Above Photo: O’Fallon’s Chris Conrad is the top seed in a tough Boys 800 Meter Run field (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com Editor

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The 2017 edition of this meet starts Saturday evening at 7:00 PM on the campus of Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. The Boys races could take center-stage again as we could see some fast times. It was thought that we could have a try at the national record in the 2000 Meter Steeplechase led by Minooka’s Soren Knudsen. The future student-athlete at Northern Arizona University this fall has an upper respiratory infection and will not compete.

Here is a look of each of the events that will be contested in this meet.

2000 Meter Steeplechase

Boys

This event was supposed to be one of the spotlight events of this meet. With Illinois state champion Soren Knudsen unable to compete Saturday night due to illness, this race takes on a different turn featuring last year’s top two finishers in this event

Ben Ewert of Beavercreek, Ohio is the defending champion in this meet and will be one of the favorites. Ewert ran a 4:13.56 personal best last week at the Ohio D1 state meet in which he finished 11^th. The senior ran 6:13.51 to win the Eastern Relays in April and has a 6:01.59 personal best in this event run in last year’s race. He ran hat solo with no other runners with him after he first two laps.

Kavanaugh Fitzpatrick, a junior from Lakeland High School in Wisconsin, did not have his best races last week at the Wisconsin D2 State Meet as he did not place in the 800 and 1600 Meter Run. He did run 6:13.76 in this event at the Kansas Relays in April and should be a difference maker in this race. Fitzpatrick finished second here last year. His seasonal best is equal to that of Ewert. The two should push each other to times under six-minutes.

Keep an eye on Brayden Hamblen of Rock Falls in this race. He won the IHSA 2A 3200 Meter Run two weeks ago in Charleston and has run a 9:11.99 personal best at that distance. He has never run a steeplechase race before. He does have the talent to push Ewert and Fizpatrick in this meet.

Girls

Freshman Taylor Ewert of Beavercreek, Ohio is he runner to watch in this event that is full of steeple novices in this meet. Ewert, like her brother, ran 7:14.56 to win at the Eastern Relays in April. She has the top seed time by almost 50-seconds ahead of Lauryn Grady of Assumption HS in Kentucky who finished sixth behind Ewert in the Eastern Relays race. Libby Cultra of Urbana earned all-state honors in placing fifth at the IHSA 2A State 3200 Meter Run. She could be a runner to watch in this race.

800 Meter Run

Boys

IHSA 3A state champion Chris Conrad of O’Fallon ran 1:49.91 in Charleston two weeks ago. He has the fourth fastest time nationally as well as the fastest seed time in his meet by close to three seconds. Cole Johnson of Rockford, Michigan should be the one runner to watch in this race. The junior ran 4:08.60 to win the 1600 Meter Run at last week’s MHSAA D1 State Meet and then came back to run 1:52.99 to finish 2^nd in the 800 Meter Run. He will only be running this event in his meet. He could challenge Conrad for the win.

Illinois all-state athletes Brian Kuehl of Geneva, Arthur Santoro of Jones College Prep, Josh Cable of Rochester, and Wesley York of Waubonsie Valley all are threats of getting into one of the first three positions. Kuehl heads that pack having run 1:53.46 to finish 2^nd at Festival of Miles last week. Jack Aho of Grayslake Central ran 4:09.52 to finish third in the 1 Mile Run at Festival of Miles last Thursday and has a 1:56.0 season’s best. He is using this race as a tune-up for the Brooks PR Meet in a week. We could see him near or under 1:54 in this race.

Girls

Two-time IHSA 1A champion in this distance Arielle Summitt of Urbana University heads this field in which four of the top five seeds are from Illinois. Summitt ran a season’s best of 2:13.17 to win the state title is the top seed in this race. Rachel Hickey of LaSalle-Peru finished second in the 2A state race. She followed that up by finishing second at Festival of Miles. Hickey also won the Distance Night in Palatine race in April in which Summitt finished 10^th.

Madison Marasco of Schaumburg ran a personal best of 2:13.85 in her sectional race and then followed up the following week by finishing 5^th in the 3A state race. She is a runner to keep an eye on. Tori Glazier of Custer, South Dakota travels to the Chicago-area after running 5:07.68 to finish 2^nd in her state’s Class A 1600 Meter Run championships. Glazier did run 2:14.67 at the beginning of May in this distance at the Dakota Relays. Janie Nabholz of Glenbard West and Brooke Delahanty of Rosary are runners that should also be watched.

