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2018 Richard Spring Classic Preview

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Richard Spring Invitational   Sep 13th 2018, 8:08pm
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The second of the three big Peoria races offers up plenty of excitement

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

Every race on historic Detweiller Park is a cause for excitement as we seem to slowly crawl towards the state meet in November.

The 31th edition of this meet should again should be great building on the legacy of this event. This meet is named after Richard Spring, who graduated from Bergan High School in Peoria in 1982. He ran on Bergan’s two state championship teams in 1980 and 1981. He finished third individually in the 1A State Meet in 1981. Richard went on to compete in Cross Country and Track for Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. While he was a member of the Augustana track team, Richard died in the spring of 1985 while he was a junior. The meet started as the Spaulding Invitational in 1982 up until 1987 when the school consolidated with Bergan to become Notre Dame High School. Close to 70,000 runners have participated in this race.

This year’s race is no different. Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West will go after a third straight win in this meet but could have company close to her. Does Wheaton-Warrenville South sweep the team titles? The Tigers could have the formula to win both races on Saturday morning. There are plenty of teams that think differently.

Here is a look at each of the two varsity races for Saturday. The first race of the day at Detweiller Park commences at 9:00 AM.

 

Richard Spring Invitational Box AssignmentsRichard Spring Invitational Meet Page

 

Girls Varsity Race – 9:35 AM

Girls Ranked Teams3A: #4 Glenbard West, #5 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #10 Oswego, #12 Hinsdale Central, #14 Palatine, #22 Oak Park-River Forest, #23 Lincoln-Way Central, #24 York. 2A: #4 Normal University, #5 Mahomet-Seymour, #10 Chatham-Glenwood, #15 Springfield, #17 Rosary, #20 Urbana, #22 Peoria Notre Dame. 1A: #5 St. Joseph-Ogden, #7 Pleasant Plains, #13 Monticello

Girls Entered Teams – Aurora West, Bartlett, Bartonville Limestone, Bismarck-Henning, Chicago University, Deerfield, Downers Grove North, Geneva, Glenbard North, Grant Community, Heyworth, Hinsdale South, Joliet Catholic, Joliet West, Lake Forest, Lake Park, Lake Zurich, Lane Tech, Lincoln Park, Lincoln-Way East, Lincoln-Way West, Loyola Academy, Machesney Park Harlem, Maine South, Marist, Mother McAuley, Neuqua Valley, O’Fallon, Oswego East, Pekin, Pleasant Valley IA, Plainfield Central, Plainfield East, Plainfield South, Providence Catholic, Quincy, Rantoul, Rock Bridge MO, St. Charles East, St. Charles North, St. Ignatius, St. Thomas More, Sandburg, Schaumburg, Springfield Lanphier, Springfield Lutheran, Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, Springfield Southeast, Stagg, Stevenson, Taylorville, Waubonsie Valley, Waukegan, West Chicago, Wheaton Academy

 

Teams Race Outlook – The team title will come down to area rivals Wheaton-Warrenville South and Glenbard West. Both teams have power up front with Glenbard West having Katelynne Hart and Katie Hohe while Wheaton-Warrenville South will have Samantha Poglitsch and Laurel Moneysmith towards the front. The key will come down to the team’s three to five packs. Glenbard West had a split of 27 second split on their group last week at Lake Park. Wheaton-Warrenville South had the same split (27 seconds) if you include Tess Rucoba who won the open race at Wauconda. The team that gets their pack within 30 seconds of their second runner could be the team that comes away with the win.

Oswego is a team to keep an eye on this Saturday. They do have Isabelle Christiansen, who could finish in the top five, leading them. The improvement of freshman Becca Corbett, who won last week at Joliet, gives the Panthers a strong second runner. The split on four off Corbett was 70 seconds. Oswego could be a top three team in this meet if that split is cut down.

This will be the first big invitational race for both Hinsdale Central and Palatine on Saturday. The Red Devilettes have McKenna Revord who could be among the top 10 individuals. Watch their pack led by Kayla Byrne and Lucy Fischer to be a difference maker to get this squad among the top five in the team standings. Palatine also has that front runner with Anna Marie Jordan a good chance to be in the top ten. In a meet on September 5 on their home course for 2.5 miles, Palatine had a 19 second split on their second through fifth runners led by Kate Lechowicz who was 36 seconds behind Jordan. It would not surprise me to see Palatine among the top three teams and closer to the big two than we think.

