Who do you think is the favorite team for 1a this year?
After what i watched yesterday Benton will be hard to beat late. They didn’t run a full varsity squad and looked much improved. I think if they stay healthy Coach Mclain will have them running fast when it matters most.
Personally, I think Tuscola will be very hard to beat considering they have the best 4 5 in 1a (both going sub 10 3200) and their whole top three should be in the top 10 or higher.
Alroffff wrote:
Hinsdale Central is facing OPRF tomorrow
Looks like Lowe (last year’s #2 non-senior for Hinsdale Central) is not on the bib list
This is why Benton is my favorite….the Kenyans come to Benton to train and make it a hometown:
How did the meet go?
JamesMaranowit wrote:
How did the meet go?
The DGN, York and GW one? None of those guys ran varsity
Alroffff wrote:
The DGN, York and GW one? None of those guys ran varsity
Looks like Hinsdale Central boys team didn’t run any varsity guys either
Naperville North girls team second at the pleasant valley invitational
Ben Crane beats Aden B.
Hersey barely wins over New Trier
Looks like Hinsdale Central has work cut out for them
Results from Hinsdale Red Devil Invitational:
Ben Crane of New Trier wins the individual race in 14:55, with defending state champion Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central in second at 15:02, right ahead of Zac Close of Neuqua Valley. Team wise, Hersey beats out New Trier by 2 points, with both of them 50 points ahead of the pack. Seems like Newman made an excellent call in ranking Hersey second. Neuqua Valley in third, Highland Park in fourth, Evanston in fifth. Solid performance by Benet Academy against 3A schools, with Finn Richards placing 7th individually. Hinsdale Central is down at 11th - nearly an 80 second gap between Bandukwala and #2 runner Max Lowe. Lowe and Nikita Kamenev, the other returners from last year’s varsity squad, are both far behind their PBs, and Michael Gamboa who was in the frosh/soph race would have been Hinsdale’s #3 runner today, so Hinsdale clearly has room to grow, but it might be very rough getting there. Probably worth wondering if Hinsdale ends up like Sandburg last year - an amazing and storied program with a long state streak missing out on state the year after winning/coming very close to winning a state championship due to being unable to replace a stacked graduating class (and being in the sectional of doom - Hinsdale won’t have any room for error, while they’d probably be fine in any of the other three sectionals).
(Actually Granite City results but it didn’t let me use a different name)
Dylon Nalley runs 14:08, absolutely insane time for the first weekend of September. Hopefully Nalley can keep this form up and take a shot at the Detweiller course record and compete with the best at NXN. Don’t let this overshadow Dylan Ybarra of O’Fallon running 14:33 though - 8 second PR for the senior who’s been on the lower end of All State for a few seasons now. Ybarra should be a legitimate contender for the 3A individual title. His teammate Zach Thoman comes third in 14:53 and O’Fallon wins with 45 points over St Louis University High School in Missouri with 48. Freshman Jackson Miller of St Louis University runs 15:06.50, half a second ahead of freshman Landon Harris of Granite City who runs 15:07. Ridiculous freshman class this year.
York girls team wins
The meet at Granite City was insane. Nalley looked like an entirely different kid from even last cross country season. Ybarra looked amazing and was under the previous course record. We knew this meet would be fast but what Nalley and Ybarra did was flat ridiculous.
Typical IL short course shenanigans - wake me up when he makes NXN
Downers Grove North
Glenbard West seems to have a fairly useful team. 21 second split here, not great competition in the meet. Would've liked to have seen them up against York but I guess dual meets are no longer relevant.
IN Fan wrote:
Typical IL short course shenanigans - wake me up when he makes NXN
Still butt hurt over the beating Illinois teams gave Carmel last year? Of course, what am I thinking...pretty much happens every year.
Last year, Hinsdale Central was struggling at the beginning of the season because they graduated 3 guys and they were all scorers, and at the state meet things started to click for them. They lost at the state meet by 1 point because their 5th was a little too far back, and at NXR and NXN he closed the gap. That’s why HC beat every Illinois team at NXR and NXN