Weekend #2 is ready to press the button on the IL cross country season (Laura Duffy photo)
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Lyons Mike Kuharic Invitational
Date: Saturday, September 6
Location: Lyons Township HS; South Campus
Start time: 8am
Distance: 5K
Overview: It was a stressful week leading up to the invitational weekend. Meet officials were in a scurry trying to remove the fencing that was partitioning around a portion of the course. There will be a total of eight races, girls followed by boys
Key teams:
Girls- #17 Downers Grove North, Lyons Twp, Lincoln Way East
Boys: #2 Downers Grove North, #12 Orland Park Sandburg, #14 Hersey, #16 Lyons, #21 Lincoln-Way Central, #22 Berwyn-Cicero (Morton), Downers Grove South
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Breakdown: Let's start with the girls. The defending champion Downers Grove North put six starters in the top seven and all seven in the top 10. It will be interesting to see if they are just as dominant despite key graduation losses. Sophomore Macy Ermitage of DGN is expected to compete here for the first time after missing most of the 2024 season with an injury. Her veteran teammate, senior Lily Eddington, by contrast, missed most of the track season with an injury. The storyline will unfold in real time.
Boys-
DGN is the heavy favorite, with senior leaders Philip Cupial and Will Surratt expected to set the tone for the race. The Trojans had five scorers inside the top 20, scoring 51 points to secure the team win. Expect a bevy of teams to show some tough resistance.
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Hinsdale Red Devil Invitational
Date: Saturday, September 6
Location: Katherine Legge Memorial Park; Hinsdale, IL
Start time: 8am
Distance: 3.0 miles
Overview: It appears as though KLM has completed most of its capital projects that impacted the cross-country course. It is now listed as three miles. Let the good times roll for the many teams and fans in attendance.
Key teams:
Girls-
#1 Batavia, #7 Prospect, #8 Hersey, #10 Hinsdale Central, #12 Minooka, #13 Glenbard West, #15 Naperville Central, #22 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #25 New Trier
Outlook: Will the top-ranked Batavia show their real cards in their first test of the season? The Lady Bulldogs started their competition season last weekend at the Kaneland County Invite with a partial squad. It is believed that Prospect will be running a split squad or holding some of its talented youngsters in lower-level races. Defending champion Hersey is an unknown entity after unloading some key runners from the class of 2025. That in itself will lend opportunities for upstart Hinsdale Central. Individually, junior
Avery Hacker of Batavia and longtime standout senior
Meg Peterson of Prospect should duel for the crown.
Boys-
#5 Prospect, #9 Naperville Central, #10 Palatine, #11 Batavia, #15 Hinsdale Central, #20 Neuqua Valley, #24 New Trier
Outlook: On paper, this appears to be the deepest invite in the state, featuring seven ranked teams (3A), and the opportunity for someone to make an early-season statement. Palatine is the defending champion and will show how good they are from the gate against MSL rival Prospect, which, on paper, is a state trophy threat. Individually, it will be a new race as the top five finishers from a year ago have graduated. All-state performer senior Alex Krieg of Palatine appears to be the favorite.
