Illinois runners head to Indiana for loaded Nike XC Town Twilight Meet

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Some of Illinois’s top XC teams will head south to Terre Haute’s Lavern Gibson National Cross-Country course Saturday night for the Nike XC Town Twilight Meet. The first day of October will serve as a mid-season test for the schools entered as we enter into state series meets later this month.

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It seems that most fans in the state have looked forward to the top two teams in the state, Plainfield North and Hinsdale Central, to race against each other this season. Now the two teams can compare themselves to each other. They will get some great competition from some teams coming in from other states in this race. Prospect has raced against state rival York the past three weeks. Now the ninth ranked team (according to DyeStat.com) in the nation will get a different test on this course. Prospect last time finished second to York at last year’s NXR Midwest Regional. Individually, Tatum David of Richland County is entered in the championship race. Her 16:50 that she ran at Detweiller Park three weeks ago indicates her ready for a fast race.

Here is a look at each of the two races that will take place on Saturday night.

Girls Race of Champions – 9:00 PM EDT

This race is not as loaded as the Boys race that will follow. Only two teams ranked in the top 30 in the DyeStat.Com national rankings are in this field. #9 Prospect should be the class of the field having defeated fellow national power York IL two weeks in Peoria. The Knights kept some of their frosh/soph runners down last week at Palatine when the team finished third behind York and Assumption KY. Hailey Erickson has been the team’s top runner this season and could be in the top five in this race. The pack of Lily Ginsberg, Veronica Znajda, Cameron Kalaway, Samantha Patterson, and Meg Peterson give Prospect a strong nucleus behind Erickson. The team’s top five split in the Peoria race was 66 seconds. Keeping their top five within 55 seconds or lower could be something to keep an eye on.

Grayslake Central is the top 2A team in the state and could get some national exposure with a high finish in this meet. Freshman Ava Henne has stepped up as the team’s top runner and give the Rams a strong top five that includes Sara Armstrong and Bella Domier. O’Fallon, 2A #14 Peoria Notre Dame and 1A #4 Marshall are some of the other Illinois teams that will be in this race.

Columbus North IN is currently ranked #16 nationally and could be Prospect’s chief competition. The Bulldogs steamrolled their competition to easily win the Conference Indiana title with only 20 points. Julia Kiesler ran 17:28 to win that race with teammate Lily Baker 11 seconds back. The split from these two runners and then to the rest of the pack was 83 seconds, then 19 seconds from their third through fifth runners. That gap needs to come down if they want to stay close to Prospect.

Assumption KY traveled to Palatine last week and came away with their best finish ever at that meet finishing second tied in points with Prospect. That could change this week especially with Prospect’s full lineup on the line. The Rockets are led by a nice pack led by Reagan Gilmore. Their split on the next four runners was only 16 seconds in the Palatine race. There was a 47 second gap behind Gilmore.

This will be the third time that Tatum David of Richland County has run on this course. Her first time was her freshman season when she ran 17:11 to finish fourth at the NXR Midwest Regional in 2019 qualifying for the Nike Cross Nationals where she earned All-American honors. David has only raced twice this season starting with running 16:50 on September 10 at Detweiller Park. She is the favorite in this race.

Carolyn Ford of Rock Bridge MO won last week at the Gans Creek Classic and could be one of the runners to lead the front pack with David. Julia Kiesler and Lily Baker are expected to be near the front along with Hailey Erickson of Prospect.

Boys Race of Champions – 9:30 PM EDT

Illinois top ranked Plainfield South is coming off a great race last week at the Palatine Meet of Champions where they won by more than 100 points and only a top five split of 25 seconds. Camyn Viger has run great in winning his last two races first three weeks ago in Peoria and then again at Palatine. Dylan Maloney and Ethan Reynoso were close to Viger in last week’s race. The pace on Saturday will be faster. The key for the Cougars are keeping that top five split under 40 seconds to contend for the win.

