2019 Illinois IHSA XC State Series - Five Class 3A Regional Meets to Watch

Photo: Katelynne Hart looks to win on her home course Saturday (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

The one thing that now looks to be unavoidable is the exclusion of the Chicago Public School Cross Country teams in the 2019 State Series beginning tomorrow with regional meets at 15 Class 3A sites. Unless the strike between the Chicago Teachers’ Union and the Chicago Public School District is settled before 6:00 PM Friday or a last second emergency injunction is approved by the courts, the cross country season will be over for these kids. That would be a shame.

What could happen is that seven of the nine teams in the Whitney Young Regional not being able to compete with only Oak Park-River Forest and Leyden racing for the title.

Big races at Glenbard West with Wheaton-Warrenville South and York in the Boys race as well as Downers Grove South and Hinsdale Central in the Girls race at Lyons Township could be the highlights of the Class 3A regional meets.

We took one regional meet in each of the five sectionals to do a mini-preview on. Here is a look at each of those five meets.

Also Read – Class 2A 5 Meets | Class 1A 5 Meets

Glenbard West Regional @ Camera Park, Glendale Heights

Boys Race – This could be the top race in Illinois this weekend with two of the top teams in the state featuring #2 Wheaton-Warrenville South and #3 York. The Tigers are coming off their best race of the season so far after finishing second two points behind top ranked St. Charles East last Saturday at the DuKane Conference Meet. Billy Hauenstein and David Zeller give the team a good 1-2 punch in the front of this race. The team had a 30 second split on their top five last week. They will need a similar race to defend their regional title.

York did not run their best race of the season last week but still defended their conference title last week behind the individual win from Daniel Klysh. York had a 33 second top five split off his individual win including a 10 second split between their second runner Michael Moriarty and fifth-runner Will Yasdick. That pack will need to move closer to the front in this race to challenge for the regional win.

#20 Wheaton North finished third last week at DuKane and moved into the top 25 with that performance. Josh Gorup is the team’s top runner. The Falcons should challenge #11 Glenbard West for the third spot. The Hilltoppers ran a great race last week that included top 10 finishes from Will Cousins and William Hohe. Upstate Eight champion Glenbard East and Glenbard North figure to be the other two team qualifiers.

It should be a great individual race between Klysh and Hauenstein for the individual title.

Girls Race – Katelynne Hart will be on her home course for the final time and will be the big favorite on this 2.88-mile course. DuKane Conference champion Samantha Poglitsch should be her closest competition.

#7 Glenbard West, with Hart, Audrey Allman, and Delaney Engel top six possibilities, will be challenged by #8 Wheaton-Warrenville South and #12 York for the team title. The Lady Tigers should have Poglitsch and Kaitlyn Nenninger among the top five but will need to move their third through fifth runners closer to the front. York, led by Brooke Berger, could challenge for the win, but will need their top six runners in before the fourth runner of Wheaton-Warrenville South. Wheaton North, Glenbard East, and Addison Trail could be the other three team qualifiers.

Lyons Township Regional @ Lyons Township South Campus, Western Springs

Girls Race – If both teams run their normal lineups, this race should be close between #2 Downers Grove South and Hinsdale Central. This should be a preview of the sectional race with #13 Lyons Township and #17 Downers Grove North also in this field. South’s Brenna Cohoon is coming off a conference win last week at the WSC-Gold and will be one of the favorites in this race. South’s Erin Reidy, Hinsdale Central’s McKenna Revord and Emma Watcke, Downers Grove North’s Melissa Jachim, and Lyons Township’s Kate Dickman will be among the race leaders in the front.

Hinsdale Central has improved in the last month due to the development of freshmen Catie McCabe and Sarah Fischer. Downers South will need to get their pack closer to #2 runner Reidy. If could become a one-on-one battle between the two teams with the fifth runner in first designating the team winner.

Boys Race – It looks like seven schools will be racing in this meet with two Chicago Public League schools not being able to compete due to the teacher’s strike. It may mean that some of the teams may not be fielding full lineups. #6 Downers Grove North, #7 Lyons Township, and #16 Hinsdale Central are the ranked teams in this race. Downers Grove South and Morton Township will also qualify. Guillermo Ibarra of Morton and Jack Ehlert of Lyons Township should push each other to some fast times Saturday afternoon.

