At Elmhurst, the 2009 3A state championship banner hangs on the wall at the far end of the gym, a mute observer Monday to the carnage that is first-day-of-practice conditioning.
At Canterbury, the 2009 1A state championship team photo leans against one wall, blank side facing out, an object lesson awaiting its moment. Reminders of glory, the banner and the photo, at two schools on the city’s west side.
Something to put away now, for the players and the coaches alike.
“Even though we’ve got a lot of the same kids, we’re back to Square One,” Canterbury girls basketball coach Scott Kreiger says of his two-time 1A state champs. “We’ve got to get back in basketball shape, we’ve got a tough schedule ahead of us, we’ve got a lot of growth that we’ve got to do. February’s a long way away.”
A few miles away at Elmhurst, Trojans coach Mark Redding seconds that.
“This is definitely a different team,” he says.
Which is not to say that Canterbury and Elmhurst won’t aspire to doing again what they did last March, or shouldn’t. New season or not, it’s not unreasonable that they could make it look a lot like last season.
Canterbury, for instance, returns all five starters – Tabitha Gerardot, Becky Pedro, Cassie Kreiger, Paige Wells and Madison Moyle – from last year’s 23-4 champions. Elmhurst lost linchpin Lecretia Smith but returns seniors Cora Tatum, Eleni Barker, Morgan Banks and Danielle Roberson, plus standout underclassmen Liza Clemons, Lacia Gorman, Rose Lewis, TeSharra Thomas and Karah Peppler.
Collectively they might comprise two new teams facing fresh challenges. But individually they carry last year with them as a fortifying presence.
“Oh, I would definitely say (it helps),” Gerardot says. “Everybody feels more confident with their success. We come in encouraged and we have a goal and excitement instead of having to prove something.”
Gorman agrees, to a point.
“We look at our rings every day. But we can’t get bigheaded. We have to come in and work hard every day just like every other team,” she says.
Neither team will dwell on the past. And so when it came time at Canterbury on Monday, Kreiger retrieved the 2009 state champ team photo – its 2008 twin hangs over the gym entrance now – turned it face-out and had his girls gather around.
“This is you,” he said. “And it’s over.”
What happens next is anybody’s guess.
“Yeah, on paper we look pretty darn good,” Kreiger says. “In fact, one of the first words out of (people’s) mouths is ‘three-peat’.
“But it’s just so difficult to do it one time. And to do what we’ve done twice in a row … we’ve been very fortunate.”
