Richard Spring Invite Preview: Breaking Down The Boys

We are back at it again with another strong weekend of competition in the land of Lincoln. Much like last weekend, most of the attention is pointed toward Detweiller Park as the Richard Spring Invite is on tap.

In last week's first installment known as the "trilogy" because there are three huge Invites at Detweiller, the individual race in the 3A section was spectacular as Rory Cavan of Glenbard West and Jack Roberts of Downers Grove North put on a show for the die hard cross country fans. It was there that both stallions issued a tremendous statement producing blistering marks of 14:24 and 14:26 respectively. Richard Spring will undoubtedly match up just as strong if not more... looks to be just as good, if not even better than the encounter on September 8. The field is flooded with talent as Thomas Shilgalis of Naperville Central, Josh Methner of Hersey, Fiker Rosen of Quincy, Christian Knowlton of Plainfield South, William Hauenstein of Wheaton Warrenville South, Sean Maison of Wheaton Warrenville South, Scott Maison of Wheaton Warrenville South, Max Svienty of Hersey, Mathias Powell of Mahomet-Seymour, and Bob Liking of St. Charles East all have potential of being a top 5 finisher.

Shilgalis is making his invite debut for the season at the Peoria Richard Spring Invite. It has been a while since we have seen Shilgalis in action as the last time he competed was at the Downers Grove South Opener a few weeks ago. Shilgalis ran great there as he won the meet with a 15:01. Shilgalis didn't compete with his team at the Lake Park Lancer Invite as he was on a college visit. In his mind he thinks he can roll under 14:20. The fandom will await the outcome.

Methner will look to challenge Shilgalis after a performance he wasn't very pleased about at the Fenton John Kurtz Early Bird Invite when he took 2nd place with a 15:04. It also wouldn't be surprising if he doesn't race all that well if you look back at previous years results, it is very obvious that Methner peaks late in the season and his first few meets are not his best. Methner's teammate, Max Svienty, is looking to redeem himself after not having his best track season sophomore year. As a freshman, Svienty ran great times including a 4:28.73 in the 1600m and a 9:26.65 in the 3200m. His sophomore year, he ran a 4:42.55 in the 1600m and a 9:38.88 in the 3200m. You can obviously see why he has a chip on his shoulder and maybe a dangerous runner in this race.

A sneaky runner in the race may very well be Fiker Rosen of Quincy. The freshman phenom has been having a very quiet season as he has only broken 16 one time this season, but he also has only raced in one big invite up to this point in the season. He raced at the Granite City invite where he took 5th with a 15:28. This was the first time in Rosen's career that he has been challenged in a race on grass. This could have lead to him freaking out a bit and not knowing what to do. Don't be surprised if he gained a lot from that race and he may very well break 15 this weekend.

One runner that hasn't been truly tested by a top talent this year is Plainfield South senior, Christian Knowlton. Knowlton has picked up two wins in his only two races of the season. He started his season with a win at the Plainfield City Invite with a time of 15:58, 2nd place was 32 seconds behind him. Then, Knowlton had a bit more of a challenge this past weekend at the Steelman Invite when he won only by 2 seconds over Daniel Klysh of York with a 15:33. Many will look at those times and just look over them, but people shouldn't as both courses were not in ideal condition. Both were very muddy and even had some standing water.

The lethal trio of William Hauenstein, Sean Maison, and Scott Maison of Wheaton Warrenville South are all looking to redeem themselves for different reasons. Hauenstein had a great season last fall that ended with him receiving all-state honors in November. Expectations were high for the young upstart, but he didn't have the track season that many people expected him to have. He did qualify for the 3200m at the state meet, but had a poor performance taking 36th place with a 9:51.85. His PR's weren't anything special either. He ran 2:07.66 in the 800m, 4:25.37 in the 1600m, and 9:25.27 in the 3200m. Sean Maison is trying to redeem himself from his state performance from last fall. Sean was Wheaton Warrenville South's #1 runner for most of last year. Leading into the state meet, a lot of people thought he was a for sure all-stater as he broke 15:00 a few weeks before the state meet, but at the state meet he came up a little short of his goal taking 32nd place with a 14:55. Sean came back with a great performance at the state meet for the track by earning all-state honors in the 1600m. Sean's twin brother, Scott Maison, may have more of a fire after a track season that didn't go as planned. In 2017, Scott qualified for the state meet in the 3200m. In 2018, Scott found himself cheering on his twin brother in the stands of O'Brien field. He was there as a fan, not an athlete. The fire that this trio has is scary and may be primed for all three to take home all-state honors on November 3rd.

 

Other teams that should compete for a top 3 spot should be Sandburg, St. Charles East, Plainfield South, Neuqua Valley, Oswego East, and Naperville Central

Mathias Powell is another name to watch. It will be interesting to see how he does against competition for the first time this year. Last time that Powell raced with competition in an xc race was when he took 9th place at NXR. Powell may sneak away with an unlikely win.