Detweiller at Dark is one of those unique experiences that you must experience in person.
Quick outlook-
Girls Record: Katrina Schlenker (Batavia) 16:49/2019
Last year, Liv Phillips of Naperville Central was the girl's runaway victor in 17:21. The field is void of many talented competitors of her caliber (at press time), but there could be someone who could surprise. Welcome back junior Natalie Bierbaum of Normal University, who took third a year ago in 17:52. Bierbaum enjoyed a tremendous cross country and track season, nabbing multiple all-star awards. She has competed well in several road races this season, so it's possible that the meet record could be in jeopardy.
Sundara Weber (Jr., Sandwich) is a person of interest when competing at Detweiller. She holds a lifetime best of 16:40 via a third place finish in last fall's state championship. "Sunny" is coming off of an excellent track season that netted her a state title in the 3200m (10:30.16). She placed fourth in last year's D&D with a time of 18:01.
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Boys Record: Gabe Fendel- (Hamilton Southeastern 14:30/2017
The key name here is not a misprint unless he decides not to show it. 3A all-stater Thomas Czerwinski will enter his junior year at Plainfield North this fall. Czerwinski, one of the top underclassmen last fall, took fifth in the 3A cross country championship with a fine time of 14:22. Assuming he is rounding into fitness, we may see an honest effort on Friday night.
If you are looking for a potential star to watch out for, incoming Morton freshman Abe Martin might be the runner. The highly touted phenom crushed all kinds of IESA and personal best records during the spring: 400m (50.74), 800m (2:01.48), and 1600m (4:30.35). On the cross country side of the game, Martin ran 10:19.7 for 2.1 miles and finished second in the IESA 4A championship. It is not known if he will contest the junior high or high school race at the time of publishing.
Keep your night vision on these competitors: