By Michael Newman

DyeStat Illinois Editor

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Here is a look at some of the meets that took place this weekend across Illinois.

Peoria Central Invitational @ Detweiller Park

The highlight race of the day was supposed to be the 3A Boys race with three of the top six 3A teams in the field. But when top ranked Neuqua Valley split their team running some of their top runners in this meet and some at the Locktoberfest Invitational. #6 Hinsdale Central held some of their top runners out of this meet. All the focus turned to #3 Lyons Township who welcomed the spotlight. The Lions placed five runners in the first twenty-five to easily win the team title with only 65 points. The individual race in this classification capped off a great day of racing on the soft but not sloppy Detweiller Park course. York’s Charlie Kern won his second close race in as many weeks as he held off conference rival Lyons’ Vince Zona to win the race.

It was a matter of Kern sitting back and watching what was happening in front of him. Sandburg’s Dylan Jacobs along with the Lyons Township duo of Zona and Danny Kilrea pushed the pace the first mile going through the first mile near 4:48. Kern was willing to stay a few yards back. The key of this race was the team racing that Zona and Kilrea displayed. It showed as they went into the triangle portion of the course started to push the pace breaking away from Jacobs but not Kern. Over the next mile, it was a matter of surges. First Kilrea would make a move and Kern would stay with Zona. Then Zona made a move and Kern just stayed with Kilrea. In the final 1000 meters, that is when the definitive moves were made. As they made the left turn onto the course parallel to Route 29, Kilrea made a huge surge opening up a 15-20 meter lead on both Kern and Zona. With 800 to go, Kern started to make a move closing the gap on Kilrea and catching him with 450 meters to go. Zona stayed close behind waiting to make a move.

In the last 150 meters, Kern made a move taking the lead for the first time. He thought he had the race won but Zona refused to quit moving on the side of a startled Kern. The York junior made final sprint to cross the line one second ahead of Zona (14:21.5 – 14:22.7). Kilrea was four seconds behind in third (14:26.7). Reese Jordan (Maine South HS, Park Ridge) ran a personal best 14:30 to finish one second ahead of Normal U-High’s Jack Franklin. Jacobs was ten seconds back in sixth.

#10 Prospect finished second with 150 points using an eighteen second split on their top five to accomplish that. 2A #2 Normal University showed that they could compete with the big schools placing third (174 points). Neuqua Valley finished fourth (202 points) behind Zach Kinne’s ninth place finish. Two weeks ago at the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational, Kinne was the Wildcats’ fourth runner. York finished fifth behind Kern’s win and placing three runners in the first twenty.

Brooke Wilson (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) made sure there was no question on who was going to win the 3A Girls race. She took lead early in the race and slowly extended that advantage. The senior ran a season’s best of 16:52.3 to win the race by sixteen seconds. Melissa Manetsch (Libertyville HS) last week won the Junior Varsity race at the Palatine Invitational by a large margin. She ran a personal best of 17:08.2 to finish second behind Wilson. Juliana Stogsdill (Plainfield North HS) held on to third (17:22.1) just one second ahead of fellow sophomore Isabelle Christensen (Oswego HS). Cary-Grove freshman Allison Drage ran 17:29.1 to finish fifth.

#6 Downers Grove South packed it up to win the 3A Girls team championship with 63 points. The story for the Mustangs was that they placed five runners in the first sixteen led by the ninth and tenth place finish by Becky Versaskas and Katie Stapleton. The five runner split on Versaskas to #5 runner Melissa Weidner (16^th) was only 22 seconds. #17 Prospect finished second behind Wilson’s individual win. Unranked Oswego (153 points), Plainfield North (163 points), and Fenwick (225 points) rounded out the top five.

Both 1A/2A races supplied some big surprises. In the Girls race, Kari Lalumandier ran a personal best of 17:35.8 to lead 2A #9 Metamora to the team championship with only 84 points. 2A #5 Lakes Community placed a distant second with 163 points. 2A #8 Normal University scored 171 points to finish third just seven points ahead of 2A #22 Carmel Catholic. 2A #20 Dixon had 243 points to finish fifth just one point ahead of 2A #12 Urbana.

Seven runners finished 18 minutes or faster in this race. Grace Breitbach (Notre Dame HS, Peoria) was eight seconds back in second (17:43.2) just edging Jenna Schwartz (Waterloo HS) by three tenths of a second. Olivia Schmidt (Lakes HS) was three seconds back in fourth (17:46.7). Meagan Moreno (Morton HS), Amelia McLain (Benton HS), and Katy Clausen (Normal University HS) finished in the next three places.

