By Michael Newman

DyeStat Illinois Editor

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The course was in better shape at Detweiller Park leading to some good performances at the Richard Spring Invitational on Saturday. You can read about that meet here. The times were faster than the week before on that course. It was 46% faster in the Boys races compared to last week. The Girls races were 59% faster than the week before. Times do not matter. It is how the teams performed that will be the difference maker in November.

There was some good performances that happened in meets across the state from this past weekend. Here are some of the highlights from some of those meets.

Minooka Invitational

The flight meet gives the emphasis to the individual. It did in a way for 3A #3 Downers Grove North. The Trojans won four of the seven scoring flights to win the Boys team meet with only 11 points. They were led by individual wins by Matt Moravec (4^th), Nick Chudzik (5^th), Ryan Birkmeier (6^th), and Sam McCool (7^th). 3A #7 Whitney Young, with flight wins by Keduse Worku (2^nd) and Sam Rivera (3^rd) finished second with 25 points. 3A #16 Minooka scored 27 points to finish third. Soren Knudsen won the championship flight on his home course running 15:08 to win by five seconds ahead of Reese Jordan (Maine South HS, Park Ridge). Alec Danner (Downers Grove North HS) was another five seconds behind in third.

In the Girls races, 3A #4 Minooka won the top four flights, but it was 3A #3 Yorkville’s depth that was the difference as they won the Girls team championship 14-15 ahead of host Minooka. Lyons Township scored 26 points to finish third ahead of 3A #6 Downers Grove South (27 points) and 3A #12 Batavia (31 points). Yorkville received flight wins by Alexis Grandys (5^th) and Emily Eberhart (6^th). Minooka received flight wins by Vivian Van Eck (4^th) as she won her flight by eight seconds ahead of Yorkville’s Alyssa Edwards, Mackenzie Callahan (3^rd), and Emily Shelton (2^nd) who had the fastest Girls race as she ran 17:41 to win her flight. Minooka’s Ashley Tutt ran 17:44 to win the championship flight by 24 seconds ahead of Nicole Greyer (Yorkville HS). Plainfield North’s Juliana Stogsdill ran 18:31 to finish third.

Warren Blue Devil Invitational

Jack Aho (Grayslake Central HS) broke Dustin Machuiba’s course record by 30 seconds for the individual win and leading five other runners under the 14:43 record mark. Aho crossed the line in 14:13 for the 2.95 mile course to win by fifteen seconds ahead of Jack Becker (Crystal Lake South HS). Fremd’s Danny Peterson (14:34), Grayslake Central’s Matt Aho (14:35), and Cary Grove’s Alex Ratkovich (14:39).

Only three points separated the first three teams in the Boys Varsity Race. 3A #18 Mundelein, led by the seventh place finish by Robert St. Clair, ran a 42 second split on their top five to win the team title with 97 points. 3A #25 Fremd, led by Peterson’s finish, was only one point back in second place. 2A #5 Grayslake Central was another point back finishing third.

Fremd showed that they are deserving of being into the top 25 rankings. The Vikings received a second place finish by Linda Varela and had only a ten second split between second runner Nupur Pokharkar (14^th) and fifth runner Fiona Jordan (17^th) to win the team championships with 60 points. 2A #6 Lakes and 3A #24 Evanston  both scored 101 points with Lakes receiving second place on the sixth runner tiebreaker. Lakes freshman Olivia Schmidt won the individual race running 17:20 to win the race by four seconds ahead of Fremd’s Varela and another three seconds ahead of Allison Drage (Cary-Grove HS).

Dunlap Invitational

2A #2 Dunlap packed it up again in the Girls race taking the first four places and five in the first seven to win their own invitational with only 17 points. 2A #9 Metamora (62 points) and 1A #5 Williamsville (105 points finished second and third. Dunlap only had a 25 second split on their top five led by the individual win by Franny Verville. The junior ran 18:10 to win by five seconds ahead of teammate Abby Johnson.

Spencer Smith and Augie Darrow (Alleman HS, Rock Island) took the top two spots in the Boys race. Dunlap used a 31 second split on their top five led by Drew Fick (6^th) to win the team championship 44-48 ahead of 2A #20 Rock Island Alleman. 2A #12 Metamora scored 84 points to finish third. Smith’s time of 15:42 won the race by twelve seconds ahead of his teammate Darrow and another fifteen seconds ahead of third place Bret Hilliard (Morton HS).

