Top 4 Girls teams in state face off in the must see race of the regular season

By Michael Newman

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The Naperville Twilight Invitational makes many significant changes heading into this year’s meet on Wednesday evening. There is a new locational as the meet moves from Neuqua Valley High School in the southern part of Naperville to the north end and Naperville North High School. New Balance stepped up as the new primary sponsor along with Naperville Running Company. The number of schools in the meet has doubled going from six to twelve with ten schools competing in each of the Boys and Girls races.

The doubling of the field sets up some great races Wednesday evening on the Naperville North Campus Course. The Boys Varsity race should be a good one with six ranked teams toeing the line. It will be the Girls Varsity race that should grab the attention of fans at the meet as the top four teams in the state will compete against each other including defending state champs Naperville North and Yorkville. That race will be the most competitive and anticipated race of the regular season as we head into the state series meets in a couple of weeks.

The first race of the evening begins at 5:30 PM. You can find more information about the Naperville Twilight Invitational on the meet page here.

Here is a look at each of the two varsity races that will take place Wednesday evening.

Girls Varsity – 7:30 PM

It was a great race in Peoria on September 12^th when 2A #1 Yorkville moved up to the 3A race at the First to the Finish Invitational to win the team championship over 3A heavyweights Naperville North and Minooka. Throw in Glenbard West and you get just one great race. This field is loaded with eight of the ten teams in the DyeStat Illinois rankings.

2A #1 Yorkville formula of success is a tight five runner pack up towards the front as much as possible. That was the main reason why they defeated Naperville North in Peoria almost a month ago. Even though Olivia Borowiak only finished 15^th at the Palatine Invitational two weeks ago as the team’s top runner, their 12 second split on five was the difference in the Lady Foxes winning the meet. Alexis Grandys, Maddie Dearborn, Summer Pearson, and Nicole Greyer join Borowiak in the pack that could provide another win if they start it with their first runner in the top ten. Their slow start at Palatine could mean a faster start for this squad in this race.

3A #1 Naperville North did not run their best race of the season in Peoria getting out to a slow start. The Huskies did rebound to finish third in the meet. This team has come on strong especially ten days ago at the Roy Griak Invitational when they proved that they are one of the top teams in the nation winning the team championship. Judy Pendergast will be one of the runners to beat in this race and leads this squad. There will be a gap between her and the pack. Their 2-5 split will be the key in this meet. It was 34 seconds at Roy Griak. It was 15 seconds at the Peoria meet. Jenny Gibson, Claire Hamilton, Sarah Schmidt, Emory Griffin, and Kayla Glowacki give this team depth. With this race being on their home turf along with only ten teams in the race, it will be easier to keep this pack together. That will be a key in their meet success if they can stay together.

#2 Glenbard West has not received the national respect that they deserve. The Hilltoppers have quietly racked up a number of big meet wins including the past two meets at Richard Spring and Wheaton North. The one thing that has happened in the past few races is that their pack has gotten closer to #1 runner Lindsey Payne. The sophomore will be with the leaders up front meaning there could be a gap between her and the 2 to 5 runners. Kathryn Kenwood has emerged as the leader of the pack as she has gotten within a minute of Payne. The gap between Kenwood and the 3 to 5 runners was 30 seconds at Peoria. The split on that pack was only five seconds. Kenwood needs to be ahead of Naperville North’s pack as well as the start of Yorkville’s pack for the Hilltoppers to have a chance for the win.

#3 Minooka is the dangerous team in this meet especially with only ten teams in the race. The Indians have perhaps the toughest trios up front of any team in the state. Ashley Tutt, Emily Shelton, and McKenzie Callahan all have the ability to be with the front runners in the race. The key for them is the gap between the first three and their 4/5 runners. It improved in their last competition at the Macnider Invitational on September 26^th. In that race, they ran their best five runner split of 100 seconds in that race. The gap from the pack to fourth runner Morgan Crouch was 44 seconds in that race. If the split goes down to 90 seconds on their scoring five, Minooka could leave Naperville with the team title.

#6 Wheaton-Warrenville South continue to improve with each of their races run as evidenced by their performance at the Palatine Invitational. Sara Atkins and Allison McGrath will give their team a chance in the top three if they are towards the front and together. Their split of 61 seconds on five at Palatine was their best split of the season. If that spread can come down with Atkins and McGrath among the top ten, this team could surprise on Wednesday night. #12 Hinsdale Central ran good on Saturday at St. Charles North finishing third. The Red Devils will have a good presence up front with Reilly Revord and Grace McCabe. The thing to watch for from this team in this meet is the gap from the front two and the pack and the split also within that pack. They are improving with each race. Their split at St. Charles on Saturday was 109 seconds. The split from the front two and the pack was 39 seconds with another 52 second spread on their 3 to 5 runners. Watch for those splits to diminish in this race.

