2023 Richard Spring Invitational Preview

 

Certainty and improbability surround the two races Saturday at Detweiller Park.

 

By Michael Newman

 

The Varsity races Saturday morning at Detweiller Park could be polar opposites of each other. The team battle in the Girls race is between three of the top four teams in Illinois. The Boys race is wide-open with up to 10 teams capable of winning the title.

 

Individually, two defending state champions will lead the Boys race. The Girls race could anywhere from 5 to 10 runners capable of taking home the top prize.

 

Close to 3200 runners are entered to race in one of the six races taking place in this meet. The Girls and Boys Junior Varsity races start at 8:30 AM and 9:10 AM respectfully. The Varsity races followed by the Frosh-Soph races (Girls 11:10 AM / Boys 11:50 AM).

 

Temperatures should be near 70 degrees by the time the two Varsity races get started. A chance of thunder storm is expected Saturday afternoon (as of Friday AM).  3196 runners are entered in the meet with the Girls Varsity race at 543 entries and the Boys Varsity race at 617 entries.

 

Here is a detailed look at the two Varsity races on Saturday morning.

 

Meet Information | Live Results on Athletic.Live | Race Box Assignments

 

Girls Varsity – 9:50 AM

Class 3A Ranked Teams (14) – #1 Downers Grove North, #2 York, #4 Prospect, #9 Hersey, #10 Sandburg, #16 Glenbard West, #20 Oswego East, #21 O’Fallon, #23 Lincoln-Way East, #26 Hinsdale Central, #27 Lincoln-Way Central, #27 Neuqua Valley, #28 Lincoln-Way Central, #29 Palatine

 

Class 2A Ranked Teams (4) – #3 St. Ignatius College Prep, #13 DePaul College Prep, #18 Rosary, #20 Mahomet-Seymour

 

Class 1A Ranked Teams (4) – #5 Peoria Notre Dame, #7 El Paso-Gridley, #17 Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, #30 Belleville Althoff Catholic

 

Entered Teams – Bartlett, Bethalto Civic Memorial, Bluford Webber, Deer Creek-Mackinaw, Downers Grove South, Geneva, Glenbard East, Grant Community, Hinsdale South, Joliet West, Jones College Prep, Kenwood Academy, Lake Park, Lake Zurich,  Lane Tech, Lincoln Park, Lincoln-Way West, Loyola Academy, Machesney Park Harlem, Marist, Monticello, Mother McAuley, Oak Park-River Forest, Oswego, Pekin, Plainfield Central, Plainfield South, Port Byron Riverdale, Providence Catholic, Quincy, Rantoul, Reginia Dominican, St. Charles East, St. Charles North, St. Joseph-Ogden, South Elgin, Springfield, Springfield Lanphier, Stagg, Taylorville, Waubonsie Valley, West Aurora, West Chicago

 

Out of State Teams (5) – Frances Howell Central MO, Mason OH, Otsego MI, Pleasant Valley IA, St. Thomas Aquinas KS

 

Team Notes – This race got even better after last week’s Harvey Braus Invitational at Lake Park when Downers Grove North, York, and Prospect finished within 10 points of each other. Do not be surprised if the outcome is just as close even with a bigger field than Lake Park.

 

Top ranked Downers Grove North could have 2 runners in the top 10 led by Lily Eddington and McKenzie Willard. The two runners were within seven seconds of each other. The week before at Lyons Township it was 23 seconds. It was one of the keys why they won last week. The Trojans will need to have a similar race on Saturday. North had a 13 second split between Sarah Paul, Ava Gilley, and Alayna Todnem last week. The team’s top five split was 43 seconds. Keeping that split under 50 seconds could put this team in contention to win.

 

York was a single point behind their WSC-Silver Conference rivals last week and could be in position to win the team title in this meet. Katherine Klimek, Michaela Quinn, and Maggie Owens all finished in the top 10 at Lake Park. They could repeat those placings in this race. The Dukes have depth were four more runners could score in their top five. The gap between Anna McGrail, Maggie Quinn, Sophia Galiano-Sanchez, and Gigi Hill was just 20 seconds in last week’s race. York had the same top five split as Downers North last week (43 seconds). A bigger race with more runners and York moving their sixth and seven runners with Quinn could get this team the win.

 

The defending 3A state champions Prospect have the power in the front with Veronica Znajda and Meg Peterson leading them. The two runners took the top two places last week at Lake Park and will be among the favorites in this race. Lily Ginsberg opened her season last week and ended up 43 seconds behind Znajda and Peterson. You should expect Ginsberg to be closer to the front this week. Ireland Wildhart, Sophie Fransen, and Bridget Derengowski were within 12 seconds of each other and 15 seconds behind Ginsberg. The Knights had a 67 second split on their top seven in their last race. They will need to have that split under 60 seconds to contend with Downers Grove North and York for the team championship.