2A #19 Sterling was a big surprise winner in the Boys 1A/2A race. Led by the individual win by Jacob Gebhardt and seventh place finish by Jonathan Landis, Sterling wrapped up the team title with 132 points. Gebhardt ran a personal best 14:46.7 to win the individual race nine seconds ahead of Metamora’s Jake Gillum. A bigger surprise was the second place team finish by 1A #4 Freeburg. Led by Charlie Parrish’s third place finish, the Midgets showed that they will be a contender for the 1A state title finishing with 152 points. 2A #13 Metamora finished eight points behind in third. #3 Danville finished fourth (187 points) while #11 Marion finished fifth (196 points).

Locktoberfest Invitational @ Dellwood Park

Irwin Loud (Oak Park-River Forest HS) outdueled Neuqua Valley’s Jake McEneaney in the final stages of the five kilometer race to win the individual race at hilly Dellwood Park. Loud’s time of 15:57 was five seconds ahead of that of McEneaney. Evan Mitchell (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox) ran 16:16 to finish third.

Neuqua Valley only had three of their top seven in this race but still came away with the team championship. The Wildcats scored 122 points to win the team championship ahead of Wheaton North (138 points), Plainfield South (144 points), Edwardsville (158 points), and Glenbard West (162 points).  Neuqua Valley had three in the top eleven led by McEneaney’s finish, Jackson Jett finishing fifth, and Joshua Mollway finishing eleventh.

Wheaton North Falcon Classic @ St. James Farm, Warrenville

The deluge of rain that put more than an inch of rain in 90 minutes on the course at St. James Farm did not bother the top ranked Glenbard West squad. The Lady Hilltoppers won the top four flights and did not finish lower than fourth in any of the seven flights. It led them to score only 14 points to win the team title thirty points ahead of second place Arrowhead WI. 3A #16 New Trier scored 47 points to finish third two points ahead of fourth place Mason OH. #21 Lockport Township scored 53 points to edge #10 Hersey for fifth place by one point.

Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart won the championship flight in 17:30 finishing 22 seconds ahead of second place Danielle Osmon (Grant HS, Fox Lake). Lindsey Payne won the second flight with the day’s fastest time (17:24.9). The Glenbard West junior finished 23 seconds ahead of the second finish by Olivia Niziolek (Maine South HS, Park Ridge). Katie Hohe (Flight 3) and Janie Nabholz (Flight 4) were the other flight winners for Glenbard West. Nabholz only won her flight by two tenths of a second ahead of Karlee Stortz (Lockport Township HS). Emily R Scott (Naperville Central HS) won Flight 5, Cara Keleher (New Trier HS, Winnetka) edged Lauren Rose (Mason OH) by a tenth of a second to win Flight 6, and Maraba Roznik (Arrowhead HS, Hartland WI) won Flight 7.

St. Charles North Invitational @ Leroy Oakes FP

The stormy weather that hit the Chicago area had an effect on this meet but meet organizers were ready. The Boys and Girls Varsity races went off within five minutes of each other in order to get everybody out of the park before the monsoon hit. Both team battles were close. 3A #8 Geneva placed three runners in the first four places to win the Girls Varsity title with 58 points. It was close in the individual race as the Geneva duo finished 1-2. Sophia McDonnell edged teammate Emma Ehrhardt by two seconds with McConnell running 17:54. Sarah Barcelona (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) was another two seconds back to finish third. Geneva’s Andrine Larsen (Geneva HS) finished fourth (18:07) edging Lyons’ Emily Henkel by two seconds. It described the team race as #9 Lyons Township finished second (65 points) just seven points behind Geneva. #7 Metea Valley finished third (75 points) behind the sixth place finish of Leana Goldman.

The Boys team race was even closer. Michael Ronzone and Charlie Zimmer finished fourth and fifth to lead #17 Marmion Academy to the team title by only one point ahead of #7 Wheaton-Warrenville South (85 – 86). The Tigers were led by the sixth place finish by Alexsi Sorokin who ran a 15:25 personal best. #13 Geneva finished third (94 points) led by Josh Rodgers’ third place individual finish. Filip Pajak (Prairie Ridge HS, Crystal Lake) won the individual race (15:02.5) four seconds ahead of Metea Valley’s Ralph Papa.

