Above: 3A Top ranked Sandburg receiving final instructions from Coach John O’Malley at the Richard Spring Invitational on September 19. The #2 ranked team in the nation will be the favorite in the 3A race at the Peoria Central Invitational Saturday morning. (Mike Newman Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Here are some of the meets that will be taking place this weekend throughout Illinois.

Peoria Central Invitational

The oldest of the four invitational meets held at Detweiller Park changes its format beginning this year. Instead of the Boys race and the Girls race, the two gender races have been split into small and big classes. It gives the smaller school a chance to take home some hardware from this meet.

Girls 1A/2A – Six ranked teams are in the first race of the morning led by Big-12 Conference Rivals #9 Peoria Notre Dame and #13 Normal University. The Irish split up there squad two weeks ago at the Richard Spring Invitational but should be at full strength led by individual race favorite Maryjeanne Gilbert. U-High ran their best race of the year last week at the ACC Charger Classic when they ran a 49 second split on their top five and only a 26 second 2 to 5 split. #18 Springfield have a powerful top three led by Natalie Motor and Aly Goff. They will work on getting their top five split down in this meet.

#16 Carmel Catholic has come on strong the past two weeks jumping into the rankings. We will see in this race how this young group (top five all freshmen and sophomores) responds on the Detweiller Park course. #25 Morton is coming off of a good race last week at East Peoria led by freshman Meagan Moreno could finish in the top ten in this race. Danville, Geneseo, Rock Island Alleman, and Waterloo are other teams that could challenge for a top five finish. #14 Freeburg is the only 1A team in the field and could finish in the top six in this meet.

Maryjeanne Gilbert is expected to dominate this race with a sub 17 minute time winning it.

Boys 1A/2A – The Boys race in this classification is a little more loaded with nine ranked 2A teams along with three ranked 1A teams toeing the line. The one thing I will be watching to see is if #5 Normal University will be racing some of their tough frosh/soph runners on the varsity team. If the Pioneers would have run that group with the varsity two weeks ago at the Richard Spring Invitational would have given them a team time of 77:50. That mark is one of the fastest by a 2A team this season on the Detweiller Park course. #8 Springfield escaped with a 2 point margin of victory last week in their own invitational. The Senators will have Heath Warren leading them. They will also look to get their five man split under 55 seconds in this race. #12 Rock Island Alleman ran strong at the First to the Finish Invitational last month. Last weekend at the Rock Island Invitational, Aaron Golding led his team to a three point win ahead of 3A’s East Moline United. Their five runner split of 86 seconds from last week needs to come down in order for this team to win this meet. #13 Fenwick ran a tight pack last week at Palatine. They will look to move the pack up and duplicate that effort this Saturday.

#17 Metamora came on strong two weeks ago at Dunlap finishing second. Jake Gillum will lead this squad with hopes to finish in the top three here. #18 Danville has Carl Way to lead them. The Maroons have been running a 50 second average split off of him. If Way is in the top five in this race could get Danville the team championship. #22 Sterling, #24 Peoria Notre Dame, and #25 Normal West are the other ranked teams in this field. #7 Freeburg is the top 1A team in this race and could surprise some people Saturday morning. Charlie Parrish led his team to a win last week with their top five only having a 77 second split. If Parrish places in the top 15, this squad could finish in the top five. #15 Mt. Zion and #18 Galva Mid County are the other 1A ranked teams competing.

Heath Warren was a little disappointed with the 15:14 time that he ran 2 weeks ago on this course. We could see him run under 15 minutes in this race but far under? Jake Gillum could be his chief competition along with Aaron Golding, Carl Way, Jon Landis and Jake Gebhardt (Sterling HS), and Jack Franklin (Normal University) close by in the front.

Girls 3A – Only four ranked 3A teams in this field. #10 Oswego ran great on this course two weeks ago placing third at the Richard Spring Invitational. They will look for the same type of race with a tight pack towards the front. They will not be the hunter in this race instead being the hunted with the bullseye on their back. #17 Prospect most likely will have all of their three freshmen in this race. Brooke Wilson will be their runner up front. It will be interesting to see how close the freshmen are to Junior Aileen White. A tight 2to 5 split could mean a win. #22 Downers Grove South could be chasing for a top finish in this race led by Katie Stapleton. #23 Glenbrook South is extremely young with sophomore Emily Noone leading them. Their split on five two weeks ago was 85 seconds. That needs to come down if this team wants to finish in the top three. Plainfield North, Edwardsville, Hoffman Estates, and Huntley will be the top unranked teams in this field with hopes of a top five finish. Plainfield North will be without #1 runner Rachael Lau who will be taking SAT subject tests on Saturday.

Brooke Wilson ran great last week in placing second at Palatine. She will be the favorite in this race.

Boys 3A

The spotlight race of the meet has the top four teams in 3A in this field. The race has lost a little of its luster. #2 Neuqua Valley will be without #1 runner Connor Horn as he will be rested this weekend according to Neuqua Valley Coach Paul Vandersteen. The Wildcats had a tight pack two weeks ago led by Jake MacEneaney. The split was under 10 seconds for that pack. They will need to have that closeness in the race along with moving the pack towards the front. US #2 Sandburg will race against IL #3 Lyons Township most likely for the team championship. In their first meeting almost a month ago, Sandburg only defeated Lyons Township by one point at the Lions Pride meet. Sandburg dominated this course two weeks ago running an incredible 14:45 average on their top five. Lyons Township ran a 44 second split last week in winning in Indiana last week. They will look to lower their split in this meet. They do have the athletes to challenge both Sandburg and Neuqua Valley. #4 York is also in the field but will be running their JV group in this meet to give them more experience on this course.

