Gardner South Wilmington sophomore Daly Galloway places 3rd at the prestigious Palatine Invite (Colin Boyle photo)
Girls-
1) Urbana (University)-The Illineks had a wake-up call at the Spartan Classic finishing third with 78 points. Not just Decatur St. Teresa but St. Joe Ogden beat them at the Spartan Classic. Anne Marie Michael and Arielle Summit both looked good going 2-3 overall in the race, but the bulldog and Spartan top four packs stole the show this race. Urbana takes a bi-week break in terms of racing.
2) Decatur (St. Teresa)-Is this the coming of the destined St. Teresa dominance that we see every year? Well…almost. A strong pack of four came in the top 12 of the race led by none other than Lauren Evelti at the Spartan Classic. But alas, these efforts were not enough to overcome the meet hosts, for they were beat 66-60.
3) Petersburg (Porta)-Won the Springfield invite over ranked 2A Chatham Glenwood, which really testifies to their potential to trophy as a team. Next the Lady Jays run the Jacksonville Invite on Saturday.
4) Rock Island (Alleman)-Finished third at the Rock Island Invite behind Wethersfield. The pioneers have their work cut out for them if they want to trophy. Next they go over to Peoria High for that much more competition.
5) Rochester-In a crowd of mostly 2A teams, the Rockets come out third at Springfield behind Chatham-Glenwood and Porta. They will run the Jacksonville Invite.
6) Freeburg-Easily won their home meet. For a little more of a challenge from some of the bigger schools, they race at Triad on Wednesday.
7) St. Joseph (Ogden)-Looks like St. Joseph was rather underestimated being ranked 7th. The Spartans came through at their own classic and came through with 60 points to win the race. This huge victory could not have been pulled without team x-factor Abby Gawthorp. Next they run at the Hoopston Area Meet on Wednesday.
8) Kewanee (Wethersfield)-Now we are seeing the trophy potential that we hyphed about preseason. The Flying Geese finish second at the Rock Island Invite over Alleman 88-85, behind only Bettendorf from Iowa. Next we see them at the Elmwood Invite.
9) Tolono (Unity)-The girls did not run at Spartan Classic (as they operate on a different schedule than the boys). We will see the Rockets race soon at the Robinson Invite Thursday.
10) Winnebago- Finished fourth in their own Roger Schmidt Invite, but it appears as though they sat out their varsity. Next week we will may see the Indians run their top runners at Freeport.
11) Eureka-Eureka places fourth at East Peoria behind mostly 2A teams such as a highly ranked Dunlap team. Next the Hornettes will be at the Elmwood Invite.
12) Seneca-Won the Hersecher Invite. Next they race at the Lasalle Invite this Saturday.
13) Monmouth-Roseville-The Titans won their home invitational 28-31 over Macomb. The Titans run at Elmwood this Saturday.
14) Shelbyville-Their top three looked really strong at the Spartan Classic all finishing in the top 15. However, the rams were hurt by gaps between the fourth and fifth runner, finishing fifth as a team behind a very well-rebounding Monticello squad. Shelbyville will not race this week.
15) Herrin-Finished fourth at the West Frankfort Invite. They run Thursday at Chester then against Carterville on their home turf Saturday.
16) Carlinville-Finished 7th at the Springfield invite running some of their talent in the Fr/So race. We will catch them among quite a few 1A teams at Jacksonville this Saturday.
17) Carterville-Finished second at the West Frankfort Invite to 2A Benton. Next they host their own invite Saturday.
18) Illinois Valley Central-At the Kewanee Invite, thanks to the low points scored by Demi Johnson, who won the individual race, IVC won the girls varsity race. After a great race, the Gray Ghosts take the week off of racing.
19) Elmwood-DNR. The Lady Trojans host their own invite Saturday
20) Macomb-Took second at the Monmouth invite only 3 points behind the meet hosts. They host their own Invite Tuesday then race at Elmwood on Saturday.
Boys-
1) Elmwood- DNR. The Trojans host their own Invite Saturday
2) Rockford (Christian)-As dangerous as RC was looking, after this weekend at the ACC Charger classic, the Royal Lions look that much more dangerous. Hats out to Nick Monkemeyer who won the meet in just under 15:00, a second man Steven Reierson who is now under 16:00, and finally their fifth man who went 16:24. And did I mention their sixth and seventh runners who are right with the top five. RC this week takes a bi-week.
