By Michael Newman

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This is the second year of our look at the teams that made the top 25 in the ILXCTF rankings in each class. It will give you some idea how teams are slotted into the spots that they are in. It will also give you a view of the team from my eyes.

This is a series that runs until the beginning of October. By that point, we should how good (or bad) some teams are.

The first weekend brought seven new teams into the top 25 in each of the three classes. The most difficult to decide on was Class 3A. There are six teams that we could have also put in the top 25. They are so close together this early in the season. Through the next few weeks of Peoria meets, that picture should become a little clearer.

Class 3A

We found out that #4 Wheaton-Warrenville South is as good as advertised even though they finished third behind #3 Neuqua Valley and #8 Hinsdale Central. The Tigers had four runners in the first 12 positions with only a 19 second split on the group. John Keys, who was in the top five last season, was ill most of the week and was held out. Put Keys in their top five and keeping that split under 30 seconds, South could be challenging for a trophy in November. If sophomore David Zeller would have run on the varsity level, the Tigers would have been within 10 points of their DVC rival. “We can’t just have five runners. We will need some people to step up,” South Coach Chris Kuntz said on Saturday. They are in good shape right now. Then again, we are approaching the second weekend in September. This team could get better.

Neuqua Valley has the good fire-power up front with Zach Kinne and Ryan Kennedy finishing 1-2 last Saturday. Their split on five was 38 seconds. It was a little larger than I expected but they do know where they are at this point. Their depth will be a difference maker. Eight runners were under 16-minutes at KLM. Their split on the third through eight runners was 29 seconds.

Hinsdale Central finished ahead of Wheaton-Warrenville South on their home course last Saturday and moved into the top ten at #8. Their search will be for a fifth runner. Junior Alec Hill will be the surprise for the team this year. He was 7^th on Saturday. The split on their first four runners was only 14 seconds. The gap between four and five was 30 seconds. That could come down on Saturday in Peoria.

Top ranked Downers Grove North showed their muscle at the Leavey Invitational placing five runners in the first eight for an easy win. 15 seconds separated Jacob Ridderhoff, who was the individual winner, and fifth runner Jack Roberts. Looking at video of the race and with not that much competition in that race, it looked like their focus was on the pack. It will be fun to watch them run on Saturday. They do need Sam McCool and Miles Christensen to be in that pack. McCool has not raced yet this year. Christensen raced for the first time and finished 19^th 34 seconds behind the pack. They are clearly the top team in the state right now. It is getting that depth back to make this team even tougher to beat.

Why don’t I have Glenbard West ahead of Hersey because the Hilltoppers won ahead of the Huskies at Fenton? It is simple. You must look at the big picture. #6 Hersey did drop two spots from last week because of their second-place finish. They did not have stud sophomores Max Svienty and Josh Methner up on varsity. The two ran under control in the sophomore race running 16:00 and winning by 30 seconds. I am sure they would have been in the front of the Hersey pack on the upper level. Hersey had four runners in the first 11 with only an eight second split. Their next two races at Richard Spring and Palatine could determine how good this team is.

Glenbard West was not ignored at the beginning of the year as they were not ranked. But there are so many 3A teams that could proclaim that their team should be in the rankings. The Hilltoppers win in this meet pushed them up to #12 led by the 1-3 finish by Stephen Moody and Rory Cavan. The split on their top five was only 26 seconds. We will see where their pack ends up this weekend in Peoria. It is a good split but for this team to move into the top ten, their pack needs to move closer to the front.

I was questioned in August why I had Lyons Township was ranked #5. They lost five runners, they should be in the mid-teens. Here again, look at the big picture. First, it helps that you have Danny Kilrea to supply single digit numbers as he did on Saturday when he ran a blazing 14:10. Their pack behind Kilrea needs to tighten up. The split between Charles Harders and Patrick Kane was 38 seconds. It was not really a pack. The runners were separated by 11 seconds, 20 seconds, and 7 seconds. Not that typical pack that we have seen from this program. I do believe they are one of the top five teams in 3A. The split will come down. It has in the past. Starting that pack within 52 to 55 seconds of Kilrea makes this team that much tougher.

Mundelein was the big mover in 3A up 10 spots to #7 after a sterling performance in dominating the Lake County Invitational. This team is young with four juniors and a sophomore in their top five. Their sixth-place finish last year at sectionals is driving them to bigger things. We saw that at Detweiller at Dark in July. 25 seconds separated their top five, 32 seconds on their first six. That depth will pay off for this team led by Michael Parduhn and Dillon Blake. It will be interesting to see how they compare against 2A #1 Mahomet-Seymour Saturday in Springfield.

Dundee-Crown, Palatine, and Huntley were the three other schools with Glenbard West to enter the top 25. I had Dundee-Crown in the pre-season top 25 until I found out that Tyler Carlson, their coach, was being promoted in his school and could no longer coach. You have to look at a question like that and see how the team will respond. They responded last Saturday by winning at Crystal Lake South keeping their top five within 31 seconds of each other led by the fourth-place finish from Anthony Hurgoi. The Chargers move to #19 this week. It is tough to run a good pack race especially on the hills of Veteran Acres Park. DC kept their second through fifth runners within 10 seconds of each other. They will be also in Peoria. We will see how their performance on the hills translates on the Detweiller Park course.