Pat Savage Invitational @ Niles West High School

#8 Whitney Young ran without their #1 runner Clayton Mendez and still came away with the overall title in this two division race with 81 points. St. Ignatius finished second with 100 points. Paolo Tiongson (Loyola Academy) won the individual race crossing the line in 15:18. Keduse Worku (Whitney Young HS) led three runners within a second of each other finishing second ahead of Michael Obrion (St. Ignatius College Prep, Chicago) and Jaimie Marcos (Von Steuben HS, Chicago). When the two divisions were split up, WhitneyYoung won the 3A Division (White) 70 – 84 ahead of St. Ignatius. 2A #20 Hinsdale South won the Small School Division 77 – 96 ahead of Saint Viator.

It was a close individual race in the Girls Varsity race. Ashley Bryja (Mother McAuley HS) won the individual race (18:29) three seconds ahead of the Evanston duo of Enyaeva Michelin and Samantha Steman. Evanston Township won the large school division with 47 points. Oswego East scored 66 points to finish second. 2A #7 Chicago Northside Prep won the small school division (59 points) ahead of CPS rival 2A #17 Chicago Payton Prep (80 points) and 2A #13 Woodstock (82 points).

Wheaton Academy Warrior Classic @ Kress Creek Farms

2A #1 Belvidere North easily won the Girls team title placing five runners in the first seven scoring only 19 points. Host Wheaton Academy scored 93 points to finish second. Jenna Lutzow led the Blue Thunder with the individual title running 17:18 for the 3 mile course. Abby Fioresi (Aurora Central Catholic HS) ran 17:55 to finish second.

2A #7 Sycamore, led by the individual win by Stephen Poorten, placed four runners in the first nine to win the Boys team championship with 32 points. It was close battle for second as Brother Rice (109 points), Wheaton Academy (114 points), and 1A #20 Kankakee McNamara (117 points) took the next three spots. Poorten’s winning time of 15:15 was 25 seconds ahead of second place Danny McComb (West Chicago HS).

Lisle Mane Event @ Community Park, Lisle

The rain wiped out the open races. Meet organizers were still able to get in the Varsity races before the skies opened up. 3A #25 Oak Park-River Forest scored 52 points to win the Girls Varsity race behind the 5-6 finish by Mahal Schroeder and Caroline Gallo. 1A #3 Chicago Christian scored 83 points to finish second behind April Van Ryn’s individual win. She won just barely running 18:57 and winning just by one second ahead of Kayla Schiera (Sandwich HS). 

3A #21 Lincoln-Way East scored 43 points to win the Boys team title. Noah Healy led the Griffiths with the individual race win running 16:10 finishing ten seconds ahead of teammate Brett Gardner. 2A #16 Hampshire finished second led by the 3-4 finish by Jacob Oury and Will Matushek. The Whips scored 59 points to edge third place Dundee-Crown by only one point.

Antioch Pat Harland Invitational @ Fox River Park, Burlington WI

2A #4 Vernon Hills placed their top five in the first nine places to win the Girls title with only 29 points. 2A #10 Grayslake Central scored 85 points to finish second ahead of third place 2A #21 Woodstock Marian Central Catholic (100 points). Vernon Hills’ Lauren Katz ran 19:10 to win the individual race six seconds ahead of Chloe Gale (Prairie Ridge HS, Crystal Lake).

Jack Aho ran 15:16 for the individual win with his brother Matt finishing second (15:53). It was Crystal Lake Central after that led by the 3-4-5 finish of Cole Barkocy, Weston Sterchi, and Brandon Tomasello. The #6 Tigers won the Boys team title 45-51 ahead of #5 Grayslake Central. 1A #7 Richmond-Burton scored 91 points to finish third.

Elmwood-Brimfield Invitational @ Maple Lane CC, Elmwood

Led by the third place finish by Emma Argo, 1A #6 Eureka scored 75 points to win the Girls team title ahead of El Paso-Gridley (118 points) and #19 Deer Creek-Mackinaw (124 points). Ryan Block (Knoxville HS) ran 18:44 to win the individual race seven seconds ahead of Haley Weidner (Bureau Valley HS, Manlius). Host 1A #11 Elmwood-Brimfield won the Boys team title (65 points) putting four in the first seventeen led by the second place finish by Cooper Hoffmann. Adam Schlenker (Bloomington Central Catholic HS) ran 15:52 to win the individual title fifteen seconds ahead of Hoffmann. 1A #12 Deer Creek-Mackinaw scored 96 points to finish second ahead of 1A #15 Eureka (104 points), Mercer County (108 points) and 1A #6 Tremont (113 points).