Skyler Bollinger (with "Y" jersey and shades) will lead the Yorkville girls attack at Palatine
In the NCAA ranks, this will be the first weekend that invitationals will count toward their "countable season". The countable season basically means results will count toward at-large consideration into the NCAA Championships. The IHSA does not have this (perhaps they should and that is a discussion for another day) but the state and national pundits and experts will be talking about this meet for a long time. The Nike Cross Nationals committee will be watching this high octane invite because of the overall depth that it will feature as several teams from out of state vye for top marks. But in the same breath, the countable season here will be in the mind state of the team (s) that can get out alive and clutch one of the five varsity team trophies.
The climes are expected to be beautiful leading up to Saturday. On Friday it will be a sunny 78*F and again 78*F sunny with light wind at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve. The mercury has been in the upper 60s to the mid- 70’s for the past 10 days or so in the Chicago-land area. The athletes have been acclimated for the ripe temperatures.
Meet schedule-
Boys Frosh Race: 9:00a- 2.5 miles
Girls Frosh Race: 9:25a- 2.5 miles
Boys Soph Race: 9:50a- 3.0 miles
Girls Varsity Race: 10:20a- 3.0 miles
Boys Varsity Race: 10:50a- 3.0 miles
Girls Junior Race: 11:20a- 3.0 miles
Boys Junior Race: 11:50a- 3.0 miles
Awards: 12:20p
#palmoc14 = Palatine Meet of Champions 2014.. follow along on twitter this Saturday at @ilptt
Girls-
Key teams:
Class 3A- #4 Palatine, #5 Winnetka (New Trier), #10 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #11 Downers Grove North, #18 Barrington, #21 LaGrange (Lyons Twp.), #23 Cary-Grove, Libertyville
Class 2A- #1 Yorkville, #8 Crystal Lake Central
Out of towners- Centerville, Ohio- #1 in Ohio’s largest classification; Assumption, Kentucky- #2 in Kentucky’s largest classification; Valparaiso, Indiana- #11 in Indiana (one class system)
-Defending champion Palatine won this meet with an asterisk last year only because a few naysayers wanted to discredit the Lady Pirates' victory due to Louisville Assumption, KY not being at full strength. Regardless of whether the Kentucky state champions were short-handed or not it would have been hard to overcome a 13-second scoring split that Palatine produced.
This year’s Rockets team will not have four year stalwarts Emily Bean, Katherine Receveur, Kate Crawford, and Jessica Byrd. They have all graduated and moved on to college. Head Coach Barry Haworth has built a dynasty and already reloaded. Led by junior Sarah Crawford’s second place finish at last weekend’s mega Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational, Assumption beat rival and #1 Sacred Heart of Louisville 50-51. The impressive victory served notice that host Palatine will need junior Kelly O’Brien and the rest of the crew to step their game up even more if they intend on retaining their meet title.
Back here stateside several teams besides Palatine who will be licking their chops are Yorkville, New Trier, Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Downers Grove North.
Yorkville is the top team in the state’s 2A division and they are locked and loaded with junior Skyler Bollinger leading the charge. The Lady Foxes will have junior Summer Pierson back in the lineup after missing the entire 2013 season due to injury. The key for Yorkville’s success will be packing up and maintaining a considerable earshot of the front running Bollinger. That did not happen last year and the team finished sixth in the process. This will also be the ultimate test for the Lady Foxes who will be defending their state title for a fourth time on November 8.
New Trier has been laying in the weeds so far this season in their three invites. The Trevians produced 6th, 3rd, and 1st placements. The team has steadily improved as Coach John Burnside said it would. Senior leader Mimi Smith continues to truck along and her followers have been complementary in their roles. The scoring split has bounced from 1:22, 0:58, and 1:18. If the group can maintain a 1:00-1:10 range they will have a great chance of being among the top three teams. Keep in mind that New Trier has a large team and they usually split groups up for weekend invites. Last year the “A” team ran at Oak Park-River Forest. That should change this time around. Book PALATINE.
The Downers Grove North rebuilding project has impressed so far this season. The Trojans broke off the tough Richard Spring Invite competition last weekend in Peoria for a third place finish. Sophomore Emma Moravic led the way with a 16th place finish and her mates closed the scoring 36 seconds later.
Wheaton-Warrenville South Head Man Rob Harvey doesn’t like to talk about his young talented corps nor does he make predictions. But his charges have quietly competed well. The goal at Palatine will be to complete the maturation process. Sophomore Sara Atkins continues to lead a youthful group vying for November honors.
Junior Lainey Studebaker is the ace of the #1 Centerville, Ohio ranked team. Studebaker is one of the toughest middle-distance runners in her state. She has a personal best of 4:58.88 for 1600m and ran on her team’s 4x8 that ran 9:11 last spring. Studebaker placed fourth at Palatine last year and will be expected to move up as well. The Elks took the third place trophy in 2013.
The individual race should be another quality affair despite last year’s winner Whitney O’Bryan of Daviess County, KY having graduated and moving on to the University of Kentucky. Buffalo Grove junior Kaitlyn Ko established herself as a premier runner here last year with a strong runner-up finish. However, so far this season Ko hasn’t been the same since missing the entire track season with an injury. But Skyler Bollinger has looked like her old self of two years ago. Bollinger led a portion of the race last season before slipping to third in the final mile. The host school Palatine should have several candidates vying for top honors in senior Amy Kieliszewski and of course Kelly O’Brien. But don’t forget that senior Kara Burton was the team leader one season ago. The diversified athlete in the field is Cary-Grove senior Morgan Schulz. The sprinter/hurdler/middle-distance runner has taken on the longest of distance running in high school with tremendous success. Last week at the Warren Invitational, Schulz ran to a personal best 17:33. She will be a contender for top honors on Saturday. Don’t forget about Mimi Smith of course. The defending state champion has only won one race this season and that was at the low-key Libertyville Invitational. There is nothing wrong with Smith. It is a matter of time before the warm stove becomes a blazing hot countertop.