Eddington Invitational

The race that we were hoping to see last week in Peoria materialized in the Girls Varsity race. NIC-10 conference rivals Delaney Appino (Rockford Boylan HS) and Jenna Lutzow (Belvidere North HS) had a sixty second gap on the rest of the pack. Lutzow won the first of many matchups between the two running 17:12 on the Kaneland High School course thirteen seconds ahead of Appino (17:25). Rachel Richtman (Kaneland HS, Maple Park) was the next closest runner as she finished third (18:14) leading a pack with three other runners close behind her.  2A #1 Belvidere North made it look easy in winning the team championship with 37 points. The Blue Thunder placed all five of their scorers in the top sixteen behind individual winner Lutzow. 2A #4 Crystal Lake Central had a 9-10 finish by Janine Orvis and Kelly Doerr to finish second with 75 points.

Matthew Richtman (Kaneland HS, Maple Park) won the Boys individual race running 15:17 to finish seven seconds ahead of Cole Barkocy (Crystal Lake Central HS) and another four seconds ahead of third place Zach Albrecht (Jacobs HS, Algonquin). Even though 2A #7 Crystal Lake Central had three runners in the first ten, it was the overall pack by Glenbard West that helped the Hilltoppers win the team title with 82 points fourteen points ahead of Crystal Lake Central.

Libertyville Invitational

On the rugged Adler Park course, it was Brooke Wilson (Prospect HS) that had the advantage in the Girls race as she ran 18:44 for the win. She finished 21 seconds ahead of second place Morgan Bollinger (Lockport Township HS).  It was 3A #18 Lockport that had the advantage placing four runners in the first ten as they scored 33 points to win the team championship ten points ahead of second place 3A #22 Prospect. 2A #8 Chicago Northside scored 86 points to finish third.

3A #8 Prospect did not have their full lineup in this race. The Knights still had the advantage in the Boys race as they placed five runners in the first eleven to score 31 points for the win ahead of second place 3A #15 Highland Park (68 points). Conor Perreault (Niles North HS, Skokie) ran 15:56 for the individual win seven seconds ahead of second place Alex Tam (Libertyville HS).

Edwardsville Invitational

Edwardsville placed five runners in the first fifteen to win the team championship scoring 51 points. Missouri’s Hillsboro High School scored 100 points to finish second. Edwardsville was led by the third place finish from Franky Romano as the Tigers ran a 37 second split on their top five. Ben Flowers (Jerseyville HS) came back from his second place finish at Peoria last week to win the individual race on the hilly SIU-Edwardsville course. His time of 16:24 was thirteen seconds ahead of second place Kevon Koester (Hillsboro HS MO).

3A #17 Edwardsville edged Nerinx Hill MO 31-32 for the Girls team championship even though Nerinx Hill placed five runners in the first twelve. It was Edwardsville’s strength up front as the Lady Tigers placed four runners in the first nine and ahead of Nerinx Hall’s third runner. Jenna Schwartz (Waterloo HS) had control in the individual race as she ran 19:28 to win by sixteen seconds ahead of Edwardsville’s Abby Korak.

Tuscola XC Classic

Anna Sophia Keller (St. Anthony HS, Effingham) dominated a good field at Tuscola. The senior ran 17:23 to win the individual race by seventy seconds ahead of Arielle Summitt (Urbana University HS). Summitt’s teammate Annemarie Michael was another 27 seconds back (19:00) in finishing third. 1A #2 Tolono Unity won their first invitational of the year without top runner Jordan Harmon. Unity, led by the 9-10 finish by Audrey Hancock and Nicole Bagwell, scored 62 points to win the team title ahead of 2A #25 Urbana University (77 points) and 1A #19 Shelbyville (86 points). 1A #16 St. Anthony was without one of their top five but still scored 112 points to finish fourth.

1A #16 Shelbyville won the Boys team title (98 points) led by the 1-2 finish from Tyler Pasley and Ryan Skowronski. Pasley ran 16:11 to win the race three seconds ahead of his teammate. Host Tuscola scored 119 points to finish second just one point ahead of third place Paxton-Buckley-Loda.

Bureau Valley Invitational

Owen Harbeger finished fourth to lead 1A #11 Illinois Valley Central to the Boys team title 85-86 ahead of 1A #4 Elmwood-Brimfield. 1A #19 Sterling Newman (89 points) and 1A #10 Eureka (97 points) were the next teams in. Brayden Hamblen (Rock Falls HS) was in control in the individual race running 15:38 for the easy win. Chris Ahlers (Newman Catholic HS, Sterling) ran 16:07 to finish second.

Kayla Schiera (Sandwich HS) won the Girls individual race. Her time of 19:24 was fifteen seconds ahead of Emma Argo (Eureka HS). 1A #7 Eureka, led by Argo’s second place finish and Tessa Wiegand’s eighth place finish) won the team championship with only 85 points. Illinois Valley Central (120 points), 1A #24 Seneca (136 points), and 1A #25 El-Paso-Gridley were the next teams in.