The 1999 Lake Forest women's cross country team hopes their seventh place showing at last year's conference meet was the last time they'll see the lower division of the league.  "Although our place wasn't something to write home about, it was the highest last year's team could have finished based on the talent we had," commented Head Coach Mike Wajerski, who is in his second year guiding a program that started in 1995.  "We can expect much more from this year's team." 
     The return of the Foresters' top five runners from last season gives Wajerski at least five solid reasons to be optimistic.  The reacquisition of Kendra Greene, who spent the fall of 1998 studying in Chile, and the possible return of senior Shanna Palmer from injury also has the Foresters eager for the '99 season. 
     Co-captains Michelle Murillo and Sarah Simpson, both juniors in their second year of competition, gave the '98 Foresters a strong one-two tandem.  Simpson, who holds two of the all-time top 25 Lake Forest 5K times, will look to improve on her 26th place finish at last year's MWC Championship Meet.  Murillo, who last year capped off one of the finest seasons in Forester history with an All-Conference showing, should become Lake Forest's all-time leader for runners beat in a career late this season.  In just one year she beat 742 runners, the second highest single season total at Lake Forest.  Her 68.5% winning percentage is the Foresters' third highest season total of all-time.  Murillo's highest finish came at the MSOE Invite, where she took second place in a time of 20:31.  Her best performance came at the MWC Championships, where she became the third Lake Forest woman to earn All-Conference honors by placing 13th.  Her time of 19:54 in the 5K race was the fastest by a Lake Forest woman in over a year, the fastest Forester time at a conference meet and the fastest Lake Forest time at Beloit's course, which is run once a year.  She also became the first Forester woman in two years to break 20 minutes.  "Sarah and Michelle are not only tremendous competitors, but great examples and leaders for the rest of our team, which is why the team and I chose them as this year's captains," comments Coach Wajerski. 
     After a year in which the Foresters hosted a cross country meet, produced the school's first Academic All-American (Jennifer McGuire), and ran in the regional meet for the first time in school history, this year's squad will attempt to add another impressive accomplishment to their resume - their highest ever finish at the conference meet.  The 1996 squad set the mark with a sixth place finish