Bloomington High School cross country star Ashley Verplank doesn't know how much fitness she was robbed of by a mid-season leg injury.

Judging by the junior's victory in the Normal West Class AA Regional at Maxwell Park Saturday, the theft may not have been too bad.

Verplank opened a one-second gap on Normal Community's Olivia Myers the final 400 yards to clock 18 minutes, 18 seconds on the 3-mile course.

"I would definitely say I'm back to where I should be, but I really won't know if I'm back 100 percent until I make it to state and do well at state," said Verplank after winning her third straight regional.

Although Myers lost the battle, her team won the war with Normal West, 33-35, to notch its sixth consecutive regional championship.

"They learn from each other is what it comes down to," said NCHS coach Tom Patten of his team's tradition. "The expectation is set and they go after it."

Also among the five team qualifiers for next Saturday's 10:30 a.m. East Peoria Class AA Sectional at Illinois Central College were University High (109), Bradley-Bourbonnais (125) and Ottawa (135). BHS finished seventh (162) and Pontiac ninth (252).

Verplank led the five individual qualifiers not on advancing teams. Also moving on was teammate Ashley Szabo, who clocked a lifetime best of 21:24 in 28th.

"I'm really happy for her and really proud of her," said Szabo's coach and father, John.

Verplank, the Big 12 Conference champion, and Myers, the Intercity champion, were side-by-side through opening miles of 5:56 and 6:11.

"I just decided to sit on whoever was going to be first - and I predicted it would be Olivia - and just kick it in when I felt the time was right," Verplank said. "I think I kicked it in a little too soon."

Verplank will face state title contenders Caitlin Comfort of Peoria Notre Dame and Nicole Benson of Bartonville Limestone in the sectional.

"Next week will be the meet to run hard," Verplank said.

NCHS had to run hard this week to hold off Intercity champion Normal West.

"It's tough to beat West, let me tell you," Patten said. "They are a good team."

The Wildcats were the first team with five finishers, but their 3-4-8-9-11 pack couldn't catch the 2-5-6-7-13 of NCHS, which averaged 11 seconds faster per runner.

Myers' fellow scorers were Mara Weaver (19:33), Sarah Roberts (19:41), Erika Hanson (19:54) and Amy Ziegler (20:21).

"That was the best race of (Hanson's) life," Patten said. "She was in a situation where she knew who she had to get and she went and got them and they were good girls she went and got."

Normal West got the lead out with Kayla Braffet (19:10), Maggie Krall (19:23), Sarah Marrochello (19:58), Kirsten Boesen (20:02) and Carianna Cottone (20:11).

"We know that Normal is very good," said Normal West coach Den Patten, the twin of his NCHS counterpart. "If we can just stay close to them, we feel very good about our chances of getting to state."

Third-place U High was led by Rachel Witte (17th, 20:39), Colleen Campbell (20th, 20:47), Wen Yang (22nd, 20:59), Katie Erdman (23rd, 21:02) and Sara Idleman (27th, 21:23).

"I thought we probably ran one of our better team races of the year," said Pioneer coach Lester Hampton. "We were really close together, all five of our runners."

Mahomet-Seymour triumphs

No. 17-state ranked Mahomet-Seymour won its fifth regional in six years, scoring 26 points to dominate the Urbana Regional. Runner-up Decatur Eisenhower, led by individual champion Emili Maxeiner (19:19), tallied 68.

Scoring for the Bulldogs were Sarah Forbes (second, 19:41), Josi Parker (third, 19:45), Hannah Schaap (fourth, 19:47), Amanda Rodriguez (eighth, 20:09) and Jessica Butcher (ninth, 20:10).

Mahomet-Seymour advanced to next Saturday's 10 a.m. Centralia Sectional.

Lincoln shut out at Springfield

Lincoln's Emily Gilmer placed 57th (26:39) and Bethany Rea 58th (26:54), but did not advance from the Springfield Regional where Chatham Glenwood (41) and Jessica Megginson of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin (19:14) won titles.

Lincoln did not figure in the team scoring.