By Michael Newman

DyeStat IL Editor

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Let the tradition begin again! This is the first of the Saturdays where it seems everyone in the state makes the exodus to Detweiller Park to race on the state meet course. It is a tradition unlike any other in Illinois. The name of the game is to make another trip to Peoria with your team in November for the state meet.

One thing that plays a factor is ACT testing that takes place on Saturday. Some teams will be missing key runners from their team. Nevertheless, we should still get an idea of which teams will be difference makers in the state series. Course conditions could be interesting and play a factor in this race. Rain and thunderstorms are supposed to hit the Peoria area Friday evening ending just before sunrise. Humidity will be high for the first couple races but it will be manageable as we get towards noon with temperatures near 70 degrees. This course is good at absorbing precipitation. Cool temperatures added in could be the formula for some fast times.

Here is a look at each of the six races that will take place Saturday at Detweiller Park.

1A Girls – 9:00 AM

DyeStat IL Ranked Teams (11): #3 Chicago Christian, #8 Seneca, #9 Kewanee-Annawan Wethersfield, #10 Stanford Olympia, #13 Westmont, #14 Williamsville, #18 Eureka, #22 Carlinville, #23 Winnebago, #24 Byron, #25 Decatur St. Teresa

Team Preview – With top ranked teams St. Joseph-Ogden and Tolono Unity not running in this meet and second place finisher at state from last year Urbana University now in 2A, the team race is wide open. I would be surprised to see the winning team in double digits with their final point total. Chicago Christian is the top ranked team in this field. April Van Ryn had a great race last week in winning at Harvest Christian last week. We will see what kind of a split this team will have on Saturday. There was a three minute gap between Van Ryn and the pack. Watch for that to close down. Seneca will be close to the front led by Carina Collett. Wethersfield has the great front runner in Kirstie Ramsey. They could end up winning the team title.

Stanford Olympia also has the great front runner in Shelby Siltman. They are a deep young team that could give Olympia the tight pack needed to win this race. Williamsville is a team that should surprise in this meet. At Rochester last Saturday, they used a 33 second split on their first four to finish second behind ranked Liberty. The key will be closing the gap between the pack and fifth runner Hannah Stinnett. Westmont could be a team that finishes in the top five. Halle Nash will lead this team, but their five runner split needs to come down.

Individual Preview – Defending champion in this race Daly Galloway has opted to run in the 3A race later in the meet. It opens the door for a new champion. I think there are three runners that could be up front. Shelby Siltman started her season last week running 18:54 to finish second at Normal. She finished fifth a year ago at the 1A State Meet. Kirstie Ramsey is another runner that I feel can win this race. She finished thirteenth in this race a year ago and fourth at state. Maya Stovall (Macomb HS) finished ninth at state last year. After a strong freshman season on the track including a third place finish in the 2A 3200 (11:09.07), it would not surprise me if she ended up winning.

1A Boys – 9:40 AM

DyeStat IL Ranked Teams (7): #1 Elmwood-Brimfield, #4 Rockford Christian, #5 Eureka, #8 Carlinville, #10 Illinois Valley Central, #19 Athens, #25 Westmont.

Team Preview – With the announcement that Rockford Christian would be moved back down to 1A by the IHSA for the 2016 season, it changes the scenario of what could happen in this meet and further down the line when we get to November. The Royal Lions look to be the favorite in this meet after a good 6^th place finish at Crystal Lake South last Saturday. Riley Wells could be in the top ten in this meet. Their split was only 52 seconds on their top five in their first race. Watch for that split come down here. Top ranked Elmwood-Brimfield was without their all-state returnee Derrick McCoy last week as they won at Canton. Cooper Hoffman will lead the way for the Trojans if McCoy is not in. The split last week was 74 seconds on their top five. That will need to come down in order to take the win in this meet. This will be Eureka’s first invitational of the year. They ran with a tight pack a year ago. Watch for more of the same on Saturday.

Carlinville ran a 27 second split on their pack behind Jason Landon’s finish last week at Rochester. That formula got them the team win. The split from Landon to the pack needs to dip below 40 seconds for this team to finish in the top three. Illinois Valley Central had a solid start finishing second last week at Normal led by top ten finishes by Owen Habeger and Jordan Gerberding. The two could be in the top fifteen in this race. Their top five split needs to dip under 90 seconds from 120 last week to finish in the top three.