Normal University and Mahomet-Seymour had good races last week on this course and will look to duplicate that effort in this race. Both teams in past Richard Spring races have kept their frosh/soph runners on the lower level on Saturday. Runners such as Elizabeth Simms of Mahomet-Seymour and Lyndsey Wolters of Normal University could be two of the younger runners that we see in the 9:00 AM Frosh/Soph race. St. Joseph-Ogden tends to keep their younger runners down in the Frosh/Soph race.

Area rivals Chatham-Glenwood and Springfield did not go “all-out” in their first race at Granite City two weeks ago. In their first real competition, it is will be something to watch how their pack running works in this field of over 400 runners.

 

Individuals to Watch (In Alphabetical Order) – Alice Abbott - St. Charles East, Merrigan Allen - Lincoln-Way Central, Paige Arseneau - Pekin, Rachel Baumgartner - Lincoln-Way Central, Ella Bittner - Normal University, Emily Burns - Lake Zurich, Isabelle Christiansen - Oswego, Becca Corbett - Oswego, Jenna Couwenhoven - Lincoln-Way East, Katelynne Hart - Glenbard West, Fran Hendrickson - St. Thomas More, Katie Hohe - Glenbard West, Caroline Jachino - Pleasant Plains, Anne Marie Jordan - Palatine, Lydia Kurfman - Quincy, Liana Kurtz- Rosary, Cecilia Light - Marist, Sarah May -York, Sophia McDonnell - Geneva, Laurel Moneysmith - Wheaton-Warrenville South, Julia Monson - O’Fallon, Aly Negovetich - Grant Community, Rhiannon O’Keefe - St. Ignatius, Samantha Poglitsch - Wheaton-Warrenville South, Rachel Price - St. Charles North, McKenna Revord - Hinsdale Central, Lydia Roller - Staunton, Elizabeth Sims - Mahomet-Seymour, Mariam Slimane - Lake Park, Natalie Sorenson - Stevenson, Lyndsey Wolters, Normal University, Madison Zarembski - Oswego East.

 

Individuals Race Outlook – All eyes will be on Katelynne Hart as she looks for her third race win in a row in this meet. Hart “felt-out” the pace in her first race of the year last week at Lake Park running 16:35 for the win. Lake Park’s East Campus course tends to run 8 to 10 seconds slower than Detweiller Park. It will depend on what kind of strategy that the 2-time state champion deploys on Saturday morning. Her next major race will be at Naperville Twilight Invitational on October 3. We could see a fast race on Saturday from her. Don’t be surprised if he uses a different strategy going for the win. We will have that answer just before 10 AM.

The race behind (or maybe with) Hart should be fascinating to watch. Lianna Surtz was pushed by Yorkville Emily Eberhart in her first race of the season before Eberhart had to drop out. Surtz went on to run 17:15 to break the course record by more than 20 seconds. The freshman has not been challenged since winning three invitationals. Surtz did run 17:18 at Detweiller at Dark in July. The question will be whether she tries to stay or push Hart in Saturday’s race?

Another freshman Aly Negovetich showed that she will be in the front in this race after wins at Lake County and on September 1 at Fenton. Alice Abbott was impressive running 17:12 at Lake Park last Saturday and should also be among the front runners. Samantha Poglitsch ran a quick 18:10 for 5k in her opener last week at Wauconda. She has the talent to place in one of the first three spots. Isabelle Christiansen ran 17:26 in July on this course but has showed that she is in fantastic condition. The Oswego senior is a runner you should expect in the front.

Fran Hendrickson started her season off strong winning her first three runners. This 1A runner could be among the top 15 in this race. Don’t be surprised if it is in the top ten. Lydia Roller is back on this course after running 17:55 to finish second in the 1A race last week at First to the Finish. Roller being in a faster race compared to last week could see another drop in her times. Caroline Jachino was a little under the weather in last week’s Peoria race run finishing eight overall in the 1A race. Watch for her to be close to Roller and Hendrickson on Saturday.

McKenna Revord and Sarah May could be among the top 15 runners along with Anne Marie Jordan and Cecilia Light. Don’t count out Lydia Kurfman. The Quincy senior finished second at Granite City at the beginning of September and could find her way into the top ten in this race.