 

There are 22 teams among the three classes in this race. Hersey ran well two weeks ago at Hinsdale Central and will challenge for a top five finish along with Sandburg and Glenbard West. The third ranked team in Class 2A, St. Ignatius College Prep, finished fourth at Lake Park 90 points behind the “Big 3”. They have the talent to finish high in this race led by top 10 possibility Annika Swan along with Lizeth Montes and Ella Hwang close behind.

 

There are five out of state teams traveling to Peoria to run in what is already a strong Girls field. There are three schools that could challenge for a finish in the top five in this meet. One of the teams to watch is Mason HS from Ohio. The defending D1 State Champions are currently the top ranked team in the state according to the OATCC Coaches Poll. They had a hiccup last week in their own invitational finishing second behind a good DuPont KY team. Efa Paschka and Bella Tapley ran in the top 10 for the Comets in that race. The team had a 95 second split on their top five and a 2-5 split of 49 seconds in their last week.

 

Pleasant Valley IA has some experience against Illinois schools finishing third nine points behind Naperville North at the Spartan Classic on September 2. The team came back to win at Cedar Rapids more than a week ago. Grace Boleyn is the team’s top runner and could finish in the top 10 in this race. The Spartans in their last meet had a 72 second top five split with their 2-5 split at just 24 seconds.

 

Michigan power Otsego runs in this meet for the first time. The Bulldogs are the D2 defending champions in the state and ran well last year at the NXR Midwest Regional. This is their first huge meet of the year and have not raced since September 5. The first two races of the season Otsego has looked good. In their opening meet at the Southwestern Michigan Rust Buster on August 30, they won led by the individual win from Emma Hoffman followed by teammates Logan Brazee and Megan Germain. Hoffman could be among the top 20 in this race having run 18:31 for 5k in the opening race. Their top five split was 74 seconds, 46 seconds on their 2-5 runner split. Could be a team that surprises in this meet.

 

Frances Howell Central MO finished third behind O’Fallon last week at the Forest Park XC Festival Green Division race led by Reese McDevitt finishing sixth. It might be tough for the team to finish in the top 10. The Spartans had an 85 second split on their top four runners. Their overall split on five runners was over two minutes. St. Thomas Aquinas KS finished ninth last Saturday at the Olathe Twilight Meet. They had nice 30 second pack on their top three runners behind their front runners Sophia Spinello and Amelia Rittel. The Saints finished second in the Kansas 5A State Meet last fall.

 

Runners to Watch: Veronica Znajda – Prospect; Meg Peterson – Prospect; Lily Eddington – Downers Grove North; McKenzie Willard – Downers Grove North; Katherine Klimek – York; Michaela Quinn – York; Grace Boleyn – Pleasant Valley IA; Annika Swan – St. Ignatius College Prep.  

 

Aubrey Desmond – Belleville Althoff Catholic; Holly Johnson, Downers Grove South; Reese McDevitt – Francis Howell Central MO; Sofia Borter – Geneva; Maggie Hibbard – Glenbard West; Margaret Grabske – Hersey; Brea Counihan – Lincoln-Way Central; Jane Lynch – Loyola Academy; Ava Boyd – Mahomet-Seymour; Efa Paschka – Mason OH; Bella Tapley Mason OH; Elizabeth Hall – Neuqua Valley; Lenny Sterritt – Oak Park-River Forest; Ellie Bush – O’Fallon; Morgan Dick – Oswego East; Emma Hoffman – Otsego MI; Abigail Jordan – Palatine; Chiara Surtz – Rosary; Lindsey Gerhardstein-Sandburg; Marley Andelman – St. Charles East; Gwen Hobson – St. Charles North; Savannah Franzen – St. Joseph-Ogden.

 

Runners Notes – This should be a fast race considering the conditions expected for Saturday morning. The Girls individual race is wide open and not an open and shut case as the Boys race will be after it. We could have the top four runners from Lake Park leading the way in this race. Veronica Znajda and Meg Peterson went 1-2 last week and could repeat that finish on Saturday Lily Eddington and Katherine Klimek were within a second of each other last week and could be close together and closer to the front. Michaela Quinn and Lily Ginsberg could possibly close the gap on the front four runners. Iowa’s Grace Boleyn ran 18:28 for 5k on her hilly home course in winning on September 2 and could be in the mix for the win.

 

Annika Swan finished 20 seconds behind Eddington and Klimek last week and could close the gap. Efa Paschka and Emma Hoffman could be among the top 10 in this race. Lindsey Gerhardstein, Morgan Dick, Brea Counihan, and Jane Lynch could all be runners that you could see in the top 15.