3200 Meter Run

Boys

This is perhaps the deepest of all the events in this meet. 13 runners have seed times under 9:20 in the second (faster) of the two sections. Blake Evertsen of Hinsdale Central will be absent. He announced after the IHSA State Meet that he would not be running due to lagging injuries that hampered his outdoor season. Evan Goodell from St. Louis, Michigan has the top seed after winning the MHSAA D3 State Meet in 9:08.04. He did run 9:05.06 in a meet at the beginning of May. Michell Day of Alpena, Michigan finished second in the D1 State Meet running 9:08.80. Clayton Adams of Kearney, Missouri was the state’s Class 4 champion at 1600 Meters (4:13.67) and then came back to finish 2^nd in the 3200 Meter Run (9:07.12). Both Day and Adams will be factors in this race.

Illinois will have a presence up front. 1A 3200 Meter Run state champion Logan Hall of Arthur-Lovington ran 9:11.06 in Palatine this April. Tanner Chada of Hinckley-Big Rock finished second behind Hall at state but came back to win the 1A 1600 Meter Run (4:18.35). Tyler Dau of Geneva ran 9:16.44 in April at the Eastern Relays. He showed his fitness by running 4:15.25 to finish 3^rd last Friday at Magis Miles. Jacob Gebhardt of Sterling fastest 3200 time is 9:28.58 at his conference meet. The 4:10.09 that this junior ran at the Festival of Miles last week shows he is ready for a sub 9:10 race. All these Illinois runners have the potential to go under 9:10 in this race.

Ryan Murphy of Linn-Mar High School in Iowa won both the 3200 and 1600 at the IHSAA 4A State Meet with his 9:09.28 in that race his personal best. He will be a factor in this race. Nicholas Yanek of Milton High School in Georgia was 5^th in his state’s 7A meet running 9:23.49. Jake Kintzele of Chesterton (IN) finished 5^th last Friday in the Indiana State Meet running 9:11.49. Both Yanek and Kintzele could be a surprise Saturday night.

There are too many quality runners in this race to let it become a sit and kick affair. Th winning time should be under nine-minutes. How many runners will get under that mark in this race?

Girls

Only four runners are entered in this race. Madison Malon of Grandville, Michigan ran a personal best of 10:53.55 to finish 10^th in her D1 state meet last Saturday. She has the fastest seed time. Ayah Aldadah of Dunlap ran 10:55.35 this April in Palatine and should be Malon’s chief competition. Nygia Pollard of Harvest Christian Academy was all-state in the 1A state meet at this distance and will also be in this race.

1600 Meter Run

Boys

The last-minute entries of Charlie Kern, Seth Hirsch, and Clayton Mendez could make this a memorable race. Charlie Kern, the junior from York High School, is coming off a third-place finish in the 3A state meet in the 800 Meter Run followed by the win last week at the Magis Miles. He passed by 1600-meters in 4:11.67 on his way to his 4:13.20 win. Kern looked strong in that race running the last 800-meters in 2:04. 

Seth Hirsch of Millard West in Nebraska is no stranger to the big race atmosphere. He finished 3^rd   at the Foot Locker Nationals and 4^th at the Nike Cross Nationals last December. Hirsch ran under nine-minutes three times this year including 8:54.12 at his conference meet last month. He ran a 4:14.1 to win the Nebraska Class A title then came back to run 8:57.20 winning the 3200 Meter Run title. Watch for a fast race from him as he tunes up for next week’s Brooks PR Invitational.

Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young has not had the opportunity to run this distance fresh this season. This meet is his chance. His seasonal best of 4:17.29 was run 60 minutes after he ran 1:55.76 in the 800 Meter Run a Downers Grove in April. He earned all-state honors two weeks ago finishing 3^rd in the 3200 Meter Run (9:08.75) and 7^th in the 1600 Meter Run (4:17.55). His 8:59.46 personal best in the 3200 in Palatine indicates that he could go under 4:10 in this race with Kern and Hirsch.

Tom Oates of Chelsea, Michigan ran 4:15.14 to finish 2^nd in the D2 1600 Meter Run and then followed that up with 1:55.62 to finish 6^th in the 800 Meter Run. The junior could be a surprise in this race. Ben Ewert is entered in this race after running the 2000 Meter Steeplechase earlier in the meet. He could be someone to also watch out for.

Girls

Madison Marasco is also entered in the 800 Meter Run. The Schaumburg junior has he top seed time in this event (5:03.51). Courtney Klatt of Sioux Falls (SD) Lincoln High School is the South Dakota Class AA champion in the 1600 Meter Run in 5:00.78. She could be under five-minutes Saturday night. Allison McGrath of Wheaton-Warrenville South, Enyaeva Michelin of Evanston Township, and Maggie McPherson of Sterling all have seasonal bests under 5:10. They could also be factors up front.