Illinois athletes to make presence known in distance events at Arcadia

By Michael Newman

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The contingent from Illinois going out to Southern California for this weekend’s Arcadia Invitational is larger than last season’s group. In fact, more and more Illinois athletes have escaped the Illinois early spring fluctuating weather to run in near perfect conditions at Arcadia High School outside of Los Angeles. Some of the top distance runners in the state will be on hand to test their mettle against some of the nation’s best. My guess is that they will fare very well.

Six Illinois Boys athletes will compete at Arcadia in the 3200 Meter Run. Four of the Boys will run in the Invitational race Saturday night (10:55 PM CDT). Zach Dale (Conant HS, Hoffman Estates) and Jesse Reiser (McHenry HS) should be used to this race. They both ran in it last season both dipping under 9 minutes. Do not be surprised if both are chasing after the race championship. Dale showed his fitness level at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in March running 8:59 for 2 Miles. He followed that up the following week at the Mid Suburban League Championships running a solo 4:14 in the 1600 Meter Run. Reiser showed he is ready for the Arcadia challenge by running 9:02 for 3200 Meters basically by himself at the Carthage Invitational three weeks ago. Both are ready to run under 8:50 in this race. Both could walk away with the win in this race.

Kevin Salvano (Buffalo Grove HS) ran 9:10 to win the Mid Suburban League 3200 Meter Run three weeks ago. He has been doing track work with Dale. It would not surprise me if this junior finds himself under nine minutes in this race. Ryan Clevenger (North HS, Dowers Grove) is entered in both this race and the invitational 1 Mile Run (Saturday, 8:04 PM CDT). He ran a 3200 at the end of February but is fit and ready to go as evidenced by the 4:20 for 1600 that he ran at the West Suburban-Silver Meet three weeks ago. Graham Brown (Palatine HS) finished second behind Salvano at the MSL race running 9:14. He will run in the seeded 3200 Meter Run (Saturday, 10:06 PM). He is capable of running under 9:10 in this race.

Neuqua Valley is sending only five Boys athletes to California bout could make a lot of noise in the events that they are entered in. It will start with the Invitational 3200 Meter Relay (Friday, 7:08 PM CDT). Isaiah Robinson, Kyle Bender, Zac Espinosa, and Ty Moss will be part of that quartet. They ran 7:56 at the Mustang Relays without Robinson. The potential is there for this squad to dip under 7:50 in this race. The same quartet will be on of the favorites in the Invitational 1600 Meter Relay (Saturday, 11:46 PM CDT). Both Espinosa and Moss ran under 50 seconds indoors in the open 400. With Moss as the anchor (he ran a 48+ anchor in their indoor Mustang Relay win), this team is capable of getting near 3:16 in this event.

Both Moss and Espinosa will be running in individual events in this meet. Espinosa is entered in the seeded 400 Meter Run (Saturday, 9:04 PM CDT) and could dip under 49 seconds in that race. Moss could be the surprise in the Invitational 800 Meter Run (Saturday, 8:44 PM CDT). Nevada’s Connor Ross will be the favorite in this race after he ran 1:50.75 to win last week at the Stanford Invitational. Even though Moss only has a 1:56 in an open 800 indoors, we have to remember the 1:51.9 anchor that he ran at the Mustang Relays in March. The fans in the stands could be shaking their heads wondering where that Illinois runner came from. The fans from Illinois will know.

Connor Horn will be the other Neuqua runner in action this weekend. He will start on Friday Night (10:54 PM CDT) in the Boys Open Race #2 3200 Meter Run. Horn has run 9:33 indoors. We could see a time much faster than that in this race. Horn is scheduled to come back Saturday (12:51 PM CDT) to run in section 3 of the 1 Mile Run. It will be interesting to see how he comes back on the double fourteen hours later.

Other Illinois Boys runners scheduled to compete this weekend include Blake Evertsen (Central HS, Hinsdale) in the Boys Emerging Stars 1 Mile Run (Saturday, 12:44 PM) and Jared Borowsky (Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire) in Section 1 of the 800 Meter Run (Saturday, 2:52 PM).

Defending 2A State Cross Country Champions Yorkville will send four athletes to compete. Skyler Bollinger, Alexis Grandys, Summer Pierson, and Julia Schultz will compete in the Invitational 3200 Meter Relay (Friday, 6:44 PM). Yorkville ran 9:28 at the Mustang Relays at the beginning of March. The Lady Foxes have the potential to go under 9:20 in this event. The same four runners will come back three hours later in the Invitational 4 x 1600 Meter Relay (Friday, 9:48 PM). Skyler Bollinger will come back Saturday running the Girls 1 Mile Run Open (12:21 PM). The Yorkville junior has run under 5 minutes for the 1600. She is in condition to do it in this race. The question will be how the two races Friday night will affect her.

Abby Kargol (South HS, Downers Grove) ran 11:08 two weeks ago at Illinois Top Times. She will compete in the Girls Invitational 3200 Meter Run (Saturday, 10:40 PM). She could go under 10:50 in this race. Kargol’s teammate Michaela Hackbarth, along with Morgan Schulz (Cary-Grove HS), will run in the final section of the 800 Meter Run (Saturday, 3:04 PM CDT). Schulz ran 2:13 two weeks ago to win the 3A 800 race at Top Times two weeks ago while Hackbarth finished three seconds back. Both could go way under 2:12 Saturday afternoon. Maya Neal (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville) will be in action Thursday and Friday in the Girls Heptathlon where she could finish in the first three.