Date: 11/4/2023
Location: Detweiller Park; Peoria, IL
Course: 3.0 miles
Race Time: 2pm; awards ceremony: 3pm at the Detweiller Park venue
Weather forecast: 60F, cloudy, wind- N 13 mph
MileSplit IL 50 Rankings: Read Here
The qualifying teams: #1 Downers Grove North, #2 Plainfield South, #3 Plainfield North, #4 O'Fallon, #5 Barrington, #6 Arlington Heights (Hersey), #7 Winnetka (New Trier), #8 Lagrange (Lyons), #9 Oak Park-River Forest, #10 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #11 Palatine (Fremd), #12 Naperville (Neuqua Valley), #13 Highland Park, #14 Chicago Lane, #15 St. Charles East, #16 Riverside-Brookfield, #17 Orland Park (Sandburg), #20 Naperville Central, #21 Oswego East, #22 Elmhurst (York), #23 Deerfield, #24 Wheaton North, #25 Yorkville; Batavia, Edwardsville, Hinsdale Central, Mt. Prospect (Prospect), New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central)
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Outlook: 23 ranked teams will toe the line on Saturday afternoon in what is expected to be a great affair. Pre-season and current top-ranked Downers Grove North appears to be back in the driver's seat toward nabbing a state championship. The Trojans are undefeated and have been all the contenders this season, but they have appeared somewhat mortal until winning the Hinsdale Central Sectional, scoring 49 points. In that affair, all five scorers placed inside the top 20 on a 23-second split. This is especially important heading into Saturday because they may not have a top-rated low stick up top. They must lean on top runner Ryan Eddington (Sr.) to place as high as possible. Key runner Caden Weber (Sr.) returned recently and will be someone to watch.
Defending champion Plainfield South and rival Plainfield North have been clashing all season, with South getting the best of the Tigers at every juncture. North has been itching close to toppling the Cougars before the state meet. At last weekend's Granite City Sectional, Plainfield North had to overcome the 1-2 finish of Camyn Viger (Sr.) and Dylan Maloney (Jr.)- both blazed the lightning-fast Wilson Park course in 14:12 and 14:16, respectively. The Tigers chipped away by using a masterful 1-5 scoring split of 39 seconds, and the spread of the scorers all placed inside the top 20. This will need to be duplicated again, and if it can with the mixture of the other state qualifying teams, we could see a duplication. Thomas Czerwinski (So.) and Owen Stahl (Sr.) placed third and sixth overall and will come into play in Peoria.
Individually, this could be the most balanced race of all six (including the girls' classifications) to watch. The defending champion, Aden Bandukwala (Sr., Hinsdale Central), is back, but by no means is he considered the heavy favorite. Badukwala has been a hero at times, such as pulling out great victories at the Naperville Twilight, the WSC Championship, and the Hinsdale Central Sectional. But then there have been mortal performances like the 14th and 15th place finishes at the Richard Spring Invite and Palatine Meet of Champions. And recently, there was a third-place effort at the Lyons Regional. If the pace is honest and Bandukwala can hang close with a half-mile remaining, his chance of repeating is favorable.
As mentioned earlier, Bandukwala's mortal side was ushered by Viger and Maloney, arguably among the two most consistent runners in the state. Viger can match Bandukwala in race closeouts. He has only lost to teammate Maloney twice this season and beaten Bandukwala at Palatine. Maloney won the SPC Championship title over Viger, but his best performance may have been at the Nike Town XC Twilight Invite 5K, taking third to two elite runners from the state of Indiana. Maloney's strength is stretching out the race and putting doubt in the opponent's psyche late in the contest.
Ben Crane (Jr., New Trier) seems to be an underdog here despite only having two losses to the same opponent (Viger) on the season. He has been undefeated since placing second at the Pal MOC on 9/23. The key to Crane winning the title is striking before the final half mile. He is strong but does not have the same closing speed as Bandukwala or Viger.
Other key runners to watch include: Dylan Ybarra (Sr., O'Fallon), Thomas Czerwinski (So., Plainfield North), Josiah Narayanan (Jr., Wheaton-Warrenville South), Joe Bregenzer (Jr., Barrington), Zac Close (Sr., Neuqua Valley)