Jesse Reiser (Sr., McHenry) will be on a rampage this Saturday
Boys-
Key teams:
Class 3A- #4 Wilmette (Loyola Academy), #6 Winnetka (New Trier), #8 Chicago (St. Ignatius), #10 Arlington Heights (Hersey), #11 Elmhurst (York), #18 Chicago Jones Prep, #21 Barrington, #22 Plainfield South, McHenry, Mt. Prospect (Prospect), Palatine, Lake Zurich
Class 2A- #1 Yorkville, #5 Crystal Lake (Prairie Ridge), #7 Crystal Lake Central.
Out of towners- Centerville, Ohio- #16 in Division 1 (largest classification); St. Louis University- #1 in Missouri’s largest classification; Louisville (St. Xavier)- #2 in Kentucky’s largest classification
-By the time the boys line up for their race at 10:50am the pre-meet hype should be at a fever pitch. Loyola Academy is one of the favored teams in the massive field. The Ramblers are itching to improve on the 11th place finish that head coach Dan Seeberg called an “embarrassment.” The 2014 Ramblers crew is far from being an embarrassment after racking up a third place finish at last weekend’s Richard Spring Invitational. Coach Seeberg of course wants his team to be in a position to run well this weekend. “We have been a little banged up as a team,” sounding a bit cautiously optimistic was Seeberg. “We didn't run sophomore Andy Niewiarowski last Saturday because of a very similar injury [that senior Christian Swenson had]. He has been running top 5 in practice all season. He'll be back Saturday, but like Christian, a little behind in fitness… We are not downplaying the meet, but we are trying to manage expectations and keep all focused on simply progressing.”
Neighboring New Trier is in the same boat with injuries to key personnel getting back on track. “Luke Duros (Sr.) is 100% and racing varsity, Om Kanwar (Sr.) is running the JV race (still not in shape), Tarel Afifi (Sr.) is not ready to race (he may run at our quad against Maine South on Tuesday to bust the rust),” said coach Dave Wisner of the extensive team rehab report. “We still have a very good Top 7 for Saturday.”
York has been another story during their early season. So far this season the scouting report on the Dukes has been true. They are not a top five team in the state of Illinois much less a state trophy contending team. Last week at Richard Spring, the Dukesters took home a fifth place finish- incredibly far behind the winner Orland Park Sandburg. York won here convincing but then the wheels fell on the Dukes train with sickness and other issues. Can a reversal of fortunes be in store at the meet that they have historically dominated? Stay tuned on Saturday.
“We're excited about Palatine. We think we are a surprise team and a good show there will get people to notice,” said head man Ed Ernst of St. Ignatius almost a week ahead of the prestigious Palatine Invite. St. Ignatius has a fine team and getting inside the top five overall finishers would indeed get followers on the bandwagon. But if the team finishes fifth again would it be noticeable? This year’s field is just about the same as last year in terms of star power aside from defending champion York a little down. Junior Dan Santino is the team’s ace and will have a strong cast of teammates to back his cause.
2A #1 Yorkville will get another opportunity to show off. Last year the Foxes did not run the “A” team and the result was a 24th place finish out of 30 teams. Expect a different result this time around if the Hoffert twins compete.
St. Xavier placed second last year here. Kentucky’s second best team is good enough to place second again or even win it. The Tigers are a good team who competes against the best teams all over the country. Look for a split under 45 seconds to complete their mission.
The individual race would be one for the ages if all the stars align properly. McHenry senior Jesse Reiser is the truth. The state’s #1 runner and one of the very best in the United States will be out for vengeance after losing the race that he had sewed up. Alex Bashqawi of York surged late in the final kilometer to win by a second. But that was last year. The plan of attack for Reiser will be similar to the one that he deploys ever race. “Winning is always my goal, “Reiser simply stated. “I don’t like to set a time because depending on the weather and how the course is… you never know it’s going to be out there.” Senior twin duo Jake and Luke Hoffert plan of attack will be sandwiching themselves between Reiser and making his life feel a peanut butter and jelly affair. All three runners have similar abilities with speed, strength, and stamina. May the best teenager win on Saturday… keep an eye out on for Graham Brown (Sr., Palatine) who didn’t have his best race last weekend at the Richard Spring Invitational. Class A’s top runner Jon Davis is in the field. The junior from Oakwood proved that he can hold his own against the big dogs. He ran a personal best 14:41 last weekend in Peoria and took fourth in the individual standings. Matt Pereira (So., Lake Zurich) is on his way to stardom. He ran 14:46 last weekend in Peoria. Matthew Hennessey (Sr., St. Louis University HS) is one kid you must keep an eye out for. David Rodriguez (Sr., Hersey) is ready for the next level of stardom. He ran a personal best 14:34 last weekend in Peoria. Also York senior Matt Plowman, Maine South’s Henry Mierzwa (Sr.), Stevenson’s Sam Oh (Sr.), and St. Xavier, KY junior Spencer Hayden are key figures to watch out for.