Jesse Reiser leads a tough Boys individual field; Palatine and New Trier favorites in Girls Team race

By Michael Newman

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The 31^st running of the Palatine Invitational Saturday morning at Deer Grove East Forest Preserve in Palatine should once again bring out the best of some of the top athletes in Illinois. Schools from four other states will also be racing on the 3.0 mile course. For the first time, a team from California (St. Francis) will make the trip to Chicago to test to see if they can hold their own against some tough competition.

The Girls race will feature host #5 Palatine battling #4 New Trier for the team championship. Out of state teams Cedarville OH, Assumption KY, and St. Francis CA could challenge for top five finishes. The Boys team race could be up for grabs with New Trier, Loyola Academy, York, and St. Louis University MO challenging for the team title.

Here is a look at the each of the varsity race that will take place Saturday morning.

Girls Varsity – 10:20 AM

Ranked Teams – 3A: #4 Winnetka New Trier, #5 Palatine, #10 Wheaton-Warrenville South, #14 Downers Grove North, #19 LaGrange Lyons Township, #20 Libertyville; 2A: #1 Yorkville, #3 Crystal Lake Central

Out of state schools – Assumption KY, Centerville OH, Daviess County KY, St. Francis CA, Valparaiso IN

Team Outlook – New Trier usually runs at the Gummerson Invitational at Schiller Woods on this weekend. With the Jewish Holiday Yom Kippur next Saturday, the Lady Trevians will not be competing at Wheaton North like they usually do. Instead, they will head to Palatine to face some tough competition.

#4 Palatine is coming off of a tough stretch of meets. Last Tuesday, they defeated #8 Hoffman Estates 20-40 after a second place finish last weekend in Peoria. The defending champs in this meet, the Pirates have the strong front runner with Kelly O’Brien leading the way. Megan Beach’s improvement makes this team that more dangerous. It gives this team a strong 2-3 punch. Their split last week as 48 seconds. They will need that kind of five runner split to win on their home course.

#4 New Trier continues to improve as the season progresses. The Lady Trevians won easily last Saturday at Libertyville and will look to continue that trend on Saturday. Mimi Smith will be challenging for the win. New Trier will have a strong pack behind Smith led by Cara Keleher. #10 Wheaton-Warrenville South is a young squad led by sophomore Sara Atkins. Their split has been big early this season. They will look to close the gap at this meet.

Out of state schools will have a big say on who will win in this meet. Centerville OH is currently ranked #1 in the Ohio Coaches Poll and will challenge for the win in this meet. Laney Studebaker finished fourth in this meet last year and will be in contention for a top spot. Freshman Kelli Walsh ran close to Studebaker at the Centerville Invitational last Saturday. Their split needs to stay under 60 seconds if they want the championship to return east. Coach Barry Haworth thought that he would be bringing a rebuilding team to this Palatine meet. Instead, Assumption will be bringing a team to Deer Grove East that could contend for a top five finish. Sarah Crawford ran 18:31 to finish fourteenth last week at the Trinity/Valkyre Invitational. She could finish in the top ten in this meet. The split on five for the #2 team in the 3A Kentucky polls was 95 seconds last week. That will need to come down for this team to place high.

Valparaiso started off their season winning at Lyons Township. Logan Ferngren ran 16:48 in that meet and finished 14 seconds behind Mary Claire Leonard. Valpo’s split in that meet was 59 seconds on four. They will need to have that kind of split on five for a top finish in Palatine. St. Francis CA makes their first appearance in this meet. The Sacramento based school finished second last week at the Carondelet/DeLaSalle Meet in Concord. Seniors Miranda Myers and Peyton Bilo will lead this team.

Defending 2A champion Yorkville is at full strength for this meet and is looking for a high finish Saturday. It is possible. Skyler Bollinger will contend for a top spot in this race. Summer Peirson, Alexis Grandys, and Erin Reynolds lead a strong pack behind Bollinger that could challenge for the team championship. #14 Downers Grove North again should have a strong pack and could challenge for a top finish. Emma Moravec led the Trojans to a 36 second split last week in Peoria. They will need that kind of effort in this meet.

Individual Outlook – This could be a wide-open race with a number of runners capable of crossing the line first in this race. Skyler Bollinger (Yorkville HS) finished third a year ago and will be looking to finish on top. Defending 3A champion Mimi Smith (New Trier HS, Winnetka) will also be towards the front challenging for the win. She won easily last week at Libertyville. Hometown favorite Kelly O’Brien had an off race finishing sixth last week in Peoria. She should bounce back this week on her home course.

