3A Boys-
So who is it going to be for all the marbles this season? The choices could York, Wheaton-Warrenville South, or St. Charles East says all of the data. Even our boy's editor Carson Vittorio thinks one of these units will be standing alone atop the Mountain when the dust settles.
It was said last year when Wheaton South and Hersey were making their run toward the state crowns, York was building toward 2019. The Dukes return virtually their entire program back this season. We could see a championship in Elmhurst for the first time since 2016. That six-year title drought is one of the longest in the Dukesters storied history. Rising senior Ethan Kern and crew will be anxious to get back on the podium in November.
Can Wheaton South repeat? The Tigers are not lunch meat as some seem to think after losing some key parts to graduation. But the truth is according to the metrics, this is still a very dangerous team. There are five tough returners back. William Hauenstein will lead a senior dominant squad that has a fifth man who ran 15:11 last year. Ethan Seng was the team's sixth man at state. He is projected to be a key scorer this rip.
St. Charles East was a surprise last year. Can we be real about that? The Saints had a tremendous 2018 campaign in which they were in a position to grab a title or at least a trophy down the stretch. This team will have five top returners back which should be more than enough to be taken seriously. Sophomore Micah Wilson should emerge as a high all-stater this fall.
Hersey, Lyons Twp, Sandburg, Oswego East, and Neuqua Valley will be extremely dangerous teams this fall.
Individually, it will be hard to stop rising senior star and defending champ Josh Methner of Hersey. He was just cutting his teeth last year on the national scene. He will make a major impact enroute the state series and finally on to the big stage. Kern earned double national championship honors last year and despite a somewhat hampered spring due to injury, his confidence is incredibly strong. Brett Gardner of Lincoln-Way East, Dillon Blake of Mundelein, Ian Geisler of Huntley, Charlie Wetzel of Normal West, and Jared Kreis of Lincoln-Way Central are early poster boys.