The cream rises to the top as they say; the field is going to be deep as ever on Saturday
Key Boys Teams:
3A: #1 Elmhurst (York), #2 St. Charles East, #3 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #4 Arlington Heights (Hersey), #5 Orland Park (Sandburg), #7 Oswego East (JV), #10 Naperville (Neuqua Valley), #14 Barrington, #15 Lake Zurich, #18 Palatine, #22 Chicago Lane Tech, #24 Naperville North, Wheaton North, Deerfield, Loyola Academy
2A: #6 Chatham-Glenwood, #11 Peoria (Notre Dame), #12 Springfield, #19 Urbana, #24 Normal (University)
1A: #1 Stanford-Olympia, #3 Monticello, #5 Chicago (Latin), #8 Dee Mack, #13 Benton, #18 Northridge Prep, Chicago (University)
Others: Claremont, CA
The Real: There is something big going on in central Illinois this weekend! Detweiller Park in Peoria will be the scene of the biggest event in the city outside of the state championship. Yes, Friday night football games are still the rule of law in most households, but if you asked the local chamber of commerce how much the cross country fans and patrons will move the economic meter around town, the answer would be affirmative.
Defending champion Wheaton-Warrenville South should not be canceled out after losing their first invite of the season a weekend ago. The setback at Lake Park to St. Charles East was more or less about numbers presented at the front. The Saints had more firepower in the arsenal as they placed all five scorers in the top 10 and all seven within the top 25. The Tigers were simply overmatched. They will need to rebound and get the scoring pack up and concentrated behind top man William Hauenstein (Sr.). If not, watch the tandem Bob Liking (Sr.) and Micah Wilson (So.) to set a lowstick bar that will be hard to match.
The top-ranked Dukes of York will be loading their team for the first time this season. Head Coach Charlie Kern is well aware of St. Charles East's exploits thus far this season. "St. Charles is running lights out right now," he said. "We are probably behind at this point. PND will be their third invite and the first most of our top seven. It will be a fun battle for sure." Senior Ethan Kern will lead the charge. He placed second a year ago and was just four seconds from the gold medal status. The key for the Dukesters is how the scoring pack can back up Kern. Considering Kern is a national elite runner in his first contest of the season, it's reasonable to expect his crew to be within 45 seconds of him. If so, they will be hard to beat.
There are so many good teams in this field and with one slip up someone could be out of the mix. Hersey, Sandburg, Barrington, and Neuqua Valley are on the rise. Oswego East is in the field- sort of. The Wolves have elected to compete in the younger levels. But this gives an opportunity to Class A top-ranked team Stanford-Olympia. The measuring stick for the Spartans is to see how well they can compete with the big dogs. Last year's top Class A team, Monticello, placed 24th in a field of 63 teams. The Spartans won their division last week using a 47-second split and a 15:57 man average. Overall, across all divisions, it was the 14th best team performance.
The battle for the individual title is going to be a fierce one when you consider 30 of the top 60 3A state meet performers are back here. That is the broad scope. In a more detailed fashion, the defending meet and state champion Josh Methner (Sr., Hersey) returns to the place that he adores. As the overall best runner in Illinois, Methner has yet to reveal himself. However, if you recall, he was the same lowkey situation last year entering Peoria that eventually led to a four-second win in 14:37. That same type of effort should be expected. Last weekend at the FTTF Invite, the opening mile went out in 4:38- a suicide pace this early in the season led to massive casualties. Methner's presence should lead to better pacing which in turn will lead to a stock of overall quality marks. But there is one such runner who may go through the stop sign and forge his own path. Adam Trafecanty (Sr., Claremont, CA) will make his first and only appearance at Detweiller. He has run 14:42 on the season so far back in his home state. Others that will be in the sweepstakes include Nicolas Dovalovsky (Jr., Neuqua Valley), Jake Allen (Sr., Naperville North), Richard Jacobo (Sr., Palatine), Liking, Kern, and Wilson. Brett Gardner (Sr., Lincoln-Way East) could actually steal this race. Of course, there will be someone emerging out of the woodwork with nearly 500 runners in the field.