The Road to Illinois Top Times: This weekend’s top Illinois Meets - February 23, 2024

By Michael Newman

We are a month away from the close of the indoor season. That means it is Illinois Top Times Indoor Championships. The annual meet again will take place inside the Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University beginning on Friday, March 22.

The meet will be broadcast live on Runner Space +PLUS on each of the two meet days. You can find more information about the meet on the Illinois Top Times Official Meet Website.

This weekend is traditionally the first big weekend of meets across the state in this “short” indoor season. There have been some great performances in the first part of the month. The top lists of performances should heat up this weekend with plenty of new #1’s in Illinois.

Here are some of the meets to watch on Friday and Saturday.

Batavia Bulldog Girls Invitational – February 24

We should see some great distance performances in this meet. The top four teams from last fall’s Class 3A State Meet race including 3A State Championships will be in attendance ready to run some fast times. All four distance races should be great. Downers Grove North led by Lily Eddington, Barrington, led by Scout Storms, and York, led by Maggie Owens, will have some of their top runners in the quartets that will run in the 4x800m Relay. Prospect will not have all of their top runners in that quartet most likely opting to load their team at the Mustang Relays on March 4.

It should be a dynamite race in the 3200 Meter Run. Mia Sirios of Barrington last week at York just missed breaking 5-minutes for the 1600 showing her fitness level. Sirios ran 10:47 at the end of January for 2-miles. Veronica Znajda ,Ireland Wildhart, and Lily Ginsberg of Prospect are in the race and should push Sirios. Holly Johnson of Downers Grove South will be part of the race and will be near the front. Downers Grove North’s Sarah Paul and McKenzie Willard will push in the front. Could we see sub 10:40 on Saturday morning?

Sub 2:20 in the 800 Meter Run is a possibility with Scout Storms coming back from the 4x8, Sophie Fransen of Prospect, Ava Gilley and Hanna Renner of Downers Grove North, and Katherine Klimek of York part of the top runners you should see in this race. Klimek, Maggie Owens, Anna McGrail, and Sophia Galiano-Sanchez all are scheduled to run in the 1600 Meter Run. Abby Lewis and Kayleigh Burns of Barrington, Kaitlin Skelton of Prospect, and Avery Hacker of Batavia should all be in the front in this race.

Meg Peterson of Prospect will be a part of the team’s 4x8 quartet. She will be the top seed in the 400 Meter Dash with teammate Veronica Znajda close at hand. Isabelle Taylor of Batavia is the top seed in both the 55 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash.

Proviso West Boys Invitational – February 24

The oldest of the Boys meets that take place this weekend. The 58th edition of this meet could produce some new meet records. The field event to keep an eye on is the Pole Vault where there are two athletes that have cleared over 15-feet this indoor season. Gavin Schaer broke York’s indoor record clearing 15-8 (IL #4) at a home quad meet on Tuesday. Lucas Brauc of Oak Park-River Forest cleared 15-2 (IL #6) in a home triangular meet on February 9. The meet record of 15-7 set by Zach Frye in 2020 could be in jeopardy. Kaden Garland of Oak Park-River Forest has a 61-0 state leading effort in the Shot Put and could be pushed by Proviso East’s Jaiden Gray.

Tervous Graves of Proviso West and Cash Langley of York were separated by two hundredth of a second in a meet on this track two weeks ago. The two runners are the top seeds in the 60 Meter Dash. Kenneth Buchanon of East St. Louis-Senior along with teammate Darius Ivy are the top seeds in the 400 Meter Dash.

Lane Tech’s Will Kozlowski and Anan Bauman along with Josh Poeschel of Downers Grove South are the top seeds in the 3200 Meter Run. The best distance race of the meet could be the 1 Mile Run. Brady Golomb of York ran 4:19.10 for 1600-meters on this track 2 weeks ago and 1:55 for 800-meters last week at Gately Park. Nick Strayer of Lyons Township ran 4:23.13 for the 1 Mile Run in January and should be Golomb’s chief competition. Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North and Emmett Bradford of York should be among the front runners.

Grant Giblin of Sandburg is the favorite in the 800 Meter Run and should be challenged by Max Zangan of York along with Oak Park-River Forest’s Daniel Johnson and Lewis O’Connor. Zangan will be with Golomb and Bradford on York’s 4x8 quartet who will enter this meet as the big favorite.

