The boys' varsity distance races at Proviso West High School this weekend look to be the deepest races so far this indoor season. Some runners are making their large invitational debut while some others are looking to improve on the top times in the state so far this season. Whatever the motivations for these runners are in Hillside this Saturday, The Proviso West 50th Annual Boys Invitational will be one of the most exciting meets until conference championship week in March.
MEET INFO... section one 3200m will be run prior to opening ceremonies
3200m-
Meet Record: 9:06.2h by Tom Marino (Proviso West) 1975
Key entrants: Ryan Clevenger (Downers Grove North), Irvin Loud (Oak Park-River Forest), Michael Widmann (Naperville Neuqua Valley), Matt Plowman (Elmhurst York), Alec Danner (LaGrange Lyons Township), Josh Feldman (Hinsdale Central), Mike Anderson (Prospect), Sam Wischnewsky (Chicago Whitney Young), Scott Hicks (Naperville Central)
Outlook: We have already seen a handful of quick 3200s, most notably Zach Dale's 9:14.70 at Proviso West this past weekend. That is a tough mark to pass this early in the year, but this weekend's affair promises to be very competitive and we may have several runners under 9:20. Ryan Clevenger makes his 2015 distance debut and has the fastest seed time in this race. Breakout sophomore Irwin Loud will look to improve on his 9:36 that he ran last week (just two seconds off his best time from ALL of last year). Matt Plowman is entered in this race as well as, suggesting he may be looking to test himself across races. A few other all-state cross country runners are entered in this race, namely Josh Feldman and Michael Widmann. Several of these runners may be looking to chase Dale's statewide top time, but even if his 9:14 is safe after this weekend, the leaderboards will almost surely be dominated by times from this race.
Ty Moss is the "Man" when comes to middle-distance running
600m-
Meet Record: 1:21.9h by Tim Hobbs (Elmhurst York) 2001
Key entrants: Ty Moss (Naperville Neuqua Valley), Alex Lima (LaGrange Lyons Twp.), Ben Gawthop (Lyons Twp.)
Outlook by Tony Jones: In high school this event is generally run and dominated by traditional middle-distance runners. Traditional middle-distance runners in high school are typically of the 800/mile types not the 400/800 variety…. Ty Moss has opted to defend his title here and it should be an interesting one. Moss is the state's middle-distance king that everyone has come to love. Aside from anchoring his team to a prestigious 4x8 relay state title last May, he burned the track for 1:50.52 last summer. Moss also has tremendous speed as part of his arsenal and it will be on display this Saturday. Alex Lima has been a solid contributor for his Lions team for all four years of high school. Lima is a talented veteran in his own right and he will not lay down for no one. So it will be a must see event in this solid field.
800m-
Meet Record: 1:53.7 by Marius Bakken and Tim Hobbs (Elmhurst York) 1996 & 2001
Key entrants: Jack Diamond (Downers Grove North), Konrad Eirling (Barrington), Kevin Ma (Chicago Whitney Young), Konrad Eirling (Barrington), Nathan Dale (Elmhurst York), Chris Stanley (Cahokia)
Outlook: The tough four lap race is filled with strong contributors to state-contending 4x800 programs. In particular, Nathan Dale, Jack Diamond and Konrad Eiring are entered in this race. So is Kevin Ma, who has the third fastest AAA time in Illinois this year. This race is a little thin since a lot of strong 800 meter talent is entered in the 600 meter run this weekend (Alex Lima and Ty Moss), but the competition will not be compromised and like the Mile and 3200, this race provides an excellent opportunity to drop a handful of season bests early in the 2015 campaign.
Matt Plowman will try to exercise some of the 4:09 demons from a year ago
The Mile-
Meet Record: 4:16.2 by Jim White (Elmhurst York) 1985
Key entrants: Pavlo Hutsalyuk (Chicago Lane Tech), Matt Plowman (Elmhurst York), Charlie Kern Jr. (Elmhurst York), Keduse Worku (Chicago Whitney Young), Irvin Loud (Oak Park-River Forest), Blake Evertsen (Hinsdale Central), Connor Madell (Lyons Twp.), Christian Badillo (Chicago Lane Tech), Zach Christensen (Downers Grove North)
Outlook: This race is stacked from top to bottom. York has entered Matt Plowman and Charlie Kern, who are respectively the top returning miler and top distance frosh in the state. Pavlo Hutsalyuk enters with the fastest seed time (4:20). The sophomore class of 2017 is especially well-represented: Keduse Worku, Blake Evertsen and Irwin Loud are all entered. Evertsen in particular has the 2nd best 3200 time in the state and will likely be gunning for a good Mile time to complement that.
This race is likely the deepest distance race of the indoor season thus far; however, remember that this is still indoor and state is still more than three months away. Different runners have different goals in mind for this meet; runners like Plowman and Loud are entered in more than one race and are likely looking to test their strength over multiple races. Nonetheless, this meet will be incredibly exciting and is just one of many showdowns to come this 2015 track season.