Senior Allison Van Kley finishes 11th to lead Chesterton girls cross country team to third-place finish at regional at Sunset Hill Farm

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The top 20 finishers at sectional cross country meets are given a ribbon in an award ceremony. Chesterton senior Allison Van Kley was handed the fourth ribbon of her career Saturday after leading the Trojans to a third-place finish at Sunset Hill Farm.
A long strider with a graceful gait, Van Kley placed 11th and was clocked in 20:03.0, improving her sectional place and time for the third consecutive year in a race won by Merrillville’s Amity Lauzon in 19:02.8.
As a freshman, Van Kley earned a 20th-place ribbon and ran a 20:54, then was 18th with a 20:52.4, and then last season finished 17th with a time of 20:28.9.
Van Kley and sophomore Hannah Haring ran together Saturday until Van Kley tore down the home stretch, using the speed that made her a valuble member of Chesterton’s 4x400 and 4x800 relays at various points in her career until she missed the 2025 track season with an injury.
She’s back and better than ever as she showed with her drive to the finish line.
“Lactic acid kind of kicked in and I just went for it,” Van Kley said of her strong finish.
Haring placed right behind her in 12th, running a 20:05.4.
“She got me at the very end,” Haring said. “She has a really good kick.”
Sophomores Paige Clancy (20:30.1) and surging Natalie Williams (20:32.9) earned ribbons as well, finishing 18th and 19th. Senior Aubrey Bamber (20:40.0) placed 21st and was Chesterton’s fifth and final scoring runner. Junior Natascha Lepinasse ran a 21:09.0 and senior Lauren Kroft was clocked in 21:28.9.
Williams’ performance was particularly encouraging for the Trojans, who earned the third of five qualifying spots for this coming Saturday’s regional meet at New Prairie.
“She’s figuring out how to run to her potential,” Chesterton coach Lindsay Moskalick said. “She had a really strong track season, so the first coupple of races she was kind of learning and then in the conferende meet and the Highland Invite before that helped her to learn how to race and push through that threshold of pain, and it’s showing in her race performances now.”
Increased depth has the effect of pushing everyone in the lineup to better times.
Nobody had more of that than Morgan Township, which won the team title with 46 points. The point totals of the other four teams to qualify for the regional: Valparaiso 54, Chesterton 81, Portage 109 and Hobart 152.
The regional field is much stronger than the one the Trojans faced Saturday, and again only five schools advance to the next round.
“We’re going to get prepared for nest weekend and hopefully run our best race of the season, and then hopefully make it to state,” Van Kley said.
It will take nothing less than the team’s best effort to make it out.
Penn and Lake Central are expected to take the top two spots in New Prairie. If Morgan Township and Valpo finish ahead of the Trojans as they did Saturday, then Chesterton would have to beat out all the other teams with legitimate shots to qualify, including Munster, Crown Point, Portage and Goshen.
“They’re all learning and getting better and going for it, doing the best tehy can,” Moskalick said of her runners. “We’ve got nothing to lose. We’re going to go for it, see what we can do and see how we finish.”