There should be an investigation as to why Lake Park High School has not been the host of a state sectional. “We have hosted regionals several times and we have put in the bid to host sectionals every year,” said former Lake Park girls head coach Harvey Braus who was out at the championship course on Wedneday. Coach Braus, now retired as a teacher, is an assistant coach with the Maine South girls’ team.
Meet schedule: Girls- 1pm; Boys- 2p
Location: Lake Park High School (East campus), 600 Medinah Rd; Roselle, IL
Key boy’s teams: #1 Elmhurst (York), #6 Chicago Lane Tech, #7 Winnetka (New Trier), #13 Park Ridge (Maine South), #17 Wilmette (Loyola Academy), #18 Chicago (St. Ignatius), #23 Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West), Roselle (Lake Park).
Meet outlook:
In the past this meet has been called “the sectional of death” when it was held on the campus of Niles West High School. The new venue will not alleviate what many people consider as one of the most competitive sectionals in the entire state. It is going to be a very tough affair all the way around.
For starters, the pre-eminent favorite is York. The #1 Dukes have basically steamrolled their way through the season on the strength of the state’s top foursome of Alex Bashqawi (Sr.), Kyle Mattes (Sr.), Nathan Mroz (Sr.), and Matt Plowman (Jr.). Bashqawi has been the front man in the season’s biggest races but any one of the four gentlemen can step up and lead the team. This four man attack recently had a 0:00 split at last weekend’s Fenwick Regional. If this happens again it will be a blowout for the Dukesters.
“The best of the rest” may be more evenly matched than people will give credence to. Lane Tech and New Trier come into the affair with a superior ranking based on their regular season performances but they are not that far removed from some of the other teams in the field. Lane’s strength has been their scoring pack. The Indians have sacrificed sending one or two of its top guys in senior Jon Vara and junior Pavlo Hutsalyuk out as individual mavericks. Instead the force has been as a united force yielding scoring splits from 10-39 seconds in all of the meets. Add in seniors Oswaldo Lorenzana, David Schmieg, and junior Christian Badillo and the gumbo pot has produced a successful brew.
The Trevians have enjoyed another strong season on the backs of senior leaders Chase Silverman, Connor Trapp, and Peter Cotsirilos. Cotsirilos did not run at the regional round. Hopefully, he will be ready and suited up for Saturday. New Trier as a whole is a very smart and well coached team led by Dave Wisner who consistently has gotten his squads in position to compete in the biggest meets of the season. The key for the Trevians is starting fast and controlled on a narrow path course and finishing well.
St. Ignatius did not have their best race of the year at regionals partially because top runner sophomore Daniel Santino did not run well as he is capable of. Don’t expect him to have to two sub-par races again. The Wolfpack was also without junior Andy Weber. He sat out of last weekend’s affair per coach Ed Ernst’s orders. He should be back in the lineup on Saturday and the team should be fine if the team pack can stay in order.
Maine South came to life at the Whitney Young Regional with Jack Carpenter (Sr.) leading the way with a win. Junior Henry Mierzwa stepped up big by running with Carpenter for two miles. In the process he was able to drag his teammates with him and to a season best performance overall.
Keep an eye on a sneaky good team like Loyola Academy. The Ramblers don’t have a superstar team but they do have a flock of quality runners who can step up. Juniors Jack Carroll and Christian Swenson are the key runners that the team will be depending on.
The best of the lot will be host Lake Park with senior Jeremy Lozano leading an experienced group on their home course for the final time. The Lancers will be pumped on Saturday to prove the naysayers wrong. Glenbard West will look to run well behind the leadership of junior Paul Christian. This team was one of the top teams in pre-season talk. Now, it’s time for the Hilltoppers to step up their game.
Girls-
Key teams: #3 Winnetka (New Trier), #4 Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West), #19 Chicago (St. Ignatius), #20 Wilmette (Loyola Academy), #21 Oak Park-River Forest, Park Ridge (Maine South), Evanston, Chicago Lane Tech, Chicago Northside Prep.
Outlook:
The intriguing battle will undoubtedly be New Trier vs. Glenbard West and Madeline Perez (Sr.) vs. Mimi Smith (Jr.). This will be the major storyline and a preview for what may happen next week at state.
New Trier reloaded well in light of some hefty graduation including wonder twins Courtney and Jessica Ackerman. This team is now in the trusty hands of Mimi Smith and she has done a marvelous job in running it. Smith is one of the best runners in the state who will run as a maverick up front against whoever decides to go with her. So don’t pay attention to the scoring split. What is more important is how the Lady Trevians run 2-5. The group ran 28 seconds at the Niles West Regional. They may get away with this type of personality split again on Saturday if the pack is up front.
Madeline Perez returned several weeks ago from a season long layoff and she has injected new energy into her team. The Hilltoppers are in many team’s betting pool and it would not be a good thing to bet against Madeline and company. In Perez’s absence, the team competed will with the likes of Lisa Luczak (Jr.), Grace Rogers (So.), and of course Lindsay Graham (So.) working as the five star general. But the moment of truth has come and it will be important for this team to compete well against a true trophy contender.
How will St. Ignatius compete against a stout field? They may not be of Glenbard West and New Trier’s level but the Wolfpack is certainly on par with Loyola Academy and OPRF. St. Ignatius will have a strong junior trio led by Alex Jakubowski and followed by Jill Porretta and Olivia Meyer. This group is very strong as the eight second gap between them at regionals suggest. Loyola will look to rebound after being surprised by Evanston at the Niles West Regional. The big issue was the massive two-minute scoring split from Kathryn House (So.) to Samantha Evans (Sr.). It will be hard to stamp their tickets to Peoria if they don’t improve in this area. This is the same for Maine South. Emily Leonard (Sr.) is a virtual lock to compete at Detweiller Park next weekend but her Hawk teammates are not. They will need to improve their pack running and closing finishes to advance. Lane Tech, Evanston, and Northside Prep are outsiders with an opportunity to advance to state if they run the races of their lives.
Oak Park seems to be the biggest mystery here after exploding earlier in the season on the rise of freshman Mary Blankemeier. However, since the midway point in the season, Blankemeier and the Huskies have hit sort of a skid row. In other words, this team has not performed up to top ten standards. They will need to tighten up their pack running and Blankemeier will need to get up front and run with the likes of Perez, Smith, Luczak, Leonard, Graham, and Olivia Ryan (Jr.) of Oak Park (Fenwick).