By Michael Newman

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The first full weekend of fall lived up to the seasonal expectations with temperatures in the mid-50’s across the state. Times were fast throughout meets on this weekend including some fast times that were displayed at the Peoria Invitational at Detweiller Park.

Here are some highlights from this some of this weekend’s meets across the state. You can also read recaps from the Roy Griak Invitational and the Peoria HS Invitational.

St. Charles North Invitational

The Boys race started out as an invitational race and a dual meet broke out. By the time the race got to the one-mile mark, the top pack consisted of Wheaton-Warrenville South and St. Charles East runners. Two of the top ranked teams in the state had a monopoly on the race. That is the way that it ended with the two teams taking 12 of the 13 places. Wheaton-Warrenville South had the edge on this day winning the team title with 28 points. St. Charles East showed that they could hang with the Tigers as they finished second with 35 points. The next closest team, Marmion Academy, finished third with 127 points.

Wheaton-Warrenville South, the top ranked team in 3A and ranked in the top ten nationally, had a 24 second split on their top five runners, 29 seconds on their top seven runners led by the 1-2 finish from William Hauenstein and Scott Maison. Hauenstein’s winning time of 15:04 was three seconds faster than his teammate. Then came the St. Charles East pack of Bob Liking and Aidan King that were two seconds behind the South duo and with a second separating each other. Geneva’s Ryan Kredell broke the two team’s dominance as he ran 15:13 to finish fifth. St. Charles East ran a 31 second split on their top five runners.

The two teams face each other in two weeks at the DuKane Conference Championships at Lake Park. It should be more of the same.

Lyons Township used the same packing performance that they had the week before at Palatine winning this race with 59 points placing their scorers in the top 21 places, Palatine, who was a last-minute entry after the MSL-West Division Meet was cancelled on Tuesday, showed their improvement this season as they scored 92 points to finish second. Cary-Grove (107 points), Hinsdale Central (130 points), and Belvidere North (144 points) were other teams in the top five.

The finish was close as Hinsdale Central’s McKenna Revord won the Girls race for the second year in a row. Revord’s time of 17:27 was just four seconds ahead of Lyons Township’s Kate Dickman and Anne Marie Jordan of Palatine who finished second and third both timed at 17:31. The Lady Lions had a 77 second split from Dickman to fifth-runner Maddie Cranny.

Pat Savage Invitational

The story on the Niles West campus course was the Girls race and the run achieved by Round Lake’s Fatima Giron. The junior pulled away from Argo’s Abby Lopez early in the race and went on to run a fast 17:17 for the win. Lopez finished second 40 seconds behind Giron and the only other runner in the field to go under 18-minutes.

The plan for the 2A top ranked team Vernon Hills was to run a controlled race while packing it up. The Cougars achieved that running a 35 second split on their top five as they scored 59 points for the win. Vernon Hills was led by the eighth and ninth-place finishes from Hannah Ray and Payton Makowskyj. Evanston Township was the next team in with 128 points. St. Viator scored 164 points to finish third.

New Trier split up their deep squad this weekend with half the team running at St. Charles North while the rest of the team raced on this course. The split did not hurt the Trevians as they scored 47 points to capture the team title ahead of St. Ignatius (88 points) and Evanston Township (160 points). The individual race was close as Max Peterson of Evanston Township edged Marist’s Thomas Leonard by five hundredths of a second for the win. Both runners were timed at 15:29. New Trier’s Charlie Forbes ran 15:32 to finish third. New Trier’s pack was once again tight as they placed five runners in the top 16 with a 29 second split from Forbes to 16^th place finisher Luke Wisner.

Locktoberfest Invitational

In this Boys only meet, Neuqua Valley defended their meet title placing five runners in the first 14 with a 41-point winning score. Host Lockport Township (85 points), Naperville North (88 points), and Wheaton North (108 points) were the next three teams in. Glenbard West, who is ranked in the top five in the 3A rankings, rested their runners for Wednesday’s Naperville Twilight Invitational.

The Wildcats ran a 43 second split on their senior based top five led by Chris Keeley finishing third and Michael Madiol sixth with only four seconds separating the two runners. Tyler Cushing of Bolingbrook made a statement in this race as the junior ran 15:20 on the rugged and hilly Dellwood Park 5k course to capture the win by 10 seconds ahead of Lincoln-Way Central’s Jared Kreis.