Lakes Community Clash at the Coliseum Invitational – February 24

The Pole Vault will be the top field event in this three year old meet. Paul Migas of Lakes is the top ranked athlete in this event having cleared 17-3 at the end of January at Gately Park. Migas is currently ranked #4 nationally. Nick Pennington of Neuqua Valley has cleared 15-9 and will be Migas’ chief competition. Vince Davero is among the top 20 athletes nationally in the Triple Jump having jumped 47-3.25 at Proviso West a week ago. This will be the first meet for Edwardsville’s Gino Montgomery. The all-state athlete will push Davero in this meet.

Da’jion Riley of Wheaton-Warrenville South has been the hot sprinter in the state so far in this indoor season. Riley last week at North Central College ran a state leading 6.44 in his win in the 55 Meter Dash. He has the top seed in the 60 Meter Dash and could be pushed under seven seconds with Daniel Robinson of Neuqua Valley and Max Troha of Downers Grove North pushing him. Lukas Nales of Highland Park is the top seed by over a second in the 400 Meter Dash. Freshman Dontrell Young of Oswego has jumped into the spotlight in the sprints and could be the surprise in this race.

The distance races have been the spotlight events in the first two times in this meet. It again have the bright lights on these athletes in the four events. The field is loaded in the 3200 Meter Run with five runners under 9:30. Ben Crane of New Trier ran 4:19 last week at Proviso West. The Foot Locker National Finalist will have a sub 9:10 time in this race. Camyn Viger of Plainfield South has run 4:11 for the 1 Mile Run indoors already and ran 9:13.23 last year to win this race. Either of these two runners could win this race. Trey Sato of Grayslake Central has run 4:12 in the same race as Viger and will be in the hunt up front. Zac Close of Neuqua Valley was all-state in this event last spring and could be up front in this race. Rory Gaan of Fremd and Quinn Davis of Plainfield North should be among the top five runners.

Two-time Class 3A State Cross Country Champion Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central will be racing for the first time this season but should be the favorite in the 800 Meter Run. Bandukwala entered this season with the third fastest returning time at the distance. The runner with the fastest returning time for 800-meters is Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North. He will be in this race along with his teammate Grant Schroder. Both North runners should be in the front. Eddington ran 4:20 last Friday at Proviso West.  The rest of the field is deep with Owen Horeni of Yorkville, Gavin Borger of Plainfield South, and Owen Stahl of Plainfield North looking for sub-two minute times in this race. Trey Sato will double back from the 3200 Meter Run and is the top seed in the 1600 Meter Run. Dylan Maloney of Plainfield South , Colin Knowles of Batavia, and Will Gelon of Prairie Ridge are part of 12 runners seeded under 4:31 in this event. Josiah Narayanan and Aiden Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South are runners who will surprise in this race. Narayanan ran 9:34 last week at North Central College. He could be sub 4:25 with a chance in winning. Woodstock and Prospect are the top two seeded teams in the 4x800m Relay.

Homewood-Flossmoor Girls ABC Invitational – February 24

This meet is sprint oriented with some of the top sprinters in the state in attendance in this A-B-C meet. There are 10 runners seeded under eight-seconds in the Class A level of the 60 Meter Dash. Angela Bullocks of Whitney Young, Kee’Lani Whitlock of Kenwood, and Maiyah Robinson of Simeon are separated by just three hundredth of a second with Bullocks at 7.52 with the state’s fastest time. Elaine Paul of York has the state’s fastest time in the 55 Meter Dash run last week on her home track and could have a top 5 time in this race. Morgan Navarre of York was all-state last year in the 400 Meter Dash as a freshman and is the top seed in the event. Jordan Hamb of South Shore International ran a state leading 8.75 in the 60 Meter Hurdles on this track last week. Simone Bernard of Whitney Young is #2 in the state and will push for the win.

Naperville North has the top three seeds in each level of the 160 Meter Run. Julie Piot ran 5:13  last week last week on the 178-meter track at Wheaton-Warrenville South. She could run under 5:10 solo on Saturday. Look for Piot’s teammates  Riana Tandon and Shania Tandon to drop down their season’s bests in this meet in the other divisions.