We have only seen IL #2 Hinsdale Central’s full lineup once this season and that was in their opening home meet on September 3. It will be interesting to see this team action in Saturday’s meet. Daniel Watcke is the team’s top runner and could contend for a top five finish. He won his only race in that meet at the beginning of September. Aden Bandukwala ran 14:45 in Peoria two weeks ago and could surprise some in the top 10. Michael Skora will lead a pack that needs to stay within 40 to 45 seconds of Watcke and Bandukwala.

The top ranked 2A team in Illinois, Grayslake Central, will also bring their Boys team to this meet where they could have hopes of finishing among the top 10 teams in this race. Trey Sato has been running strong this first half of the season. Sato has finished in the top 10 in races the past two races that have included Class 3A runners. A top 20 finish is not out of his reach. The Rams pack behind Sato has averaged a 30 to 35 second split on their next four runners. That pack needs to stay near 37 seconds within their top runner.

There are number of non-Illinois schools that have their sights on the team championship in this race. Jesuit LA was to run at the Great American XC Festival in North Carolina this weekend. Hurricane Ian changed their plans. The team registered to run in this race just before the entry deadline. The Bluejays are currently ranked #3 nationally (DyeStat.com) after averaging 15:11.9 for 5k per runner in winning the Southern Showcase on September 10 on the fast John Hunt Running park course in Huntsville, Alabama. The team ran a 26 second split on their top five runners led by Brady Mullen. Michael Vocke, who won the Louisiana 5A State title in 2021, was the team’s sixth runner in the Showcase race. He should be in the front in this race. We will get a good idea how those times on that fast course correlate to Lavern Gibson.

Carmel IN is the top team in Indiana and ranked #9 nationally (DyeStat.com). The Greyhounds last full lineup race was on September 17 when they easily won the Flash Rock Invitational behind the individual win from Kole Mathison. Carmel had a 59 second top five split off Mathison. Their split from second runner Anthony Provenzano to their fifth was 43 seconds. A tighter pack could give the team title to Carmel.

The top team in Ohio is Mason who is ranked #30 nationally (DyeStat.com). The Comets are undefeated this season including big meet wins at the Mason XC Invitational, the Trinity Valkyre Invitational in Louisville, and last week at the Culver Academies Invitational. Issac Schachleiter won the Culver individual title last week and led his team to a 44 second split on their top five runners. I would not discount this team in this race. The Comets could finish in the top three teams with a top race effort.

Rock Bridge MO is one of the top teams in their state and a squad that could also challenge for a top finish. The Bruins picked up a win to start their season at the Granite City Invitational to start the year and then finishing second behind host school Mason OH the following week. Rock Bridge finished third last week at the Gans Creek Classic behind Liberty North and Hillsboro. Ian Kerney and Andrew Hauser led their team with a 4-5 finish. Hauser had success at Lavern Gibson a year ago winning the NXR Midwest Individual title. The team’s top five split at Gans Creek was close to 90 seconds. That will need to come down for this team to finish among the top teams.

Center Grove IN finished second behind Carmel at Flash Rock two weeks ago. Ty Garrett, who transferred back to Indiana after spending two years at Valor Christian in Colorado, finished fourth in that race. The Trojans had a nice 19 second split from their second to fifth runners with the pack close to 41 seconds behind Garrett. Both Garrett and the pack will need to move closer to the front in this race.

Carmel’s Kole Mathison is considered as one of the favorites for the individual title having run 14:52 for 5k early in the year at the Eagle Invitational. Illinois runner Camyn Viger of Plainfield South has run 14:22 at Detweiller Park for 3-miles and might surprise some of the national experts in this race. Daniel Watcke of Hinsdale Central has raced once this season but remains a threat to be in the front in this race along with teammate Aden Bandukwala. Ty Garrett of Center Grove, Nate Killeen of North Central IN, Caden Click of Noblesville IN, Issac Schachleiter of Mason OH, Evan Trapp of St. Xavier OH, Andrew Hauser and Ian Kerney of Rock Bridge MO, and Anthony Provenzano of Carmel IN are some of the runners that you could see in the front pack in this race.