Wheaton South Boys and Girls Favored In New DuKane Co Meet


Scott Maison is one of many Tigers that can win the race. He has run the fastest 3-mile time on his team to this point of the season with his breakout performance at Richard Spring Invite when he ran a 14:48. He has been a great complement to the season as he was projected to be the Tigers #3 runner at the start of the year. 

Scott's twin brother, Sean Maison, hasn't had the season he has wanted to this point of the year. He was coming into the season with amazing momentum after his All-Stater performance for track in the 1600m. The crazy thing is that his brother, Scott, has beaten him in each encounter this season. It is crazy because Scott didn't even qualify for state in an event for track. Sean has not been near his brother at all this year and his time is running up as he looks to get back on track this season.

The man that recently beat Scott Maison at the St. Charles North Invite, William Hauenstein, is the clear favorite to win the first ever DuKane Male Individual Conference Title. He won the St. Charles North Invite two weeks ago and looked like he was rolling. Hauenstein had a great season last fall that ended with him taking 13th place at the State Meet with a 14:39. He had a rough track season but looks to on track to be an All-Stater again this year.

Those three have been the main reason for the success of Wheaton-Warrenville South this season, the 4th and 5th runners have been a little shaky this year though. Jacob Kluckhohn didn't have a great showing at the St. Charles North Invite a week after being so close to Hauenstein and Sean Maison the week beforehand. David Zeller also didn't show that well at SCN. He looked amazing at Peoria Richard Spring with running a 15:01 and looked to be primed to run 14:50's at the state meet, but at SCN Zeller was the Tigers sixth man and looked like he would have run a 15:10 at state. With St. Charles East being so close to the Tigers at SCN they will need Kluckhohn and Zeller to be up closer to the top trio of the Tigers. 

St. Charles East has had some great performances by their athletes this year. Most notably, Bob Liking, has really stepped up to the plate for the Saints. He has assumed the #1 runner position for the Saints this year as he has held the position for the whole year. If the Saints want to win this race they need Liking to be up with Hauenstein and possibly beat him. Hauenstein has had Liking's number this year, beating him in the two previous matchups this year at Peoria Richard Spring Invite and the St. Charles North Invite. Expect Liking to come at this race with a new strategy as he looks to make the race his.

Projected #1 runner coming into the season, Aidan King, had a rocky start to his season. He started it off with a 3rd place performance at the Harvey Braus "The Harvey" Invite with a 15:15. He went stride for stride with teammate Bennett Melone, but it just didn't seem like him. The following weekend, he took 18th place at the Peoria Richard Spring Invite with a new PR of 15:05. Again this is a great time, but he has again the #3 runner on his team. Finally, at the St. Charles North Invite, King had the performance he has been craving for all season long. He ran stride for stride with teammate Liking all the way to the finish. He ended up taking 4th place with a 15:10 on a difficult course. He showed that he could possibly beat Liking and the Saints will need him to be with Liking if they want to win here.

Melone is coming into this race mad about his performance two weeks ago. The Saints senior has been great for this year with big performances at the first two meets of the year. Two weeks ago was not great by Melone as he took 7th place with a 15:18 at St. Charles North Invite. The Saints need to see the Melone that performed at the Richard Spring Invite as their chances of winning heavily relies upon how Melone performs.

At the start of the season, no one imagined that the Saints had a chance of beating the Tigers of Wheaton-Warrenville South. Now it is October and it is a reality. The Tigers slipped past the Saints with a win at the St. Charles North Invite by only winning by a score of 7 points. Major reasons for the Saints success have been Liking, Melone, and standout freshman, Micah Wilson. Wilson comes into the season with almost no one knowing his name, but after great performances at the Richard Spring Invite and the St. Charles North Invite, he has made himself a household name. A key factor for the Saints is how large the split is between Wilson and Charles Murphy. At the St. Charles North Invite the split was 46 seconds which is way to high. The split needs to be around 10 seconds this weekend.