Athlete of the Week: Naperville Central Runner Amanda Fox

A note from the editors at Patch:

By the voting deadline for this week's Athlete of the Week (9 p.m. Nov. 9), Amanda Fox of Naperville Central had 57 percent of the votes, making her the clear winner.

coach Aislinn Hicks and star cross country runner Amanda Fox are sky high this week.

Fox won the girls state championship with a time of 16:24, the fastest time recorded in Class 3A history and the second fastest time on Peoria's Detweiller Park. She missed the course record by only two seconds.

"Amanda deserves everything she got this week," Hicks said. "She's a wonderful young lady."

Fox used strategy to pull off the feat. Aislinn knew Fox would need a fast start
against Lake Park's Kaylee Flanagan and a strong finish to hold off Oswego East's Ariel Michalek.

Fox managed the first goal by running her fastest mile and two-mile times (5:13,
10:46) to pull ahead of Flanagan — the only person to beat Fox this year — and
endurance to outpace Michalek down the stretch.

Michalek finished runner-up 13 seconds behind Fox, and Flanagan third 19 seconds slower.

November can only get better as Fox prepares to run a regional race Sunday in
Indianapolis with the next step of Nike Nationals on the line.

"She's worked hard for four years and experienced obviously success throughout the years," Hicks said. "A little bit of a down year last year — she was working through some injuries — and then this year she came out just aggressive and ready to cap off her high school career with a great senior year."

Here are the other Patch Athlete of the Week nominees:

: Victoria Salazar, freshman, runner: Salazar paced the Indians at the Class 2A state cross country meet with a 102nd-place finish in 19 minutes, 11 seconds. The Indians finished in 21st place.

: Jaden Huff, sophomore, running back: Huff rushed for 58 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Raiders' 21-7 win over Mount Carmel. Huff set the tone with the game's first touchdown, which led the team to the second-round win in the Class 8A playoffs.

Joliet Catholic Acadmey: Morgan Reardon, junior, outside hitter: Reardon recorded eight kills and two blocks against East Suburban Catholic Conference rival Nazareth 25-16, 25-21 as the host of a Class 3A sectional semifinal. Reardon is a Loyola University recruit.

: Josh Williams, senior, running back: Williams rushed 26 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns in addition to catching four passes for 56 yards and another score in the Mustangs' 41-14 second-round Class 8A playoff game with Brother Rice. Williams scored on plays of 48, nine and two yards.