Oswego East Regional @ Oswego East HS

Boys Race – This is the deepest 3A regional in the state and should have a couple of great races Saturday morning. Host #9 Oswego East had to go to a sixth-runner to win the Southwest Prairie championship last Friday. The Wolves have a strong first four led by Heriberto Alvarez and Nicholas Bozarth. The team will need a split under 50 seconds with their fifth runner some where in the top 15 to 20 finishers. #12 Naperville North moved in the second half of last week’s DuPage Valley Conference meet led by the individual win from Jake Allen. Their pack needs to stay within 20 seconds of each other and 35 seconds of Allen for hopes of winning this team title. #15 Waubonsie Valley finished second behind Naperville North last week led by the third-place finish from Zach Benziger. The Warriors have been running with a tight pack all season. Last week, the gap between their pack and fifth runner was a little too big. Waubonsie could win if they can keep their top five split under 32 seconds.

#25 Naperville Central ran a 23 second split at Naperville Twilight to win the team title. The Redhawks finished fourth behind #21 Neuqua Valley last week. The pack needs to move closer to #1 runner Arthur Graham in this race. Neuqua Valley will have Nicolas Dovalovsky challenging North’s Allen for the individual win with Aidan Stone among the top 10 runners. The Wildcats pack was ultra-tight behind the top two runners last week. Moving it up could get them among the top three teams. Oswego and West Aurora should challenge for the final qualifying spot. West Aurora’s Jackson Morrill, who won last week at Southwest Prairie, along with Dovalovsky and Allen will challenge for the top prize in the individual race.

Girls Race – Top ranked Naperville North will be the big favorite in the team race with their #1 runner Maggie Gamboa the race individual favorite . Gamboa ran 17:01 to win last week at the DuPage Valley Conference Meet. #9 Oswego ran their best race of the year last week in finishing second last week at Southwest Prairie Conference Meet with a top four split of only seven seconds. They should be the top team in the pack behind the Huskies.

#19 Neuqua Valley, #20 Oswego East, and #24 Metea Valley are the next three teams that could make one of the top six spots along with Naperville Central. Gamboa should be the favorite and could be challenged by last week’s finisher from last week’s DVC race Ashley Heidenrich of Waubonsie Valley.

Lake Forest Regional @ Lake Forest HS West Campus

Girls Race – Warren Township appears to be peaking again at the right moments. The Blue Devils won the North Suburban Conference for the second straight year and appear to be the favorite in this race. They will need to keep their top five runners within 45 seconds of each other led by Taylor Latza to win the title. Libertyville will have individual favorites Sheila Tucker and Bree Ponchak in the front. 5 runners in the top 18 could be the key to get Libertyville the regional title. 10 to 15 points could separate the next four teams with Lake Forest, Wheeling, Stevenson, and Zion-Benton challenging for third but good bets to advance to Hoffman Estates next week.

Boys Race – It is anyone’s guess on which team could come away with the team win. Warren Township finished second last week at North Suburban Conference and could have a slight edge. Mundelein did not have their best race of the year finishing fourth in that meet. Carter Schoor and Dillon Blake could be two of the runners to watch in the front.

Deerfield, Libertyville, and Stevenson could be within 10 points of these two front teams. Lake Forest and Highland Park could be challenging for the sixth and final spot. This could be one of the tightest races of the day. We could see a team deserving to run in sectionals not make it there.

Schoor and Blake are two runners in what is considered a loaded race. Stevenson’s Corey Pacernick finished won the NSC race last week and will be in the front with teammate Anthony Rodriguez. Nathan Schmitt of Lake Forest along with teammate Ben Rosa are runners that could come away with the win on their home course. Jason Polydoris of Highland Park finished second last week at the Central Suburban League race. He could be the surprise in the front. Will Gordon of Libertyville should also be a factor in this race.

Andrew Regional @ Turtlehead Forest Preserve

Boys – There are too many “if’s” in this race. Top two teams Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way Central could qualify for next week’s sectional at Normal’s Maxwell Park without their top runners. East’s Brett Garner and Central’s Jared Kreis had a memorable race in which Gardner to the SWSC race win running 14:16. If the two runners are in this race, we could see another fast time. My guess is one of both may not run focusing on the next two state series races. Andrew and Lincoln-Way West should lead the pack challenging for the third spot.

Girls – Lincoln-Way Central should be the class of the field in this meet with the possibility of scoring under 25 points for the win. Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way West are next two best teams in this race. Central’s Merrigan Allen and Rachel Baumgartner should challenge East’s Kate Guderjan for the individual race title.