There are three other ranked teams in this field. #12 Hoffman Estates, led by Bryan Gamboa, will need to have their split under 50 seconds in order to place in the top five. #14 Prospect finished a good fifth at Palatine last week despite no runners in the top 25 but with a 33 second five runner split. They will look to get that group up a little more with hopes of a top four finish. #16 Huntley has the strong front three led by Keagan Smith. The question will be if they can get their 4 and 5 runners closer to the front pack. This team could finish in the top five if that happens. McHenry could be a team in the top five but chances are doubtful they will compete because of their school district going on strike Thursday morning. East Moline, Edwardsville, Glenbrook South, and Benet Academy could be surprises up front in this race.

Sean Torpy ran 14:27 two weeks ago to place third at the Richard Spring Invitational. He should be the favorite in this race. Keagan Smith has been looking forward to this race and going after a fast time. Sandburg’s Dylan Jacobs and Chris Torpy could be among the Sandburg runners in the front. Vince Zona has emerged as Lyons Township’s top runner so far this season. He ran 14:40 three weeks ago. It would not surprise me if he is up front along with teammate Connor Madell.

St. Charles North Invitational

Six ranked 3A teams are in this field in the Boys race led by #8 New Trier and #11 St. Charles East. #18 Lincoln-Way North, #20 Marmion Academy, #23 Waubonsie Valley, and #25 Geneva will look to challenge for top three finishes. 2A #16 Prairie Ridge could be among the top teams in this field along with Jones College Prep, Naperville Central, and Batavia. Filip Pajak (Prairie Ridge HS, Crystal Lake), who finished third last week at Palatine, will be challenged by Josh Derrick (New Trier HS, Winnetka) for the individual title.

IL #3 and US #19 Batavia will be the favorite in this race. The Bulldogs do have the fire power up front led by Emma Stephens and Dakota Roman that will make it difficult for other schools. #5 Lyons Township has been running great this season with a second place finish last week at Palatine as their best finish. #12 Schaumburg, #13 Geneva, and #14 Hinsdale Central will also challenge for a finish in the top three. The individual race should be great with Audrey Ernst (St. Charles North HS), Emma Stephens, McKenzie Altmayer (Geneva HS), and Reilly Revord (Hinsdale Central HS) among the runners challenging for the win.

Locktoberfest Invitational @ Dellwood Park

This Boys only meet has taken a hit with Lyons Township and Neuqua Valley sending their varsity teams to Peoria and Hinsdale Central opting to take the weekend off. The race should still be a good one with #7 Buffalo Grove the top ranked team in this race. Their last big invitational was three weeks ago when they finished third at the First to the Finish Invitational behind Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central. Their 2-5 split in that race was 44 seconds with an overall split of 77 seconds. #10 Downers Grove North has been a surprise in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. #15 Whitney Young finished sixth behind Buffalo Grove in that same Peoria race. Clayton Mendez leads the Dolphins who have visions of winning this meet. #22 Oswego, #24 Plainfield South, along with 2A #15 Lincoln-Way West and #23 Dixon are the other ranked teams in the meet.

Kevin Salvano (Buffalo Grove HS) ran 14:22 to win a t Peoria three weeks ago. He will be the favorite in this race. Alec Danner (Downers Grove North HS), Clayton Mendez, Raul Rosendo (Joliet Central HS), and Eric Neumann (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) will be among the runners chasing Salvano.

Wheaton North Falcon Classic

The Girls only flight meet features two of the top teams in the state 2A #1 Yorkville and 3A #2 Glenbard West. It will be interesting to see how Yorkville lines up their team in this meet. They moved runners around two weeks ago. It could take 15 points or less to win this meet between these two powers. #6 Wheaton-Warrenville South is the next ranked team in this meet but will not run their varsity in the flight races. Nine other ranked teams are in this meet led by #11 New Trier, #15 Neuqua Valley, and #16 Maine South. Out of state schools St. Ursula  (OH) and Arrowhead (WI) will also be in this field. Glenbard West’s Lindsey Payne has run 16:28 this year for three miles and will be the favorite at the 2.95 mile St. James Farm Course.

Savage Invitational @ Niles West HS

#6 Oak Park-River Forest is the only 3A ranked team in the field and should be the big favorite in this meet. It is uncertain at this point if the Huskies’ star junior Irwin Loud will compete after two strong runs at Peoria and the Macnider Invitational the last two weeks. 2A #3 Hinsdale South will be competing in this meet but will be without top runners Charlie Nodus and Roman Drabchuk who will be taking SAT subjects tests that morning. Loyola and St. Ignatius could be Oak Park’s chief competition. If Loud is not competing, watch for Daniel Santino (St. Ignatius Prep, Chicago) to be the favorite just ahead of Paolo Tiongson (Loyola Academy, Wilmette).

2A #11 Montini and #23 Woodstock are the top ranked teams in the Girls field. St. Ignatius could also challenge for the team championship. Kate Jacobs (Woodstock HS) and Emma Makowski (Montini Catholic HS, Lombard) should be the individual favorites. St. Ignatius Prep's Kyleigh Spearing is being rested this weekend and will not race.

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Some of the other meets that will also take place include the Hartland Invitational hosted by Antioch, the Lisle Mane Event, the Jacksonville Invitational, and the Carterville Invitational.

Good luck to all coaches, athletes, and fans this weekend.