the meet is like the main event of the weekend.”

During cross country season, Hesslau takes the role of mentor, as she has had greater success on the three-mile courses, finishing 48th at the state finals her freshman year and 32nd as a sophomore, while Kothanek was 120th and 107th.

“Gabbie knows a lot about running, so whenever I’m down she knows exactly what to say to me,” Kothanek said. “She knows what advice to give me. I definitely can lean on her when I need it.”

The dynamic is a little different during track season as Kothanek is stronger at the shorter distances. The pair usually run neck-and-neck in the mile, though both are faster than most of their competitors.

Kothanek and Hesslau finished 1-2 at the conference and sectional meets last spring, with Kothanek taking the league title and Hesslau the sectional crown. They both made the finals at state, with Hesslau earning an all-state medal by finishing ninth while Kothanek placed 14th.

“I think probably the nice thing is this situation can be volatile sometimes when you have two kids that really run the same events, and they have handled it so well just in terms of their maturity,” McDonald said. “Jill won the conference in the mile and Gabbie won the sectional. There was no animosity about it…and that isn’t always the case.

“You can end up with a situation where those two people don’t like each other, they’re constantly at each other’s throats, and instead they work well together.”

That’s because Kothanek and Hesslau do not care who breaks the tape first, as long as they both finish high enough to maximize their team’s points.

“That was the best part,” Hesslau said. “It wasn’t like, ‘oh, Jill’s better than me in the mile, like this is her thing and I’ll run against her in cross country.’

“It was like we’re both the same speed in all the events we run against each other, so we always can push each other. It’s never, ‘I’ll let her lead or she’ll let me lead,’ so that’s nice.”

Kothanek and Hesslau want to win another title in the 3,200 relay and take a shot at the state record, but for now they are focused on leading the Trojans back to Detweiller Park in Peoria. It would be the first time North has qualified three straight years since 1992.

“I think our team can get to state,” Hesslau said. “I think we can make it out of sectionals even though other teams are kind of doubting our ability. I think we can go top 10 again. I think we’ve got it in us.”

Regardless of what Kothanek and Hesslau do in cross-country or track, one thing is for sure:

They will do it together.

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