Individual Preview – The top returnee from last year’s 1A state meet Brayden Hamblen (Rock Falls HS) should be the favorite in this race. After slowed down by illnesses and injuries last outdoor track season, Hamblen has started the season strong winning last week at the Sycamore Invitational. Wyatt McIntyre (Athens HS) started off his season strongly as he won by more than 30 seconds at Canton. I expect him to be towards the front. Tim Bertulis (Johnsburg HS) is another runner to be in the top five along with Jonah Coyle (Peoria Christian HS) and Jason Landon (Carlinville HS). Jackson Stewart (St. Teresa HS, Decatur) has been among the front in his two races this year. It will be no surprise that he is near front at Detweiller.

Andy Layden (El-Paso-Gridley HS), Chase Sarver (Byron HS), Christopher Collet (Seneca HS), and Cooper Hofmann I also expect to be challenging for top ten finishes.

2A Girls – 10:20 AM

DyeStat IL Ranked Teams (19): #1 Dunlap, #2 Belvidere North, #3 Vernon Hills, #5 Washington, #6 Grayslake Central, #8 Lemont, #9 Urbana University, #11 Chicago Northside, #12 Payton Prep, #13 Normal University, #14 Waterloo, #15 Dixon, #17 Burlington Central, #18 Freeport, #20 Morton, #21 Latin School, #22 Metamora, #24 Montini Catholic, #25 Rochester

Team Preview – Yikes! This race is a preview of what we will see on the starting line in November. 19 out of the top 25 teams are in this race. Top ranked Dunlap has the slight advantage. Franny Verville and Abby Johnson have been the top two runners in both of their races this season. Their split against Minooka at Normal was only 40 seconds. Last week at Galesburg, their top five only had a split of 24 seconds. Belvidere North has the fire power up front with Jenna Lutzow. The addition of four freshman along with three all-state runners will make this team tough to beat. Vernon Hills has the strength up front led by Lauren Katz. The key will be keeping their #3 to #5 group within five seconds of each other and within 30 seconds of Katz and Payton Makowskyj. The talent is there for this team to win.

Washington will be running their first invitational meet of the season. It will interesting to see how their pack running is this early in the season. Grayslake Central ran good at Lake County last week led by Elizabeth Aho and Megan Girmscheid leading the way. Lemont will be without #1 runner Bridget Kunkel. Watch for a solid pack from them. Urbana University has been a power the last two years in Class 1A. They still have the strength to be in the top five in this meet especially having Arielle Summitt and Annemarie Michael up front. Normal University moved up the rankings last week without running their varsity at Normal. Their key could be freshman Katy Clausen who ran 18:23 last week in winning at Maxwell Park.

Individuals Preview – Calling the individual field in this race loaded would be an understatement. All the top names in 2A are here ready to go. Jenna Lutzow is the top 2A returnee from last year’s state meet running 16:52. She will be challenged by two NIC-10 rivals Delaney Appino and Grace McLaughlin (Rockford Boylan HS). Abby Fioresi (Aurora Central Catholic HS) ran 18:13 last week at Harvest Christian and could be a runner in the top ten. Both Arielle Summitt and Annemarie Michael looked good last week at Chrisman. Running up in 2A will not bother these two runners.

Franny Verville should lead at least three Dunlap runners in the top fifteen in this race. Some of the other runners that will challenge for top ten finishes include Jenna Schwartz (Waterloo HS), Megan Moreno (Morton HS), Megan Safranski (Burlington Central HS), Abigail Jones (Marian Catholic Central, Woodstock HS), Kate Jacobs (Woodstock HS), and Madeline Campbell (Rochester HS).

2A Boys – 11:00 AM

DyeStat IL Ranked Teams (14): #3 Grayslake Central, #5 Danville, #8 Dixon, #9 Sycamore, #10 Riverside-Brookfield, #11 East Peoria, #13 Metamora, #14 Belvidere North, #16 Sterling, #17 Kaneland, #21 Vernon Hills, #22 Dunlap, #25 Rock Island Alleman

Team Preview - #2 Normal University is in this meet but opted to run in the 3A race. Defending 2A state champion Grayslake Central should be the slight favorite. If they run like they did at Lake County last week, the team title could be up in the air. Of course they will have race favorite Jack Aho up front with his brother Matt in the top five. Their overall split last week on their top five was 135 seconds on Jack Aho. Watch for Eli Minsky to get a little closer to the Aho’s and the overall split get down to 95 to 100 seconds. That could get them the race win.