#13 Neuqua Valley runs very similar to their Boys team in which they rely on a tight pack. The split on five in their last team race at Peoria was 47 seconds. Caitlin Horn will lead the pack in which will need her near the top ten along with a split of 35 seconds or under for them to finish in the top five teams. #22 Metea Valley just moved back into the rankings after a fifth place finish last week at St. Charles. Nicki Cast led her team at that meet that had a 56 second five runner split. The gap on their first three runners in that meet was only 19 seconds. The front three need to move more towards the front with a smaller split for a chance to finish in the top five.

Just as the team race will be exciting, the race up front has been one of the most anticipated individual matchups outside of the state meet. Judy Pendergast has been tough to beat this year and will push the pace from the beginning. Lindsey Payne has gone undefeated this season in the four invitational races that she has run. Payne has finished under 17 minutes in every meet that she has run. The two runners have contrasting styles with Payne preferring to go out slowly moving up in the first mile. The race could actually begin at the one mile mark between these two.

Don’t forget about Minooka’s Ashley Tutt and Emily Shelton. Tutt is the defending champion in this race and should be towards the front with Pendergast and Payne. Hinsdale Central’s Reilly Revord and Grace McCabe will be in that front chase pack along with Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Sara Atkins and Allison McGrath. McKenzie Callahan along with any of the Yorkville top five should be in that pack. Alana Austin (Naperville Central HS) finished second last week at Wheaton North and will also be a threat up front.

It is a new course being run on for the first time. Every race leading up to the varsity race will be a course record. It is hard to say how fast it will run especially with the number of turns on the layout. If Payne is involved in the race, then the winning time should be under 17 minutes right? The number of top flight runners in this race will guarantee that the finish will be fast.

Boys Varsity – 8:00 PM

The team competition in this race will come to two of the state’s power programs with Neuqua Valley and Hinsdale Central leading six ranked teams in this race. #3 Neuqua Valley is currently ranked seventh nationally in the DyeStat rankings and are coming off of a strong third place finish at the Peoria Central Invitational last Saturday without #1 runner Connor Horn in the lineup. Horn should be back for this race and will challenge for the individual win. The pack of the Wildcats has been outstanding all season. Without Horn last week, their split led by Jake McEneaney was only ten seconds on their scoring runners. With only 100 runners potentially in this race, the pack up front for this team could be the difference.

#5 Hinsdale Central will be in the same “dual meet” atmosphere in this meet as they did more than a week ago at Palatine against York. Neuqua Valley and the Red Devils are a step ahead of the rest of the teams in this meet. Blake Evertsen is one of the top runners in the state and will be up front in this meet. An emphasis for this team early this season has been their five man split. It dropped to 45 seconds which is good especially with Evertsen up front. Another emphasis in this meet could be what happened in their last meet at Palatine when they went out too fast only to be passed at the end by York in the team battle. Also watch for Chris Brenk to be a little closer to his teammate up front. Andrew Irvine and Nathan Hill have each been close to Brenk in each of the last two meets but not in the same meet. A key for Hinsdale will be getting three runners total in before Neuqua’s pack. That could give the Red Devils the win in this meet especially if their five man split is under 40 seconds.

It should be a battle for the third spot in the team standings. #14 Downers Grove North did not run their best race of the year last Saturday at Lockport where they finished fourth. Their split at Peoria almost a month ago was 71 seconds on five led by Alec Danner’s 14:43 time. It could be a plus if Robbie Prescott is within 10 seconds of his teammate in his race. The 3 to 5 pack being within 10 seconds of each other as well as being within 30 seconds of Prescott could be a boost. #20 Minooka will have presence up front with Soren Knudsen. The key to this team will be their 2 to 5 pack who need to be within 15 seconds of each other and within 45 seconds of Knudsen to have a chance to overtake Downers Grove North.

2A #4 Yorkville does not have the big gun up front but do have a tight pack that can beat you with their tight split. Even though Cody Hornyak finished 47^th as the team’s top runner at Palatine, the split on five of only 23 seconds gave the Foxes a top ten finish in the meet. Senior Trevor Wills could have a good race here leading his team. They will finish third if a split of 30 seconds or better is achieved along as their first runner is with or ahead of Downers Grove North’s Prescott.  #23 Naperville Central moved back into the rankings after finishing fourth at the St. Charles North Invitational. Just like Yorkville, the Redhawks rely on a tight five man split. It was only 27 seconds at St. Charles. Thomas Chavez has emerged as the #1 runner for the team.

Could we see a tactical race between Connor Horn and Blake Evertsen like we saw at the Hornet-Red Devil Invitational on Labor Day weekend? In that race, it was Evertsen and teammate Chris Brenk going 1-2 ahead of Evertsen. The outcome could be different if Evertsen is pushing a fast pace up front. The next two runners most likely will be Alec Danner and Soren Knudsen.  Chris Brenk and Eric Neuman (Glenbard West HS) could be among these runners up front. It’s up for grabs who could be behind these six. We will find out around 8:15 PM on Wednesday night.

Good luck to all teams, coaches and fans on Wednesday night!