Key Teams:
3A #2 Mundelein, #7 Oswego East, #8 Hersey, #10 York, #11 New Trier, #13 Downers Grove South, #14 Hinsdale Central, #16 Maine South, #21 Barrington, #22 Plainfield South, #24 Palatine, #25 Edwardsville
2A- #10 Crystal Lake Central, #23 Vernon Hills, Dundee-Crown, Jones College Prep, Lake Zurich, Plainfield North, St. Ignatius; St. Louis University HS; St. Xavier KY
Hersey junior Josh Methner is one of two big favorites looking to take home the individual title. Last week he won the Richard Spring Invite with a 14:37 which is only one second off his Detweiller PR. It was a 24-second improvement from his time the previous year at the very same meet. His also showed some very impressive footspeed by closing his last mile in 4:50. Last year, Methner didnt compete at the Palatine Invite, which means his last time competing at this historic invite was when he won the 2.5 mile Freshman race two years ago.
Maine South senior Tommy Brady is the returning champion from last year. His impressive performance proved that his first two meets were not flashes in the pan and he is still a legitimate threat in the state of Illinois. Brady has not had the greatest start to his cross country season so far as the flu that hindered Brady's performance at the FTTF Invite, affected him a bit at the Minooka Flight Invite. He still ran one of the fastest times in course history with a 14:54 in less than ideal conditions. Brady is looking to reign supreme as he is the only nationally ranked individual in the field in the Milesplit Top 50. His symptoms should be gone by now and he is set to run against great competition.
Junior Dillon Blake of Mundelein flew under the radar this past weekend. Him and his team, Mundelein, traveled down to California for the Woodbridge XC Classic. Blake surprised many by taking 26th place in the Boys Sweepstakes race with a 14:38. It was a 24 second PR for the junior and sets him up to be in the conversation to win this invite. Teammate, senior Robert St. Clair, also traveled down with the team and ran a new season best of 14:59. St. Clair is a favorite to be an all-stater this year after taking 34th place at the State Championship last fall and is starting to hit his stride after a track season he was not happy about. St. Clair didn't PR in the 1600m or the 3200m and his times weren't impressive. He ran a 4:31.95 in the 1600m and a 9:48.99 in the 3200m. Both of those times are not that great for a guy who ran 14:57 in the fall.
Junior Ethan Kern of York finally stepped out of his father, Charlie, and older brother Charlie Jr's shadow. The youngest kern boy took 2nd at the Peoria Richard Spring Invite with a 14:41. It was a 30 second PR for Kern and it was his first time ever breaking the 15-minute barrier. Kern will be looking for redemption at this race as he took 4th place in the sophomore race last year with a 16:29. His teammate junior Daniel Klysh was the one that won the Sophomore race last year with a 16:06. Klysh has had an ok start to the season. He started off at Detweiller At Dark when he ran a 15:11, then he took 2nd to Plainfield South senior Christian Knowlton at the Joliet Steelman Invite, and this past weekend he took 13th at the Peoria Richard Spring Invite with a 15:02. You can tell by the way that Klysh has responded after crossing the line these past two weeks that he is not happy with how this season is going for him. He may have a huge breakout meet and possibly break the 15-minute barrier.
Knowlton is primed and ready to roll this season. He is coming off the best meet he has ever run in Peoria. It was Knowlton's first time ever breaking the 15 minute barrier and he ran a smart race in the way he did it. He ran a 4:52 1st mile to put him in 38th place, then ran a 5:12 2nd mile to move into 28th place, then closed with a blazing fast 3rd mile of 4:53 that put him into 8th place and beat some of the best runners the state of Illinois has to offer.
Roland Prenzler of Edwardsville is starting off his senior year with some great performances. His best race was probably at the FTTF Invite when he took 8th place with a 14:54. He had other great performances at the Granite City Invite when he took 2nd to senior Andrew O'Keefe of Granite City and this past weekend at the Edwardsville Invite where he defended his home course by taking home the individual title.