 

Boys Varsity Race – 10:45 AM

Boys Ranked Teams3A: #1 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #2 Hersey, #5 St. Charles East, #6 Oswego East (JV), #7 Neuqua Valley, #10 Plainfield South, #12 Sandburg, #17 York, #18 Naperville Central, #22 Barrington; 2A: #1 Chatham-Glenwood, #7 Springfield, #12 Peoria Notre Dame, #24 Mahomet-Seymour. 1A: #2 Monticello, #12 Paxton-Buckley-Loda, #17 Pleasant Plains, #21 Northridge Prep, #24 Deer Creek-Mackinaw

Boys Entered Teams – Aurora West, Bartlett, Bartonville Limestone, Berwyn-Cicero Morton, Bismarck-Henning, Brother Rice, Chicago University, Deerfield, Geneva, Glenbard East, Glenbard North, Grant Community, Heyworth, Hinsdale South, Joliet Catholic, Joliet Central, Joliet West, Lake Zurich, Lake Park, Lane Tech, Lincoln Park, Lincoln-Way West, Loyola Academy, Machesney Park Harlem, Mascoutah, Maine West, Marist, Naperville North, Niles Notre Dame, Normal University, Oak Park-River Forest, O’Fallon, Oswego, Palatine, Pekin, Plainfield Central, Plainfield East, Pleasant Valley IA, Providence Catholic, Quincy, Rantoul, Rock Bridge MO, Rockton Hononegah, St. Charles North, St. Joseph-Ogden, St. Thomas More, Shepard, Springfield Lanphier, Springfield Lutheran, Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, Springfield Southeast, Stagg, Taylorville, Urbana, Waukegan, West Chicago, Wheaton Academy, Wheaton North

 

Teams Race Outlook – We hope to see top ranked Wheaton-Warrenville South at full strength with Sean and Scott Maison racing for the first time this fall. Led by William Hauenstein and Jacob Kluckhohn last week at Wauconda, the Tigers ran a 33 second split on their top four runners. The split could stay the same even with the addition of the Maison brothers. That could mean problems for the rest of the teams in this race. Don’t be surprised if South has their top four on Saturday in the top 15.

Hersey came close to Glenbard West two weeks ago at Fenton finishing second on a sixth-runner tiebreak. The Huskies have the power in the front with Josh Methner challenging for the individual win and Max Svienty and Ryan Buch possibilities in the top 10. What hurt this team in the Fenton race was their split from four to five was at 39 seconds with an overall team split at 108 seconds. Getting those numbers lower could solidify a second-place finish. St. Charles East was more than impressive in their seasonal debut running a top five split of 45 seconds and only a 10 second gap on their top three in their Lake Park win. Bob Liking will be among the top ten in this race. Keeping that split close to the same moves them with or ahead of Hersey.

Neuqua Valley overcame the weather elements to win over a strong field last Saturday in St. Louis. Michael Madiol led the team with a fourth-place finish in that race. I’m not concerned with their 60 second split on their top five considering how bad the conditions were. Watch for a tighter pack from this group in this race. Sandburg has not really pushed it early in the season. I could see the Eagles among the top four teams in this race using a tight pack. Ben and Will Giblin along with Nico Calderon and Sam Rodriguez give Sandburg a strong nucleus in their top seven.

Plainfield South had a good performance in winning at Joliet led by Christian Knowlton. Their pack needs to close down their split in order to get close to a top five finish. Naperville Central will have their top two runners Thomas Shilgalis and Seth Klein-Collins back in their lineup after holding them out last week at Lake Park. A tight pack off Klein-Collins could move the Redhawks higher up in the team standings. York finished fifth last week at Joliet without Ethan Kern in their lineup. Kern will be running and should be close to Daniel Klysh among the front runners. Don’t expect the Dukes to move their frosh/soph runners up in this race.

Chatham-Glenwood will be at full strength when they toe the line on Saturday morning. Expect Cooper Peterson along with Drey and Dathan Maton to be among the top 25 in this race. It will be interesting to see how this team fares not by overall team place but how their times compare to the previous Peoria race. A 5 to 10 team finish for the Titans would not be a surprise. We will, however, get a better idea at the end of this race of how good this team is. We have not seen Springfield at full strength yet. Led by Kyle Boughter, the Senators ran close to Chatham-Glenwood last year. Springfield is a question since this will be their first major race of the season. Just like Chatham-Glenwood, we will have a better idea about this team Saturday night.

Monticello is the second-ranked team in 1A and could come away a strong time performance in this race especially running against the bigger teams. Garret Dixon should be among the top ten runners in this race. They ran better at Chrisman two weeks ago after finishing second to Clifton Central in their opening race of the season. The Sages are better than people think. We will find out more about this squad in this race.

