Class A Week #2 Team Recaps

Anna Sophia Keller was a big contributor to the week #2 recaps

Girls-
1) Decatur (St. Teresa)-Finished fifth in the 2A/3A heavy Crystal Lake South Invite. The team’s 1-4 split is about 45 seconds with their fifth trailing 47 seconds behind. Keep an eye on the Bulldogs as they show how their talent compares to 1A talent at the First to Finish Invitational.

2) Freeburg-Finished 6th at the very competitive Granite City Invite behind all 2A/3A teams. Next the Lady Midgets will showcase themselves over at First to Finish.

3) Rochester-The Rockets showed up with a really impressive pack at their own invite, although Porta stole the show and they finished second 54-43 points. Expect them to turn their gears up for the very competitive First to Finish Invite.

4) Kewanee (Wethersfield)- Kirstie Ramsey broke the Rockridge Rocket Booster (9/4) Invite in 20:03. The Flying Geese went on to take four of the top five spots in scoring 25 points for the easy win. Annawan will next see action at FTTF.

5) Urbana (University)-The depth of these Illineks really showed as they captured the Cowchip Classic with their top six all in top three spots in each of their flights. And let’s also not forget about their solid run over at Kickapoo. They will run at a Tri-Valley meet on Wednesday and then First to Finish Saturday.

6) Tolono (Unity)-Their front runner presence does not disappoint as their second and third really stood out in each of their flights. We are also seeing slow but steady improvement in their back runners from Kickapoo to Cowchip. We will see if this trend continues over at PBL this Saturday.

7) Petersburg (Porta)-Forget about a 1-2 punch. The Lady Jays have a 1-2-3 punch with Anna Tamborski finishing 3rd place individually behind the Brauers twins Adrienne and Maria, resulting in an unchallenged first place finish. More about this team will unfold as they host their own invite this Saturday.

8) St. Joseph-Ogden-The Spartans showcased their depth at Kickapoo Kickoff, which they won at, following up with a nice race over at Chrisman. We will find them next week both at an Oakwood meet this Wednesday as well as the PBL Invite.

9) Eureka-Ran a low key meet at Washington last Thursday. The Hornettes will be on the radar over at First to Finish.

10) Carterville-Finished second in the Murphysboro invite behind 2A Notre Dame. They will run next Saturday at FTTF.

11) Aurora (Central Catholic)-Nice individual effort at ICOPS by Karina Liz (Jr.), as well as a 2-5 pack that had a 1:25 split. The Chargers should be a top team at FTTF this Saturday.

12) Effingham (St. Anthony)-The bulldogs seem a little worn out over at Chrisman...except for ASK, who won the meet by almost a minute. This Saturday they will run the Shelbyville Trail Classic.

13) Elmwood-The Trojans had a 1:14 1-4 split at the Canton Invite, with their fifth 1:12 behind. They will be one of the many teams over at First to Finish.

14) Monticello-The Sages held their own over at Cowchip, with their depth problems not as much of an issue as we thought. We will see how they score more conventionally this Saturday at the FTTF.

15) Litchfield-Did not compete last week. The Panthers are at the Petersburg-Porta Invitational on Saturday.

16) Herrin-The Tigers finished fourth in the Murphysboro Invite, a big meet that allowed their top two to really be crucial factors in the scoring. Next they will host their own invite.

17) Ottawa (Marquette)-Ran at the Seneca Invite. We will find the Lady Crusaders next back over at Seneca Tuesday for another race and then at Peoria for the First to Finish Invite.

18) Liberty-Had an unusually far back runner so the Eagles probably sat somebody out. They will be over at the Petersburg Invite this Saturday.

19) Macomb-Quite a spread out pack but overall nice fifth place race over at the Canton Invite. They will be over at First to Finish.

20) Kankakee-Ran at the Irish Conditioner and the Seneca Invite. Next up for the Irish is the Paxton Invite.

Boys-
1) Elmwood-Impressive individual efforts by their top three in varsity, carrying the Trojans for a 2nd place finish behind 2A Limestone. They additionally ran a 23 point dominating Fresh/Soph team. All eyes will be on them over at First to Finish.

