Richard Spring Invite Preview: A Big Test For State's Best

Date: Saturday, September 21

Location: Detweiller Park; Peoria IL

8:30a Girls' Open

9:10a Boys' Open

11:10a Girls' Fresh-Soph

11:50a Boys' Fresh-Soph

Quick thoughts: A bigger field than last year awaits, with nearly 3,200 total entries at closing time. There is one starting line, and don't be alarmed to see over 70 teams sprawled across the Detweiller Park landscape. In addition, the weather is expected to be much warmer than last year. Look for climes to reach 90 degrees by the time the final race is in the books.

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Girls key teams: 3A- #1 Downers Grove North, #2 Elmhurst (York), #4 Arlington Heights (Hersey), #5 Mt. Prospect (Prospect), #10 Naperville (Neuqua Valley), #11 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #14 Lake Zurich, #19 Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West), #20 O'Fallon, #21 Schaumburg, #22 St. Charles North, #23 New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central, #24 Aurora (Waubonsie Valley), #25 Palatine; 2A- #2 Chicago (St. Ignatius), #3 Chicago (Depaul College Prep), #10 Mahomet-Seymour; 1A-#8 Peoria Notre Dame, #11 Springfield (Sacred Heart-Griffin), #22 St. Joe-Odgen, #25 Belleville (Althoff Catholic); Missouri- Francis Howell Central, Liberty North; Ohio- Mason; Pleasant Valley, Iowa.

Outlook: Another deep field of teams awaits the competitors, and the fate of many could be determined within the first mile. Top-ranked and defending meet champions Downers Grove North, and foe York bring their WSC Silver dispute to Peoria. The Trojans have played the reserved role in mid-week competitions and well in their first two invites (Lyons and Lake Park). A conservative pack running playbook has worked in their advance with Lily Eddington (Jr) and Alayna Todnem (Sr). They split 27 secs 1-5 at the Harvey Braus Invite. With severe traffic expected in the race's first half, DGN would be better served to get its pack out front earlier.

Conversely, the Lady Dukes used the low stick services of phenom freshman Karlin Janowski to make their point. However, they had issues closing the race with a 1:50 scoring split. Even without Janowski, the 2-5 was over a minute. That will need to be rectified on Saturday.

Hersey will be back in the mix at total capacity after winning easily last weekend at the Wauconda Invite. The Huskies have a strong pack and displayed it during the season's opening weekend, defeating Prospect and other solid teams at the Hinsdale Central Red Devil Invite.

Prospect has not run an entire unit during the season's first three weeks. The Knights have a small margin of error in figuring things out, but they will have top dogs Veronica Znajda (senior), Meg Peterson (junior), and Mary Laba (senior) in the mix. The group may be underdogs, but they know how to win, as recent history shows. 

If surging teams like Neuqua Valley, Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Lake Zurich want notoriety, they must crash the party. They all have the capacity to do it either the pack running (Neuqua, LZ) or leader by example- WWS has Nicole Poglitsch (Sr) leading the way. Can 2A powers Chicago St. Ignatius and Chicago Depaul Prep battle with the big kids? We will find out!

Some out-of-state teams may factor into the top five or ten. Mason, Ohio HS is ranked #2 in its biggest class (D1) and should have a say in how things go down. Efa Paschka (Jr) is their top runner. Pleasant Valley, Iowa, is considered among the elite forces in its state, as is Liberty North in Missouri.

Individually, can Janowski defeat Znajda again? Certainly, the element of surprise will not come into play this time. Znajda and several other girls (Peterson, Eddington) and Annika Swan (Jr., Chicago St. Ignatius) have running experience at Detweiller. Regardless of the winner, expect a time near or better than last weekend's 16:50.

Boys key teams:3A- #5 Barrington, #7 Palatine, #9 York, #11 Prospect, #13 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #14 Chicago Lane, #15 O'Fallon, #17 Orland Park (Sandburg), #19 Naperville North, #20 Naperville (Neuqua Valley), #22 Wheaton North, #23 St. Charles North, #24 Arlington Heights (Hersey); 2A- #6 Aurora (Marmion Academy), #7 Mahomet-Seymour, #10 Bethalto (Civic Memorial), #25 Taylorville; #1 Benton, #4 Niles (Northridge Prep), #6 Peoria (Notre Dame), #11 Pleasant Plains, #17 St. Joe-Ogden, #19 Bluford (Webber), #23 Roxana

Outlook: Having nearly 70 teams on the course at one time is stressful enough; now add a bevy of thirsty teams who have waited months to compete on the famous Detweiller course. 

The 13 ranked teams in 3A will line up, and Detweiler will examine how they stack up amongst themselves and take an early look at how they match up against the likes of Downers Grove North, Plainfield North, Fremd, and Plainfield South, which competed a weekend ago. The Mid-Suburban League (MSL) has three teams in the top 11 in the field. They will duel against the WSC Silver (more virtually this year), notably the state's best league in recent years.

Barrington appears to be the team to beat, led by the outstanding Joe Bregenzer (Sr). The Broncos have not shown their full arsenal yet, but in the early going, they have produced five guys under 16:00. Their 2-5 split is a good 30 seconds. That will need to be shown again if they expect to walk away with a team trophy. 

Palatine is an MSL rival to Barrington. The Pirates have only run one invite (victorious at the Red Devil in early September) and a handful of dual meets. This will be their first true test of the season. Alexander Krieg (Jr) is the leader, but he has some strong teammates in Carter Hayes (Sr) and James O'Sullivan (Jr). 

York had an easy time at the Joliet Steelman Invite last weekend. It's time to see how real an experienced Dukes' unit is on Saturday. Emmett Bradford (Sr) will lead a balanced attack, five runners were under 16:00 at Joliet.

Now, we may see a fight for a top five finish with emerging programs led by Prospect, Wheaton South, Lane Tech, O'Fallon, Sandburg, Naperville North, and Neuqua Valley. Class 1A Benton is in the field. A good goal for them would be a top-10 placement.

The battle for the tape may be between Josiah Narayanan (senior, Wheaton South) and Bregenzer. Narayanan clocked a meet record of 14:31 at Lake Park. If conducted well, that translates well for Detweiller. Bregenzer broke 9:00 on the track and won a 3200m state title. He will be ready. Zach Thoman (senior, O'Fallon) is the state leader at 14:20. Some say his time was on a California state-style course. He can make his case on Saturday against a class field.