2A
[Girls]
Meet the key teams: #1 Grayslake Central, #2 Chatham-Glenwood, #3 Washington, #5 Dunlap, #7 Mt. Zion, #8 Normal (University), #10 Crystal Lake South, #11 Morton, #12 Lake Villa (Lakes), #14 Lake Forest, #16 Dixon, #17 Mahomet-Seymour, #19 Effingham, #20 Lagrange (Nazareth Academy), #21 Lemont, #23 Antioch, #24 Champaign Centennial, #25 Wheaton (St. Francis)
Meet outlook: An amazing 18 ranked teams essentially make this a state run-through in early September. There will be tons of data collected by coaches from here and even from those lurking from afar. We will know who is for real as the top three square up. Defending meet champ and two-time defending state champ Grayslake Central must be considered dangerous. This will be another big test for senior Bella Domier and her Rams teammates.
The individual race here might be the best of the day as "Sunny" Sundara Weber (So., Sandwich) and Becca Heitzig (Sr., Lincoln) are set to battle. This will be Heitzig's first official race, and Weber has been chillin'.' Could we see the season's first sub-17:00 effort? Stay tuned.
[Boys]
Meet the key teams: #1 Chicago (St. Ignatius College Prep), #2 Crystal Lake (Prairie Ridge), #3 Morton, #5 Glenbard South, #7 Woodstock, #8 Normal (University), #10 Geneseo, #11 Grayslake Central, #12 Washington, #14 Chatham-Glenwood, #15 Maple Park (Kaneland), #19 Troy (Triad), #21 Mt. Zion, #22 Chicago (Latin), #23 Lake Villa (Lakes), #25 Sterling
Meet outlook: It's another deep field with tons of quality teams, but let's release the elephant in the room first. The preseason top gun Ethan Hogan (Sr., Columbia) has yet to compete this season. On successive weekends, Hogan has missed out on Dylon Nalley (Sr, Marion) and Gavin Genisio (Sr., Benton). Hogan has been on several college visits but is aware of what happened. "I think I can run close to 14:10," he said earlier in the week. We will see if that's true. An undefeated Dale Johnson (Sr., Sterling) will await him. Trey Sato (Sr., Grayslake Central) is another big-time name rising on the cross country scene.
It is hard to say which team is the best because St. Ignatius competes mostly against 3A schools, Morton against 2A competition, and Prairie Ridge has a combination of both. But what is for sure is that all three are evenly matched, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.