Glenbard West is expected to be in the thick of things on Saturday
Teams: #6 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #8 Oak Park-River Forest, #13 Winnetka (Trier), #16 Elmhurst (York), #21 Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West), #24 Chicago Whitney Young, Chicago Lane Tech, Chicago Jones, Chicago (St. Ignatius), Chicago Lincoln Park, Wheaton North, Lombard (Glenbard East), Carol Stream (Glenbard North), Evanston, Park Ridge (Maine South), Wilmette (Loyola Academy), Chicago Taft, Chicago Northside Prep
On paper, it looks as though Wheaton South is the slam dunk choice to advance to state. The Tigers have run well when it matters and they have faced the toughest competitions among the top teams here. Sophomore Sam Poglitsch is an elite runner who will lead her team with a low scoring effort. She has run 16:53 this season and should be in the top five somewhere. Senior Laurel Moneysmith and junior Kaitlyn Nenninger clocked 17:35 and 17:57 efforts thus far. The key to finishing is the #5 spot and that should not be a problem as senior Sarah Kulkarni has logged 18:25.
Perhaps the most tight-knit team is Oak Park-River Forest. The Huskies don't have a true front-runner as Violet Harper has only run 18:15 this season. But her mates have typically crossed the line within 30 seconds on the scoring split. Freshman Samantha Duwe sat out of regionals for an unspecified reason. But she should be back in the mix for game time.
York is running well late in the season. Senior Sarah May has stepped up her game by being more consistent each race. Her strong leg speed has also come through in the final stages of the race. Six of the top seven Lady Dukes broke 19 minutes at the Lake Park Regional. This type of effort will need to be duplicated on Saturday.
Glenbard West has been reeling of late and some of it could be facing teams with greater arsenal. The Hilltoppers did beat Wheaton South to win the Richard Spring Invite. In that meet, things could have been inflated with superstar junior Katelynne Hart winning and senior Katie Hohe finishing in the top 10. The sectional field here will be almost 2/3rds smaller in terms of numbers. The Hilltoppers are going to need more support outside of its big two. The 3-5 will need to stay in the upper half of the field to the end for a top five position.
New Trier is a team similar to Oak Park-River Forest in that they will rely heavily on pack racing. Bridget Forbes ran 17:39 at the conference meet, but there were some questions about the course being a little short. Even so, she will have the 2-5 within 20 seconds of one another and that should be a ticket to Peoria.
Teams on the verge are Whitney Young, Loyola Academy, and Evanston. The Dolphins have been running strong and could actually get in position to advance.
It will be Hart all day in the driver's seat for the "W." Hohe and Poglitsch are the obvious top choices, but look out for Whitney Young senior Ella Behrens. She clocked 17:37 at the regional last weekend. Forbes, Moneysmith, and Whitney Young freshman Daphne Murray could be the next finishing group.