Danville was able to pack it up finishing second to #1 Mahomet-Seymour at Charleston. Their split was only 22 seconds. I think we could see more of the same by the Vikings led by William Powell and Phillip Hall. Dixon had two strong races last week to get into the top ten rankings. Their split on five last week was 29 seconds at Galesburg. Both Danville and Dixon are pack teams with no real superstars to battle up front. If they can keep their top runners near Grayslake’s Minsky, one of those two teams could win. Sycamore came within a point of Dixon last week at their home invitational. Stephen Poorten could be among the top ten in this race. A split of under 60 seconds on their top five could get them among the first three teams.

Individual Preview – All eyes will be on the 2A defending state champion in this race. Jack Aho is perhaps the best runner in the state this year regardless of classification. He opened at Lake County with a fast 14:35 on tricky Waukegan Park course. His brother Matt will be close. The chief challenger in this race should be Ben Flowers (Jersey HS). The senior opened up his season running 15:00 to win by 24 seconds at Granite City.

After those first three runners, it is anyone’s guess who could run into a top five finish. There is plenty of talent that could make it a fast race behind Aho. Some of the runners to keep an eye on include Jake Gillum (Metamora HS), Matt Richtman (Kaneland HS, Maple Park), Michael Church (East Peoria HS), Jacob Gebhardt and Jon Landis (Sterling HS), Josh Cable (Rochester HS), and Shane Williamson (Vernon Hills HS).

3A Girls – 11:40 AM

DyeStat IL Ranked Teams (13): #2 Minooka, #3 Yorkville, #4 Naperville North, #6 Hinsdale Central, #7 Batavia, #9 Downers Grove South, #10 Lockport Township, #12 Metea Valley, #15 New Trier, #18 Edwardsville, #22 Barrington, #23 Lyons Township, #25 Lake Forest.

Team Preview – This time Yorkville did not have to petition to get into this 3A race. Because of the increase of their school’s enrollment, Yorkville will be in 3A for the foreseeable future. This race should be just as good as last year as three heavyweights in Illinois Girls Cross Country face off. Ashley Tutt, Mackenzie Callahan, and Emily Shelton all finished in the top five in the high powered Hornet-Red Devil Invitational. They will need to lower their five runner split from the 127 seconds that they ran last week. Yorkville welcomes back their top runner from last year Alexis Grandys who is coming back from an injury. She had her first hard workout this week and is ready to go according to Yorkville Coach Chris Muth. Maddie Dearborn will lead a tight pack for the Lady Foxes who will need to keep their split to 40 – 45 seconds with a runner in the top ten.

Naperville North had a good race last week in Iowa behind nationally ranked Edina MN led by the individual win from Sarah Schmitt. The pack behind Schmitt led by Claire Hamilton was 21 seconds. Schmitt could be in the top five in this race. The key for this team is getting the pack to 25 seconds of Schmitt. The wild card team is Hinsdale Central. They did not run a team on the varsity level but have the pieces to finish in the top three on Saturday. Reilly Revord and Grace McCabe have the potential to finish in the top ten. The pack behind them is deep and could give the Red Devilettes an advantage. Another surprise team should be New Trier. They did not run their best race last week at Hinsdale placing 5^th. They did have a good five runner split of 38 seconds but that pack was too far back. Watch for that to change this week led by Caroline Fix and Grace Fagan. Batavia finished a close second behind Geneva last week even without last year's #1 runner Emma Stephens. Their pack is still good with the addition of two freshman in the top seven (Audrey Pellico and Mia Gianfrancesco) along with front runner Marygrace Golden. A tight pack could get this team into the top three teams.

Downers Grove South and Lockport had good splits last week in winning their meets. Both teams will challenge for the top five. Metea Valley finished fourth last week at Hinsdale. They will need to lower the 49 second split behind #1 runner Terri Scarlett. 

Individual Preview – I think it could come to two runners up front in this race. Jocelyn Long (Barrington HS) is coming off of a great race at St. Charles last weekend running 17:27 to win by more than 30 seconds. Ashley Tutt ran 17:20 last week at Hinsdale finishing behind Lindsey Payne. The two should push each other under 17 minutes. Don’t forget about Tutt’s teammates Mackenzie Callahan and Emily Shelton. They should be among the front runners.

