Neuqua Valley is deep at virtually every position on the cross country course
Race times:
Boys- Varsity 11a, Frosh-Soph 11:40a, Open 12:20p
Ranked Teams:
3A: #1 Neuqua Valley, #4 Lake Zurich, #6 York, #9 Sandburg, #10 O'Fallon, #11 Hersey, #13 Loyola Academy, #15 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #17 St. Charles East, #19 Oswego, #20 Geneva, #21 Palatine
2A: #1 Mahomet-Seymour, #2 Normal University, #6 Chatham-Glenwood, #10 Hinsdale South, #15 Peoria Notre Dame, #23 Wheaton Academy
1A: #4 St. Joseph-Ogden, #6 Champaign (St. Thomas More), #10 Monticello
Neuqua Valley is still emerging into a great team-
What a difference a year makes.
Last year at this time the talk of the town was of then #1 Sandburg entering into the Richard Spring Invite and putting on a clinic. The Eagles did not disappoint in that "Goliath vs. Goliath" battle. The final result was a 51-81 drubbing over #2 Neuqua Valley.
This season the top team in everyone's mind are indeed the Wildcats of Naperville Neuqua Valley. Coach Paul Vandersteen has been as modest and low key as a great coach can be. "We will have [Matt] Milostan back," said Vandersteen in regard to adding back key missing pieces. [Scott] Anderson will most likely do a paced run in the Open race. [Danny] Winek still out with double sacral stress fracture."
In the latest national rankings, the #3 Neuqua Valley put a hurting on the competition at the Hornet-Devil Invitational. The Wildcats won by 44 points over Hinsdale Central scoring 36 pts with this volley of scoring and non scoring: 3+5+6+8+14 (19+24) 0:31 1-5 Split | 15:21 Avg. Remember they did not have Milostan, Anderson, or Winek. Senior Jake McNeaney held down the team's top spot at Hinsdale. Jake may stay in the top spot on Saturday but having some familiar faces along side him will be gratifying.
Lake Zurich has been laying in the weeds as they usually do around this time. Maybe the extra time was used to train and hone in this meet and the remainder of the season for senior Matt Pereira. Pereira has almost become a forgotten man after being sidelined most of the track season with injuries. His tough teammates are senior twins Brian and Kyle Griffith. The trio put a hurting on the competition last year once they got rolling. Things could happen again on Saturday.
York will make its invitational debut on the strength of Charlie Kern Jr. The junior star is poised to become the next breakaway phenom. His coach and dad Charlie Kern Sr. has not raced the pupil much over the past year whether on the track or grass. Instead he has worked on leg speed and other intangibles that have been foreign to traditional distance runners. Kern has run 1:54 for the 800m and he has tremendous closing speed. There are some who feel he needs to be a front runner from the gun. Maybe so. But for now getting his racing chops sharpened appears to be the best race plan.
Sandburg should be a top five overall despite losing a ton of talent to graduation. Now the Eagles will usher in junior Dylan Jacobs. He reportedly ran 14:19 several weeks ago at Lyons, but it was reported honestly by the Sandburg faithful as being a little short of three miles. Now, Jacobs will be judged on the course of all courses this weekend. If things go well and he produces anything near 14:19 then we may be looking at a state championship contender.
Mahomet-Seymour and Normal University will fight it out among the 2A entrants in the field. Of course they want to place well among the entire field. Mahomet placed 4th last year. Normal University will return to Detweiller a second week in a row. The Pioneers won the 2A division last weekend. But don't be surprised if Coach Lester Hampton holds back his troops. He does not like to race his team hard in back to back weeks. This could mean top runner Jack Franklin resting.
As far as the individual race is concerned, it should be a real good one. Kern, Pereira, Jacobs, and Irvin Loud are the candidates. Loud is now a senior at Oak Park-River Forest and should be ready to roll. After spending his summer in Japan training and working as a volunteer, Loud indicated that all systems are fine.