PEORIA - The longer Kelly Curran remained in contention in the Class 1A girls state cross country meet Saturday, the greater became her odds of winning.
The Central Catholic High School senior hit the jackpot when she erased a 10-yard deficit with 300 to go and took the lead from Freeburg's Kristen Busch in the final 200.
Busch responded to the challenge, but Curran had another gear to create a three-second gap as she defended her title and became the ninth girl in state history to win more than once.
"I told Kelly the more the race goes on, the more your opponents' chances diminish," said Saint coach Tom Engelhorn, whose star toured the 3-mile Detweiller Park course in 17 minutes, 46 seconds.
Four hours later in the Class 3A race, Marie O'Leary clocked 17:31 to place eighth as she and Carly Pederson (24th, 17:55) gave Normal Community its first all-staters since 1996.
"I wanted to get top five, but overall I'm really happy because it's by far the best finish I've had at state," said O'Leary, who went out hard. "I wanted to give myself a chance to win."
Chicago Young's Lavinia Jurkiewicz won in 17:11 in sunny, 74-degree conditions.
"Marie is not a great hot-weather runner and she really hung tough," said NCHS coach Tom Patten. "She had a great second mile. We knew they both had a shot of being in the top 10. I thought Carly ran, for a freshman, a great race."
Curran was among a Pantagraph area record seven 1A all-staters in the top 25.
Eureka placed fourth with 135 points, missing a trophy by six, while Central Catholic took seventh (188) and Tremont 11th (298). Winnebago won for a state record 11th time with 123.
Freeburg's Busch, the reigning 3,200-meter track champion, built a cushion midway, but Curran didn't give up.
"I knew there was a chance," she said. "I didn't know how much I would have to work for it."
Curran, who won last year in 17:27, did know sneaking up on Busch would be impossible.
"When the fans get louder, you know someone's coming," said Curran, who had the crowd of 5,000-plus roaring. "I think she was ready for me to get there and ready to counter."
Curran led after a 5:45 first mile.
"I used that downhill to my advantage," she said. "It wasn't too fast for me. I was comfortable taking the lead at that point. I think we kind of held the pace (the second mile), but by no means was it a rest."
Curran tucked in behind Busch on the windy north loop.
"I was concerned when the PA (announcer) said Busch was breaking away," Engelhorn said, "but I had to remember that Kelly does not allow people to break her. When she came back and charged, she made the first move in the kick. Seeing that, I really believed Kelly would win because Kelly became the aggressor. I was so thrilled."
Eureka sophomore Kalla Gold, who missed three weeks with a hip injury, placed eighth (18:17).
"My legs felt dead the whole race," said Gold, fifth a year ago. "With 600 left, I knew I had to push it."
Eureka coach Brett Charlton, whose team was sixth a year ago, was surprised 135 points weren't enough for a trophy.
"Our goal was to get a trophy," he said. "If you score that low, 99 percent of the time you are going to walk away with one."
El Paso-Gridley freshman Julie James walked away 11th (18:23).
"I was going to try to stay slow for the first mile, but that didn't work," she said.
Deer Creek-Mackinaw's first state qualifier, junior Vanessa Connelley, became its first medalist in 14th (18:35).
"This is only the second year of the program," she said. "I feel I'm setting things up for all the years to come."
Tremont's Jamee Holmes became a two-time all-stater, placing 22nd (18:48).
"She was hanging on for dear life that whole last mile," said Tremont coach Mike Lynn, whose No. 14-ranked team tied its 11th-place effort of 2008.
Seventh-place Central Catholic equaled its state ranking with help from freshman Alex Van Hoof, who was 23rd (18:48).
"It was probably the hardest race I've had this year," Van Hoof said. "I didn't even know what all-state was."
Engelhorn said the Saints could have used two mores weeks of training to recover from earlier health issues.
"We got some young girls some very good state meet experience," he said.
Delavan freshman Maddison Zimmer got some of that experience, placing 24th in 18:48.
"That's huge for me," she said.
In 2A, Mahomet-Seymour's Brittany Bohn was 38th (19:11) and Rachel Rodriguez 73rd (19:43).
"The first mile (5:47) was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be, but it was a good challenge," Bohn said. "If you want to get in the top 25, you have to go with them."
Things didn't go well for Normal West in 3A as the Wildcats were last among 26 teams with 674 points. Hannah Magnuson led West in 119th (19:06).
"It's been a disappointing day, but a very successful season," said Wildcat coach Steve Destri.