Daly Galloway (Gardner-South Wilmington HS) has finished second in the 1A state meet the last two years. She opted to run in this race instead of the 1A meet earlier in the meet. She does have a personal best of 16:50. I expect her to be challenging for one of the first five spots. Sarah Schmitt looked strong in Iowa last week. I expect her to be among the leaders. Brett Chody (Lake Forest HS) won at the Lake County Invitational last week. I expect her to be up front along with teammate Emma Milburn. Katie Stapleton, Caroline Fix, Reilly Revord, Grace McCabe, and Morgan Bollinger all should be challenging for top ten finishes. Even though Revord finished seventh last week on her home course, she could be the surprise in this race.

3A Boys – 12:20 PM

DyeStat IL Ranked Teams (11) - #3 Lyons Township, #4 Hinsdale Central, #6 Downers Grove North, #7 Whitney Young, #14 New Trier, #15 Yorkville, #16 Minooka, #18 Glenbard West, #19 Marmion Academy, #20 Highland Park; 2A #2 Normal University

Team Previews – It is going to be a battle of WSC-Silver teams in the mix for the team championship in the final varsity race of the day. Lyons Township showed their strength last week on their home course led by Vince Zona and Danny Kilrea. The pack behind their two front runners only had a six second split. They will need to get closer than 60 seconds to Zona / Kilrea. It is the same scenario for Hinsdale Central. Blake Evertsen put one great move in at the end of his race in Hinsdale last week. Their overall split was 60 seconds with a #2 to #5 runner split of only nine seconds. Downers Grove North ran only a seventeen second split on their top five in easily winning at St. Charles. The questions will be how close Alec Danner will be the front and if they can duplicate a split like they ran last week. Even a 30 second split on five with Danner near the front could give them the team title.

Whitney Young is one of the wild cards in this race. The Dolphins did not run their top runners last weekend at Plainfield Central. Clayton Mendez has the ability to be among the front runners. Their pack led by Keduse Worku is good but can it match up with the three WSC-Silver teams? Minooka has the quality up front with Soren Knudsen but will need their pack led by sophomore Jordan Freese to be within 45 seconds of their star runner. New Trier always has a good pack. We could see that led by Warren Blood in this meet. Yorkville moves into 3A and will need to have a good pack to place in the top five led by Alexx Nauman.

Normal University is the other wild card team in this race. The Pioneers were granted the chance to race in the higher level race instead of the 2A in which they will race at state. They have tremendous depth led by Jack Franklin. We will see how their pack lines up with the three WSC-Silver teams along with Whitney Young. Fishers IN had a good race last week at Lavern Gibson National Course finishing second behind Indiana state champion Carmel. Josh Roth and Sam Kuhn were their top runners last week with a 33 second split on their top five. This team could finish in the top six but will need to get a runner in the first fifteen with that kind of split.

Individual Preview – The last individual race of the day should be the best. We first start with a rematch of last week at Hinsdale Central between Soren Knudsen and Blake Evertsen. Knudsen pushed the pace from the start with Evertsen content to just stay off the pace. Evertsen’s kick sealed the deal to win by 14 seconds ahead of Knudsen. Will we see the Minooka senior push the pace again? We will find out Saturday afternoon.

Danny Kilrea and Vince Zona were feeling horrible the first mile of last week’s race at Lyons Township as they were behind a hectic pace set by Dylan Jacobs. The reason they were feeling bad is when they saw the clock at the first mile passing it in 4:28. The key of last week’s race was the Jacobs got away from them in the second mile, but they almost reeled him in in the final mile with Zona only one second back running 14:20 and his teammate Kilrea four seconds back. Hopefully it is not a break neck pace early on. If the leaders go through between 4:43 and 4:46, we could see winning times in the 14:20’s.

Alec Danner could have his breakout race at Detweiller. He led for most of the race last week at St. Charles before being passed in the final 400 by Marmion’s Charlie Zimmer and Geneva’s Tyler Dau. Both Danner and Zimmer will be among the front runners in this race. Clayton Mendez is running with more confidence especially after running 15:09 in horrible conditions to win at Detweiller at Dark at the end of July. He will be in the front. Reese Jordan (Maine South HS, Park Ridge) was under 15 minutes at Lyons and will be among the top ten in this meet. Jack Franklin finished 6^th in the 2A State Meet last year running 14:42. He has the talent to be among the top ten in this race. Warren Blood should be among the front runners along with Danny Peterson (Fremd HS, Palatine).