 

Boys Varsity – 10:30 AM

Class 3A Ranked Teams (17) – #2 Hersey, #6 Neuqua Valley, #9 West Aurora, #11 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #12 St. Charles East, #13 O’Fallon, #14 Barrington, #15 Palatine, #17 Wheaton North, #18 Oak Park-River Forest,  #19 Lane Tech, #21 Hinsdale Central, #22 Prospect, #23 Whitney Young, #24 Rockton Hononegah, #27 Lincoln-Way East, #30 York

 

Class 2A Ranked Teams (4) – #7 Marmion Academy, #11 Marion, #13 Bethalto Civic Memorial, #27 Mahomet-Seymour

 

Class 1A Ranked Teams (6) – #6 Northridge Prep, #8 Peoria Notre Dame, #10 El Paso-Gridley, #12 Pleasant Plains, #13 St. Joseph-Ogden, #17 Port Byron Riverdale

 

Entered Teams – Bartlett, Belleville Althoff Catholic, Blue Island Eisenhower, Bluford Webber, Collinsville, Conant, Deer Creek-Mackinaw, De Paul College Prep, Downers Grove South, Elgin, Geneva, Glenbard East, Grant Community, Joliet Central, Joliet West, Jones College Prep, Kenwood Academy, Lake Park, Lake View, Lake Zurich, Lincoln Park, Lincoln-Way West, Loyola Academy, Marist, Monticello, Naperville North, Niles Notre Dame, Oswego, Oswego East, Pekin, Plainfield Central, Providence Catholic, Quincy, Rantoul, St. Charles North, Sandburg, Shepard, South Elgin, Springfield, Springfield Lanphier, Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, Stagg, Taylorville, West Chicago

 

Out of State Teams (5) – Frances Howell Central MO, Mason OH, Otsego MI, St. Thomas Aquinas KS, Shawnee Mission South KS

 

Team Notes – This race is wide open in deciding who could win the Boys team title in this meet. There are 27 ranked teams in the field. 17 of those teams are in Class 3A. Only three of those teams are ranked among the top 10 schools. Hersey and Neuqua Valley finished first and third two weeks ago at the Hinsdale Red Devil Invitational.

 

The Huskies had a pack of three runners and then a pack of two runners that brought them to a narrow two point win ahead of New Trier. The pack of Zach Frayder, Cameron Donner, and Liam Naughton were separated by just three seconds with Frayder finishing in the top 10. AJ Svienty and Rob Geissenberger were separated by four seconds in their pack. The two packs were separated by 32 seconds with an overall top five split at 39 seconds. In a race with the number of runners that will be in it, Hersey needs to get the pack closer together to capture the team win.

 

The key for success for Neuqua Valley in this race will be the pack running behind their two front runners Zac Close and Robert Glenn. Close will be among the leaders in this race and will be among the top five individually. Glenn finished 23 seconds behind Close two weeks ago and should be among the top 20 in this race. The pack of Tony Hinderliter, Anthony Pastore, and Ryan Adamski were 41 seconds behind Glenn but within 12 seconds of each other. The gap on Glenn and the pack closed from their opening race and at Hinsdale Central. It should come down again in this race. It will need to be down again for the Wildcats to win the team title.

 

West Aurora has looked impressive winning the Aurora City Championships and then finishing second by four points behind Lyons Township at the Kuharic Invitational. The team had a 42 second split on their top five behind Sean Heetland and Nathan Gehrman who both could finish in the top 20 in this race. Barrington has not raced their varsity team since the Lake County Invitational on August 30 against less than optimal competition winning with only 20 points and a margin of almost 100 points ahead of unranked Libertyville and Stevenson. Joe Bregenzer ran 15:05 in that race and should be with the leaders on Saturday. The Broncos had a nice 20 second split led by Justin Hurtado and Max Lewis. The gap between Bregenzer and Hurtado was 39 seconds. Closing that gap to under 30 seconds on the front two runners and keeping that pack split close could get the team close to a win.

 

O’Fallon finished fifth last week at Forest Park without their #1 runner Dylan Ybarra in that race. Ybarra the week before ran 14:33 to lead the Panthers to a win at Granite City. Zach Thoman was the top runner last week in St. Louis but ran 14:53 behind Ybarra the week before. They could also have Eli Greenstreet, who is one of the team’s top five runners, in this race after missing the first two meets of the season. He could give the team a boost and one of the top three teams in this meet.

 

Wheaton-Warrenville South had been an early season surprise behind strong front running from Josiah Narayanan and Aiden Noel and could be one of the top five teams in this meet. St. Charles East, Wheaton North, and Lane Tech have the talent to be among the top 10 team finishers. A big question in this meet will be Hinsdale Central. Aden Bandukwala was out front two weeks ago on his home course, but there was no packing amongst the rest of the Hinsdale Central runners. How close they are together in this meet will determine how high they finish.