Olivet Nazarene HS Classic – February 22-24

This is a big meet that they extended it to three days. The Class 1A/2A meet was held yesterday. The 3A Boys go on Friday evening. The 1600 Meter Run could be the top event on the track. Jeremiah Lanum of Bradley-Bourbonnais is the only runner seeded under 4:30 and looks to be the big favorite. Four runners are seeded 2:01 or faster in the 800 Meter Run. Van Schneider of Chatham-Glenwood is the top seed challenged by the Lockport trio led by Maxwell Maloney.

Ryan Stiglic of Lincoln-Way West has cleared 14-9.25 this season in the Pole Vault. He is ahead of the field by almost two feet. Dedrick Richardson Jr. of Lincoln-Way East and Davari Boyd of Danville are more than a foot ahead of the rest of the field in the Long Jump. Either of the athletes could win the event.

Kyra Hayden of Lincoln-Way East will be busy on Saturday in the 3A Girls Meet. The junior is entered in the 60, 200, 400, and the 60 Meter Hurdles. Hayden is the top seed in the 400 Meter Dash and could also win in the 200 Meter Dash. Mia Forystek of Lincoln-Way Central and Ally Knudson of Chatham-Glenwood are the top two seeds in the 1600 Meter Run. Forystek is also the top seed in the 800 Meter Run and will be pushed by Brooklyn Sweikar of Champaign Centennial for the win.

Jaiden Knoop of Lincoln-Way East, Kylie Koehler of Lincoln-Way Central, and Reese Wolfe of Chatham-Glenwood are separated by inches in Pole Vault bests. Any of these three athletes could come away with the win.

Roger Minton Early Indoor Invitational @ Marion HS – February 24

Two events will be in the spot light in this meet. Dylon Nalley of Marion ran a US #4 time of 8:50.48 in the 2 Mile Run last week at the University of Notre Dame. Nalley will start to tune up for the Nike Indoor Nationals in two weeks by running the 1600 Meter Run along with teammate Mekye Lomax. Gavin Genisio will focus on team on Saturday after running 4:11 last week in Chicago. Genisio, along with Gabriel McLain, Seagar Sanchez, and Cole Buchanan will be on Benton’s quartet in the 4x800m Relay where they could run well below 8:20.

Plainfield North Girls Invitational – February 23

Zawadi Brown of Neuqua Valley had a big opening meet last week at Wheaton-Warrenville South with top five state marks in three events. This is another small track like WWS with Brown looking for faster times. She ran the second fastest state time (7.23) in the 55 Meter Dash and could lower that time on this track. Plainfield North’s Taylor McLain and Lauren Dellangelo will look to stay close. Brown and Dellangelo will be the favorites in the 400 Meter Dash with Brown looking to improve on last week’s 59.62 time. The Neuqua senior jumped 18-7.5 last week and will look for improvement in that event.

Sofia Arcuri of Maone South and Emann Hussain of Plainfield North are the top two seeds in the 1600 Meter Run. Watch for Niki Tselios of Lemont who could come away for the win.

Wheaton-Warrenville Girls Invitational #3 – February 23

It could be a speed work meet for Naperville Central’s Liv Phillips on Friday night after running the state’s fastest time last week at York in the 3200 Meter Run. There are only two teams entered in the 4x800 including Naperville Central and Phillips. Phillips is the top seed in the 800 Meter Run followed by teammate Abby Moog and Jenna Bachara of Wheaton-Warrenville South. This is a 178-meter track but deceptively fast especially in the distance events. Phillips could get a time near 2:20.

Four runners will chase for the win in the 1600 Meter Run. Lola Satre-Morales of Naperville Central, Palatine’s Monika Urbaniak and Abigail Jordan, along with Lily Baibak of Waubonsie Valley all could be in position to win. Jordan will also be in the 3200 Meter Run but could be chasing after XC all-state runner Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South. Poglitsch has run 5:20 on this track to open the season for the 1600 Meter Run. The junior could run under 11:30 on this track inside the Harvey Dome.

The 55 Meter Hurdles could be the best race of the evening. All-state athletes Aisha Kazeem of Palatine and Brooke Sawatzky of Naperville Central will challenge for the win in this race. Sawatzky ran IL #3 8.91 last week at York. Kazeem opened her season running 9.48 for the 60 Meter Hurdles nine days ago at New Trier. Clara King of Wheaton-Warrenville South has run 9.30 for the 55 Meter Hurdles and will challenge for the win.