Wheaton North Falcon Classic

New Trier won three of the seven flights to win the team championship in this Girls meet with 22 points. The Lady Trevians were led by wins from Marlee Fradkin in Flight 3, Elizabeth Finnigan in Flight 4, and Maddie Dieffenbacher in Flight 6. York finished second with 27 points with their lone race win coming from Emma Kern in Flight 5. 2A power Mahomet-Seymour scored 41 points to finish third behind the second flight win from Brisa McGrath.

St. Charles East’s Alice Abbott displayed in this meet why she is one of the top runners in the state. The sophomore covered the St. James Farm 2.95-mile course in 16:43 to win the championship flight. Her margin of victory was 21seconds ahead of Grant Community freshman Aly Negovetich (17:04). York’s Sarah May ran 17:31 to finish third.

Jacksonville Invitational

Chris Cherry of Taylorville had the edge in this Flight structured meet. The sophomore ran 15:05 for 2.9 miles at Jacksonville’s Community Park to win the championship race three seconds ahead of Steven Melin of Pleasant Plains (15:08).

The Girls championship flight narrowed down to a two-runner race. Pleasant Plains’ Caroline Jachino looked recovered from early season illnesses that slowed her down. The junior ran a fast 17:26 to win the championship flight by 11 seconds ahead of Jacksonville Routt’s Kirsten Huffman (17:37).

Elmwood-Brimfield Invitational

Eureka showcased their Girls team once again in this meet. The Hornets placed four runners in the top 12, five runners in the top 20 to win the Girls team title with 47 points doubling the score on second -place El Paso Gridley (98 points). Emma Argo led Eureka running 17:51 for the individual win. Cate Atkins of El Paso-Gridley (18:20) and Maya Stovall of Macomb (18:23) finished second and third individually.

Tremont’s Leland Sumer won the Boys Individual race (15:26) finishing 10 seconds ahead of El Paso-Gridley’s Noah Smith who finished second (15:36). Jackson Stewart of St. Teresa and Elias Bergman of Illinois Valley Central both ran 15:40 finishing third and fourth.

Host Elmwood, led by the 8-9-10 finish from Luke Hoffmann, Griff Inskeep, and Jacob Brown, won on their home course with 66 points ahead of Eureka (78 points) and Deer Creek-Mackinaw (112 points). The Trojans had a 39 second split on their scorers as Elmwood placed five runners in the top 30 runners in this race.

Freeport Pretzel Invitational

Kaneland dominated the Boys race in this meet. The Knights placed five runners in the top nine in winning the team title with only 25 points. Moline scored 81 points to finish second. The split on Kaneland’s top five was 54 seconds. Daniel Occhipinti of Kaneland came away with the individual win running 15:21. Dawson Smith of Rock Falls finished second (15:27) just ahead of Moline’s Jackson McClellan (15:31).

Winnebago received a 1-3 finish from Natalia Martino and Katie Erb on their way to the team win with 52 points. Rock Falls, who did not have their top five runner Bryahna Ganther racing on Saturday, scored 71 points to finish second. Kaneland scored 78 points to finish third. Martino’s winning time of 18:03 was eight seconds ahead of second-place finisher Rachel Richtman of Kaneland.

Loyola Lakefront Invitational

Latin School’s Ava Parekh and Marianne Mihas took the top two spots in the Girls race in this meet at Montrose Park on the Chicago lakefront. Parekh’s winning time of 18:36 was 17 seconds ahead of her teammate Mihas (18:53). Oak Park-River Forest dominated the Girls team race conversation. The Huskies placed five in the top 10 with only a 19 second split on the group to win the team title with 37 points.

Spencer Dzyacky’s individual win along with five runners in the top 10 led Loyola Academy to the Boys team win with 30 points. York’s JV team finished second with 85 points. Dzyacky’s winning time of 16:24 was just three seconds ahead of Griffin Keeter of Shawnee Mission East (KS).

Robinson Invitational (Thursday)

1A top ranked Tolono Unity ruled this meet on Thursday scoring 47 points for the win doubling the score of second-place Teutopolis (94 points). The Rockets placed six runners in the top 15 with a 75 second split on the group. Their split from the second to fifth runners was 29 seconds. Unity’s Caroline Bachert ran 18:48 for the race win finishing 27 seconds ahead of the 2-3 finish from Teutopolis’ Morgan Mette and Jessica Runde.

Robinson, paced by the individual win from Negus Bogard, won the team title on their home course with 88 points finishing ahead of Father McGivney (108 points) and Marshall (122 points). Bogard ran 15:18 to win by 16 seconds ahead of Austin Ames from Charleston (15:34).

Photo: The Front pack in the Boys race at Saturday’s St. Charles North Invitational (Gary Mattes Photo)