2) Tolono (Unity)-Had a very nice group five runners finish over at Chrisman Cowchip. But alas nobody finished for the fourth flight, so their team standing at that race was not too great. However, they dominated Kickapoo Kickoff with a 1:01 split behind Warnes, which signifies that the Rockets have what it takes to trophy. They will show up next over at the PBL Invite this Saturday.

3) Monticello-Over at the Cowchip Classic, the Sages top seven finished within the top three at each of their flights, making the Sages clear winners. If this does not signify them as top contenders over at state, maybe their upcoming First to Finish race will.

4) Rockford (Christian)-Once again the Royal Lions proved that they are on top of the food chain in their area by winning the Oregon Invite. Monkemeyer won the race on the course with a time of 16:19 and a pack of six finishes a minute behind him with a 40 second split. Their depth will really be put to the test over at First to Finish.

5) Shelbyville-Finished second at Charleston to a very deep Mahomet team. But do not let Mahomet’s dominance fool you. Their top 4 all stayed within 15 seconds of Skinner, and their fifth man will not be a gap that hurts them too much. Watch for the Rams as they host their own invite this Saturday.

6) St. Joseph (Ogden)-The Spartans showed up nicely at Cowchip and Kickapoo. Their top three ran under 17 minutes and Phillips was a wonderful surprise for their runner in the sixth flight. We will find them next week both at an Oakwood meet this Wednesday as well as the PBL Invite.

7) Winnebago-Finished third over at the Oregon open behind Rockford Christian and Newman. We will see how the Indians race next over at First to Finish.

8) Pleasant Plains-Tyler Johnson looks to be a very strong front runner this year as the individual champion of the Rochester Invite. And their depth was solid enough to nip Tremont for third place.

9) Rochester-Their numbers may be few but their talent is great, with two runners within 30 seconds of Gleason, taking second at their own invite only behind 2A Taylorville. The Rockets could be a major surprise factor at First to Finish this Saturday.

10) Freeburg-The Midgets are up to the exact same pack running that they’ve done last year; they posted a 32 second top five split at Granite City, placing sixth at the meet. We will see how this pack stands against 1A competition over at First to Finish.

11) Mt. Zion-Finished sixth in the 2A-heavy Charleston Invite. The Braves are clearly right now at the conditioning phase of this season and one should expect a better team over at First to Finish.

12) Sterling (Newman Catholic)-Ahh... so now we see a top four that went 16:41-17:23 over at the Oregon course. While they upset Winnebago, their fifth man was too far back to beat Rockford Christian. We will see the comets next back at Oregon Wednesday then over at Princeton Saturday.

13) Paxton (Buckley-Loda)-Also ran nicely at Chrisman, and we will see how well the Panthers will fare in their own PBL classic, as well as a meet in Tri-Valley Wednesday.

14) Tremont-The Turks ran very impressive as a pack over at Rochester, finishing only four points behind Pleasant Plains with only one runner (Pfenderer) just barely in the top ten. We will see them among the big swarm of teams at First to Finish.

15) Rock Falls-Braydon and Seth ran as strong as ever going 16:20 and 16:29 at Oregon, but their 3-5 were far back in the 19’s. They will run today over at Ottawa then race on Saturday over at Princeton.

16) Eureka-Ran a low key meet at Washington last Thursday. The Hornettes will be on the radar over at First to Finish.

17) Beecher-Raced at Kankakee and Seneca. The Bobcats will be on high profile at First to Finish.

18) Olney-Ran over at Lawrenceville. We will see the Tigers over at First to Finish.

19) Carlinville-The Caveliers are living up to my preseason hype; they finished fifth at the Rochester invite behind Tremont. Once Jason gets better adjusted to 3 miles and runs with his brother Corey, this will be a team that could surprise many. The fact that they run at First to Finish makes this team all the more interesting to observe this week.

20) Nashville-Finished 8th over at the Murphysboro invite (probably sat people out or conditioned through the race). The Hornets will next race at West Frankfort this Thursday.