Heritage Park in Wheeling will be the scene for an exciting cross country invitational (Itai Epstein photo)
On the last weekend before the conference championship week kicks off, only a few competitive invitationals are on the docket. The Wheeling Invitational is one of them. In last year's affair, the state ranked Lake Zurich boys ran their "A" team and produced one of their best efforts of the season winning 57-101 over Highland Park.
Expect solid effort from many attendees-
The boys race will feature #4 Lake Zurich and #16 Highland Park. Both teams will load teams despite their conference and state series races looming. For Lake Zurich, they will look to the steady seniors Matt Pereira, Brian and Kyle Griffith. Brian has especially been on a roll this season winning the Peoria Richard Spring Invite and finishing second by less than an eyelash to York junior star Charlie Kern at the Palatine Invite. The Bears have seen some significant improvement at the #4 and #5 slots with juniors Pat Burns and Eric Metzger. The have dropped their personal bests to 15:18 and 15:44 respectively. This means they are closing in on the 1:00 scoring split and that will make them a definite state trophy contender. The goal of course is to run well, work on a few team items and get home healthy.
Highland Park will be in direct contrast to Lake Zurich because they do not have any superstars on their roster. In other words, success will have to come via pack running and staying intact throughout the race. On multiple occasions this season, different individuals have taken the lead for the Giants. Jonathan Rosenfield, Fitz Laurie, Charlie Skurie, and Alec Glazer are among the team's key figures.
New Trier, Hersey, and Fremd are expected to line up competitive junior varsity and lower level teams. Look at for 2A standout teams Lakes and Belvidere North. They both could line up top units and makes difficult for the favorites.
The girls varsity race could see Barrington junior Jocelyn Long in the forefront (Steve Bugarin photo)
Jocelyn Long will lead Barrington into battle on Saturday. Well that is at least the thought since she is defending champion and her team was victorious. If the Barrington coaching staff decides to hold out Long and other top runners, then we should look to Lakes as possibly the favorite. The #6 2A team has been very solid this season. The Eagles are led by freshman Olivia Schmitt. Schmitt has won several meets and placed in the top 10 in all of them including a personal best 17:46 at the Peoria Invite.
3A #21 Evanston has junior Enyeava Michelin leading the way. The Wildkits won the Niles West Pat Savage Invite last week and Michelin finished second in that race. Lake Forest, Lake Zurich, and New Trier have solid units if they decide to race them.