Palatine, O’Fallon, Wheaton North, and Lake Zurich are three 3A teams that are unranked and that I will be keeping an eye on. This will be the first invitational race of 2018 with the Pirates led by Richie Jacobo. O’Fallon is better than people think. We will get a sense of that in this race. The Panthers finished sixth last week at St. Louis. It was their third-place finish, only two points behind Edwardsville, at Granite City that caught my eye. Look for a strong race from them on Saturday. Lake Zurich is young but have the talent to be a state qualifying team in November. We could see some of their youth in the Frosh/Soph race. Wheaton North just added this meet after their race at Pleasant Valley IA was cancelled at the beginning of the month. The Falcons could surorise in this race.

 

Individuals to Watch (In Alphabetical Order) – Ryan Arnold - St. Charles North, Negus Bogard, Robinson, Kyle Boughter - Springfield, Ryan Buch - Hersey, Nico Calderon - Sandburg, Garrett Dixon - Monticello, Spencer Dzyacky - Loyola Academy, Ben Giblin - Sandburg, Will Giblin - Sandburg, Chris Gilbert - Peoria Notre Dame, Jack Gilboy - Lake Zurich, Patrick Hart - Lake Zurich, William Hauenstein - Wheaton-Warrenville South, Julian Higueros - Lane Tech, Richie Jacobo- Palatine, Chris Keeley - Neuqua Valley, Ethan Kern - York, Christian Knowlton - Plainfield South, Jacob Kluckhohn - Wheaton-Warrenville South, Daniel Klysh - York, Ryan Kredell - Geneva, Thomas Leonard - Marist, Bob Liking - St. Charles East, Aidan King - St. Charles East, Michael Madiol - Neuqua Valley, Sean Maison - Wheaton-Warrenville South, Scott Maison - Wheaton-Warrenville South, Dathan Maton - Chatham-Glenwood, Drey Maton- Chatham -Glenwood, Jackson McClure - Normal University, Bennett Melone - St. Charles East, Josh Methner - Hersey, Mathias Powell - Mahomet-Seymour, Cooper Peterson - Chatham-Glenwood, Fiker Rosen - Quincy, Thomas Shilgalis - Naperville Central, Max Svienty - Hersey, Will Van Alstine - O’Fallon

 

Individuals Race Outlook – Just like last week’s race on this course, we should have an indication of who of the top runners in the state are at the conclusion of this race. Josh Methner finished two seconds behind Glenbard West’s Rory Cavan at Fenton two weeks ago. Cavan ran 14:24 in winning last week at Detweiller. Methner should open it up in this race. The same can be said about Thomas Shilgalis entering this race. The senior ran 15:00 in August at Downers Grove South netting the third fastest time ever on that course. Shilgalis has yet to open it up this season. Saturday could be the race to see a fast time between these two. If the pace goes out similar to the 4:40-4:41 that the leaders displayed last Saturday, we could see a winning time close to 14:20.

This will be the first time that Fiker Rosen will race at Detweiller Park. The freshman has two races wins this season along with a fifth-place finish at the beginning of September at Granite City. Anytime a freshman runs under 14:50 this early in the year will cause anticipation for what could be ahead later in the year. Rosen could cause that anticipation in this race. Mathias Powell won by 39 seconds in his only race of the year at Charleston at the beginning of the month. A top 10 finish is definitely in the cards for this senior.

Bob Liking ran a strong 15:05 in his win last week at Lake Park. We could see him under 14:50 in this race. The same can be said about Christian Knowlton. The Plainfield South runner’s effort in last week’s win at Joliet was equivalent to under 15-minutes at Detweiller. We could see a fast race from him. The Wheaton-Warrenville South quartet of William Hauenstein, Jacob Kluckhohn, and Sean and Scott Maison all have the ability to finish in the top 15. Daniel Klysh finished three seconds behind Knowlton last week. Klysh along with Ethan Kern could be among the top 15 in this race. Garrett Dixon could run under 15-minutes on Saturday. He ran 14:59 last year to finish eight-overall. We could see a faster race from him in 2018. Negus Bogard was close to all-state position last year finishing 27th in the 1A race. He could be under 15-minutes in this race.

We are going to see some fresh faces in the front on Saturday other than the names that we mentioned above. Richie Jacobo along with Max Svienty could be two of those runners. With how wide-open this race could be, no “un-expected” runner in the top 25 would surprise me.

 



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