 

The five out of state teams may not find their way into the top 10 in this deep team field. The one team that could find their way into possibly a top five finish is Mason OH. The Comets are the defending D1 State Champions and are the top ranked D1 team in Ohio according to the OATCC Coaches Poll. Mason looked strong last week in their own invitational winning by a comfortable margin over a good Brownsburg IN team. The team placed 5 runners in the top 20 in that race led by Jerry Xu and Max Liato. The team had a 50 second on their top five that included Brendan Roe, Will Buckelew, and Alex Follmer. Getting a runner in the top 15 with a similar split could have this Ohio team chasing after a trophy.

 

The other four out of state teams could have trouble finishing in the top 15 in this meet. Francis Howell Central MO finished 14th last week in the Gold Division race at the Forest Park XC Festival in St. Louis. This team is young led by Ezra Bailey who ran 17:46 for 5k last week. Three of their top seven runners were freshmen in that race. Otsego MI finished sixth in last year’s Michigan D2 State Meet. They have not raced since September 5. Sophomore Kenny Sheffer ran 16:36 for 5k to start the year. The team in that race at Berrien County Fairgrounds had just a 20 second split on their top five runners.

 

Shawnee Mission South in Kansas is in this field for the first time. The Raiders did not qualify for the Kansas 6A State Meet last year but are looking good so far this fall. South finished ninth last Saturday at the Olathe Twilight Meet led by top five finisher Max Larsen. Their split could be a problem in this meet. The gap is nearly 75 seconds from Larsen to the 2-5 pack. Their split on that group was at 77 seconds. St. Thomas Aquinas KS was also in that meet finishing 16 overall. The Saints finished second in the Kansas 5A State Meet last October.

 

Runners to Watch: Dylon Nalley – Marion; Aden Bandukwala – Hinsdale Central; Zac Close – Neuqua Valley; Dylan Ybarra – O’Fallon; Max Larson – Shawnee Mission South KS; Joe Bregenzer – Barrington; Will Kozlowski – Lane Tech; Grant Giblin – Sandburg; Alex Krieg – Palatine; Aidan Murphy, Wheaton North; Josiyah Narayanan – Wheaton-Warrenville South

 

Max Weber – Bethalto Civic Memorial; Josh Poeschel – Downers Grove South; Dean Witzig – El Paso-Gridley; Liam Naughton – Hersey; Sam Berlinghof – Jones College Prep; Jiberil Lesman – Lake View; Augustus Gaudio – Mahomet-Seymour; Connor Carlson – Marmion Academy; Max Liao, Mason OH; Ammar Bhanpuri – Naperville North; Robert Glenn – Neuqua Valley; Michael Michelotti – Oak Park-River Forest; Lewis O’Connor – Oak Park-River Forest; Zach Thoman – O’Fallon; Jack Willenbourg – Pleasant Plains; Tyler Shick – Plainfield Central; John Peterson – Prospect; Jed Wilson – St. Charles East; Carson Maroon – St. Joseph-Ogden; Owen Morgan, Taylorville; Sean Heetland – West Aurora; Aiden Noel – Wheaton-Warrenville South; Adam Abiade – Whitney Young; Dalton Lowery – Whitney Young

 

Runners Notes – All eyes will be on defending 2A State Champion Dylon Nalley in this race. The senior has started out strong this fall after hamstring injuries slowed him down during the track season, Nalley ran an electric 14:08 two weeks ago to win at Granite City setting a course record. He came back last week easily winning at Forest Park and going under 15-minutes running 14:54 on the 5k course. He passed the first mile in 4:40 on his way to the win. The question is with optimal conditions how fast he will take the field out on Saturday. Dale Johnson and Ethan Hogan were between 4:33 and 4:35 last Saturday in the 2A race at First to the Finish.  Nalley ran 14:03 last September at the Peoria Invitational running the third fastest non-state time on the Detweiller Park course. How fast will he go out on Saturday and where will that pace take him?

 

Defending 3A Champion Aden Bandukwala and Zac Close finished within a second of each other two weeks ago at Hinsdale. How fast will they go pulled by Nalley? Dylan Ybarra ran 25 seconds behind Nalley two weeks ago at Granite City and is ready for a fast time. Max Larson ran 15:00 for 5k last Saturday at Olathe Twilight finishing fifth. (Note: the course afterwards was measured to be 108 meters short of 5k +/- 20 seconds). Larsen should be expected to be one of the front runners. Joe Bregenzer started out strong at Lake County and could finish in the top five. Grant Giblin has not raced yet this year but is entered in this race. I would keep an eye on him. Josiah Narayanan, Jed Wilson, and Will Kozlowski ran well last week at Lake Park and will be with the front pack. Alex Krieg finished fifth at Hinsdale two weeks ago and should not be discounted in this race. Aidan Murphy won in Iowa to open the season and should not be counted out of the top 10.