Daly Galloway (Gardner-South Wilmington HS) was just nipped at the line two weeks ago in Peoria by Urbana U-High’s Arielle Summitt. The 17:27 that she ran shows that she will be among the top runners in this meet. Laney Studebaker (Centerville HS OH) finished fourth in this meet a year ago. She could be in the front in this race along with her teammate Kelli Walsh. Morgan Schulz (Cary-Grove HS) has been in the top five in the invites that she has run in this season. She should be in the top five in this meet. Also watch for Lauren Opatrny (McHenry HS), Sara Atkins (Wheaton-Warrenville South HS), and Sara Crawford (Assumption HS, Louisville KY) to be up front as well.

Varsity Boys – 10:50 AM

Ranked Teams – 3A: #5 Winnetka New Trier, #6 Wilmette Loyola Academy, #7 Elmhurst York, #9 Arlington Heights Hersey, #12 Chicago St. Ignatius, #13 Chicago Jones College Prep, #16 Barrington, #23 McHenry, #24 Plainfield South, #25 Park Ridge Maine South; 2A: #1 Yorkville, #5 Crystal Lake Central, #12 Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge.

Out of State Teams – Centerville OH, Daviess County KY, St. Louis University MO, St. Xavier KY

Team Outlook – 13 ranked teams in the Boys race could mean that the team championship could be up for grabs. New Trier ran well a couple of weeks ago at Peoria. They will be looking to build off of that effort in this meet. Josh Rosenkranz should lead the Trevians. Their split was under 50 seconds in the Peoria meet. It could be lower in this meet. Jack Carroll and Christian Swenson gives Loyola Academy a good duo up front. The Ramblers had a 36 second split last week at the Richard Spring Invitational. If Carroll and Swenson can move up as well as keeping that split, this team could win.

York will look to bounce back after losing Thursday to Lyons Township. They did run better than they did in Peoria with the same seven that ran in Peoria. Look for that seven to pack it up a little more on Saturday. Their split on five last week was 54 seconds. Hersey finished ahead of York last week and will look for the win in this meet. David Rodriguez will be one of the favorites in this race. The Huskies had a 100 second split in their last meet. That will need to come down for a top five finish.

Two Chicago schools could be in front in this meet. St. Ignatius has Daniel Santino, Andy Weber, and Kallin Khan that could potentially place in the top fifteen. If their split can go under 45 seconds, the Wolfpack could walk out of Deer Grove with the win. Jones College Prep has been running with a tight pack led by Mark Protsiv. Their split last week was only 41 seconds. If Protsiv or any other Jones runner finishes in the top ten with this kind of split, they could win.

Yorkville is the top 2A team in this meet and could be in the top five in this meet. Jake and Luke Hoffert should be among the leaders in the individual race. If they can keep their split near 75 seconds, there is a chance for a top finish. The top out of state school in this meet is St. Louis University. The Junior Billikens finished third two weeks ago at the Forest Park Festival behind O’Fallon. Matt Hennessey could place in the top fifteen in this meet. Their split on five two weeks ago was 39 seconds. This team has the potential to come to Palatine and possibly win.

Individual Outlook – Last year at this meet could have been the turning point for Jesse Reiser (McHenry HS) for the rest of the 2013-2014 season. Reiser pushed the lead early only to be outkicked by York’s Alex Bashqawai in the last 100 meters. Reiser has become a better racer as shown by his 14:20 effort at First to the Finish. He will be the runner to beat in this race. Jake & Luke Hoffert (Yorkville HS) missed this meet a year ago due to injuries. The brothers like to push the pace from the gun. We could see a fast first mile. Who will try to stay with them?

David Rodriguez (Hersey HS, Arlington Heights) moved nicely in the last mile last week in Peoria to finish second. He should be towards the front in this race. Graham Brown (Palatine HS) was with the leaders at 2 miles last week in Peoria but faded in the last mile. He could have an advantage being on his home course. Matt Plowman (York HS, Elmhurst) knocked the rust off his legs last week finishing ninth. If the race comes down to the last 400 meters and he is close to the front, he has a big time kick that could close the deal.

Jon Davis (Oakwood HS, Fithian) ran individually last week in Peoria and finished fourth running 14:41. He will be towards the front and could be pushed to run near 14:30 on this course. Matt Pereira (Lake Zurich HS) ran 14:46 in his first race of the year last week in Peoria. He will be in the front pack in this race. Also watch for Sam Oh (Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire), Henry Mierzwa (Maine South HS, Park Ridge), Daniel Santino (St. Ignatius Prep, Chicago), and Kyle Monahan (Barrington HS) to be towards the front. Jack Driggs set the course record in 2010 (14:33). The talent is there to shatter the record in this race. The course conditions are good. The weather should cooperate.