It hasn’t been the easiest cross country season for Kennedy’s Viviana Tryfonopoulos, but she’s finishing it in the right place,
The senior has qualified for her third consecutive IHSA Class 2A state championship by taking fifth at the Kaneland Sectional on Oct. 31 with a time of 17:57.9. The state meet is Nov. 7 at Detweiller Park in Peoria.
The previous two weeks before sectional, Tryfonopoulos won the Wheaton Academy Regional on Oct. 24 at 17:52.3 and finished fifth in the Public League championship Oct. 17 at Washington Park at 18:24.9.
At the city meet, she was still feeling the effects of a foot injury.
“(The season) was going really well up until two weeks ago,” she said then. “I won the race and afterward … my right foot, it was hurting. So I took off my spike and I saw that it was really swollen.
“So I took a week off. I did cross training, but now I’m back. I feel like my fitness is there, but I can’t push myself.”
In the Public League meet, for example, she said, “I feel like I could have given way more. But I felt myself slowing down because my body wouldn’t let me go faster.”
That was frustrating, because Tryfonopoulos had been pointing toward city.
“I wanted to win this race really bad because Ainsley Carter from Lane, she’s a really good competitor, and I wanted to see if I could stay up with her,” Tryfonopoulos said. “I tried, but I feel like after the first mile I kind of fell off because my foot was bothering me.”
Carter wound up winning her second straight city title in 17:30.4.
Now Tryfonopoulos heads back to Peoria. She was 118th in 19:20.8 as a sophomore in 2024 and moved up to 63rd in 18:33.1 last fall.
She hopes rest and treatment will pay off at state.
“I’ve been icing and elevating and it’s been helping me,” she said at city.
Tryfonopoulos is also looking at running at the next level. Division II Lewis has shown interest.
“Honestly, I’ve only ran since my freshman year, but I kind of fell in love with it,” she said. “I definitely want to run collegiately.”