If Mundelein is at full strength they are the team to beat at this meet. Their last performance was at the Woodbridge XC Classic where they took 16th in the Sweepstakes race against some of the best teams in the nation. They did that without some key runners on their team. Senior Michael Parduhn has yet to race this year. We are not 100% sure why he has not raced to this point in the season, but he has had a big injury history so that could be the cause. Parduhn was Mundelein's top runner on multiple occasions last season, he had a great season PR of 14:52 and if he wasnt injured at state, he would have had a very good chance at being an all-stater. Senior Aidan Afonso also didn't make the trip to California. He hasn't raced since Detweiller At Dark when he ran a 15:50. He ran great at the state meet last year running a PR of 15:10. Finally, Dario Carrillo doesn't look like he is at 100% as he ran a 16:01 at Woodbridge. His PR is a 15:40 so he is definetly a big factor for this team to be successful. Mundelein has been lucky and has had guys like Trevor Werner, Carter Schorr, and Sean Finerty all step up for them this season. All three broke the 16 minute barrier at Woodbridge and definitely help Mundelein with the one issue they have had for a few years now with depth.
Oswego East is a young up and coming team that you can also throw into the mix for the team title. Oswego East lost their great #1 runner last year in Matt Blanco who now is attending Illinois State University. The Wolves was a solid team last year and many teams that lose a guy of that caliber, you think they won't do good that year, but coudos to the work ethic of the young guns of Oswego East as they all have improved a lot in the last year. It's incredible how much they improved as Luke Wentz went from a 15:33 to a 15:07, Heriberto Alvarez went from a 15:53 to a 15:09, Nicholas Bozarth went from a 16:16 to a 15:25, Brad Wiggins went from a 16:09 to a 15:36, Nick Henz went from a 16:49 to a 15:50, and Maverick Lange went from 16:34 to 16:04. Those are all great jumps and it was only one meet into the season for the wolves. Expect great things out of them here as the can very well win this prestigous invite.
Hersey had a disappointing performance at the Richard Spring Invite as they took 4th place as a team. They didn't have the best performances from Max Svienty and Thomas McCarthy, who both were part of Hersey's state qualifying team last year. Expect both members to look for redemption as their weakness was exposed at Peoria last weekend. Their weakness is that they rely on Methner to much. Svienty and Ryan Buch need to cut down that split if they want to be successful this weekend.
York will not be at full strength again this weekend as they are opting to keep their sophomores down in the sophomore race. The trio of Colin Hill, Thomas Braun, and Mickey Vreeland would be on York's top 7 if they chose to run them up at the level. With the three York is a top 10 team in the state as they have Kern and Klysh leading the charge, getting into the single points for scoring purposes. Colin Hill is a bit pack, but will still score a low amount of points. Then, they have the pack of Braun, Michael Moriarty, Mickey Vreeland, and Brian Pratt all pushing each other. With the three they are probably a top 20 team in the state. They took 6th at the Richard Spring Invite without the three so, they definitely showed that they can hang with good teams even if they are not at full strength.
New Trier had a great showing at the FTTF Invite a few weeks ago. They had 11 sub-16-minute performances and that meant a lot of PRs. They also had a not so great performance from Graeme Lane. Lane came into this season projected to be the Trevians top runner as he ran a 15:25 as a junior. He ran a 15:53 at FTTF. Lane had been dealing with a nagging knee pain that kept him from training for two weeks but looks to be ok and competing back at 100% again.
Hinsdale Central will not be at full strength this race as the top returner, Alec Hill, is still out with a foot injury that has kept him from competing up to this point in the year. The Red Devil's do get back a member of last year's state qualifying team as Keegan Caveney is back in the fold for them. He missed out on the FTTF as he was taking his ACT that day. Matt Kusak will be looking for redemption as he didn't have a great showing at FTTF as he ran a 15:24 to take 31st place. Last year at state, Kusak ran a 15:11 to take 57th place so, he was not pleased by his performance.
St. Louis University High School also has a chance to win this meet as they have run great in their first few meets of the season. They started off at the Granite City Invite where they took home the title over the favorite, Edwardsville. Then they went to Forest Park where they took 2nd place to the IL#6 ranked team, Neuqua Valley. Last year they took 12th place here, but look to be at least in the top 5 this year.