3) Johnsburg- Johnsburg showed a lot of depth at the Grant Invite. Overall a 25 second 1-4 split at that race, making for a fifth place finish due to a fifth man gap that easily could have been fixed by Tim Bertulis who ran well at the Fr/So race. Next the Skyhawks go to the Pat Hartland Invite.
4) Tolono (Unity)-Looks like Unity’s fifth man troubles are over, which we saw from their second place finish at the Spartan classic, 67-70 over Shelbyville. There’s still a bit of a gap, but that’s OK when you have your top 4 in the top 20, including Warnes who finished second overall in the race. They will run next at Robinson this Thursday.
5) Monticello-Top Central Illinois teams are really strong this year in their top four runners, and Monticello’s top four outshined all others at the Spartan Classic, with all of them finishing within 20 seconds of Norvell in the top ten. This resulted in a 50 point victory for the Sages. They will run an 8-team race at home this Thursday.
6) Shelbyville-The battle between them and Unity continues as the rams finish third at the Spartan Classic. Although the points did not work out quite in their favor this meet, you could definitely imagine a meet (such as state) where it would. Skinner is a legitimate front man finishing fourth overall in the race, and at this point of the season, the fifth man tides seems to have turned for Shelbyville as their gap have considerably lessened. This week they lay low and take a bi-week.
7) Winnebago- Placed second in their home Roger Schmidt Invite behind Newman, but without Ambrose. With him plugged in with Smith (as he usually is) they probably would have won. Next they run at the Freeport Invite.
8) St. Joseph Ogden-Finished fourth at the Spartan Classic. And yes, they do have Nick Poff back and he’s already getting into good form, but they still don’t have Knipfer. Watch for this team now to really get dangerous at this later point of the season as the Spartans get their pieces together. They run Wednesday at the Hoopston Area.
9) Freeburg-Won their own invite with Kraus back so be on the lookout for the midgets to make some noise. They race Wednesday at Triad
10) Sterling (Newman Catholic)-Really looking good at the Roger Schmidt invite as they emerge clear victors of the meet over Winnebago and most importantly are doing very well with working out their fifth man gaps. They run their Conference race on Tuesday.
11) Pleasant Plains-Finishes 8th as a team at Springfield, led by Tyler Johnson digging deep with a time of 15:47. We will see the Cardinals next at Jacksonville.
12) Rochester-Place 9th at Springfield 22 points behind their 1A competitors Pleasant Plains. Michael Gleason is getting into good form with his time of 15:53. They will race against very familiar competition over at Jacksonville.
13) Tremont-With a nice 2-5 pack behind Pfenderer, the Turks finished sixth in the Spartan classic. We will see them next at Detweiller for none other than the Peoria HS Invite.
14) Westmont-Their team is shaping up nicely as they finished fourth in the blue race. They run next the Lisle Invite.
15) El-Paso Gridley-EPG finishes eighth in the very deep Spartan Classic Invite. Layden and Colby take 16th and 19th overall in the race, making for some low points to give the Titans an edge. They host their own invite Wednesday and then run the Delevan invite on Saturday.
16) Carlinville-Ran most of their team at the Fr/So meet where they finished sixth behind mostly 2A squads. Next they go to Jacksonville.
17) Urbana (University)-U High is showing remarkably consistency in depth and “bunched up” would be the right way to describe this team right now. However, they cannot be too “bunched up” in a sectional race that looks to maybe be more rewarding to a team with a strong front runner (like PBL or Carlinville). But we will see how this pans out soon enough. The Illineks take this week off.
18) Paxton Buckley-Loda-Just when you thought the PBL was falling back, the panthers come through with a very strong race at the Spartan Classic, finishing fifth over Tremont who one wouldn’t have expected them beating. Not only was it because of Porter’s third place hustle, but also the whole team clicking and each person running a better race. Don’t forget this race as they probably will be running less rested this week as PBL does their well-known multi-race week. They run a meet at Rantoul Tuesday, a meet at Monticello Thursday, and finally their Twin Valley conference meet Saturday.
19) Rock Falls-The Rockets, as usual, have no shortage of gaps in their team, but one can argue that in their case, gaps can be a good thing. It definitely speaks well of Brayden Hemblen who finished third in the individual race only 16 seconds behind 2A star Eryk Yunk. This effort plus others carries the team to a seventh team placing behind all 2A teams. They next run the Freeport Invite.
20) Nashville-Besides the Nashville invite Monday which they won, the Hornets did not race this week. They run Thursday over at Chester.