Palatine jumps in at #21 based on their sixth-place finish at Hinsdale. Their 56 seconds on the top five. Huntley took the final spot in the rankings from their second-place finish at the Leavey Invitational. Jadon Conroy’s ninth-place finish led a 46 second split on the top five.

It was a tough decision on those two spots. Jones Prep, Batavia, and St. Charles East moved out of the top 25. Huntley finished ahead of Batavia and St. Charles East in St. Charles. We could see both teams jump back in this weekend. Batavia did not have a great last Saturday and could rebound in Peoria.

I did look at DeKalb. They had a strong win at Sycamore last Tuesday against some strong 2A teams and then won last Saturday at Plainfield Central. Palatine and Huntley just edged them performance wise to get in the rankings. The Barbs are good team that we could see soon within the first 25 teams.

Class 2A

There is not much to look at from the top two teams in this classification from last week. Defending state champion Mahomet-Seymour seemed to run a tempo race keeping their pack within 17 seconds of each other but still winning ahead of #4 Danville at Charleston. The Bulldogs will get a test from Mundelein this Saturday in Springfield. #2 Normal University held their top runners out of the Normal Open. They should be at full strength Saturday in Peoria.

I knew that #3 Chatham-Glenwood was a good team. With their second-place finish and only 17 points behind 3A Edwardsville last Saturday, then keeping an eye on the Titans is a must. Dathan & Drey Maton along with Cooper Peterson finished within nine seconds of each other at Granite City. Add in the fact their split on five was 43 seconds. How will that compare against Mahomet-Seymour? That is a question that will be answered in Springfield Saturday.

The team that has been a surprise so far has been Mascoutah who enters the rankings at #9. Their win at SIU Edwardsville on August 26 was against a field that was mainly 1A schools. They had a 46 second split on five in that race. They finished sixth at Granite City, but did finish ahead of #7 Springfield and #8 Marion. Their split in that race was down to 42 seconds. They face Marion again this Saturday at Belleville West.

The Sycamore Invitational was the big “2A-meet” of the week. #5 Sycamore finished in third nine points behind Kaneland, we moved Sycamore up one spot while Kaneland moved two pots to #6. Part of that reason was that Sycamore did not have their top runner Stephen Poorten in the lineup. Kaneland also competed at Crystal Lake South where they finished third as well as the top 2A in the field.

Rock Island Alleman and Mt. Zion were the two other teams besides Mascoutah to enter the top 25. #20 Alleman, led by Spencer Smith, enters the top 25 after their third-place finish at Galesburg behind Dixon and Metamora. #23 Mt. Zion has looked strong so far this season. Their third-place finish at Charleston put them into this top 25 led by Mason Jones. The junior has started out strong by winning two weeks ago at Normal West and then second last weekend. Mt. Zion’s 20 second split on their second through fifth runners makes them a team to watch. Grayslake Central, Woodstock and Dunlap dropped out of the top 25.

16 ranked teams will toe the line in the 2A race this Saturday at Peoria. There could be some changes in next week rankings.

Class 1A

#1 Harvest Christian Academy again looks like the team to beat after a strong race in August at Genoa-Kingston and then last week on their home course. They had a 28 second split between Andrew Dobrescu, Matthew Olech, and Mark Davila in their win over 2A Elmwood Park last week. What could hurt the Lions is that their #3 runner from last year’s state meet (36^th place) Payton Kasper will not run this fall concentrating instead on basketball. What HCA will need to work on is their split on five. They could potentially have three all-state runners. The split on five last week was 76 seconds. That kind of split will not win a state meet but they do have two months to shrink that.

The Canton Invitational last Saturday showcased some of the top 1A teams in the state. #3 Athens was the favorite and did win with 49 points. Elmwood-Brimfield was only six points back finishing second which moved them to #4 this week. Athens does have Wyatt McIntyre that will give them single digit numbers in the front. Their split on their next four runners in Canton was only 48 seconds. That is good enough to get them into trophy contention. Elmwood-Brimfield did have Cooper Hoffmann and Trevor Dunkel finish in the top five. It is there split on five which was 82 seconds last week that is concerning. The two teams will be favorites in Peoria this Saturday along with #2 Rockford Christian.

The only thing that I use flight meets for is determining how deep a team is. They run in separate flights so you can’t really factor in team chemistry with splits etc. #9 St. Joseph-Ogden did have the depth to win at the Cowchip Classic on Saturday. It was the Kickapoo Classic that I had to investigate a little deeper. The Spartans do have a quality top ten state runner in Wyatt Wolfersberger. They did finish second behind 2A power Danville in that meet. They did not have their entire top seven in that meet which accounts for a 3:03 split on their top five. If you want to look at their “split” at Chrisman, it was 90 seconds on five, 64 seconds from two through five. Right now, that does not get them into the top five. Remember, it’s only early September.

#6 Carlinville is still a puzzle to me. In their first home meet on August 29, they had a 63 split on their top five led by an individual win by Jason Landon. It was 63 seconds on their top five when they finished second behind Taylorville last Saturday at Rochester. They did have 5 runners in the first 31 and not running in a pack like they typically do. They do run in Peoria on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how they compare against the rest.

Freeburg finished second at state last year and will be in the running for another trophy in November. The Midgets finished fifth at Granite City moving them up to #5. Charlie Parrish finished second in this big-time race and could be among the top five in November. Parrish is the only senior right now in their top seven. Their split on the top five was close to two minutes but ignore that. Corbin Schwable leads the pack that is separated by 83 seconds.

Two teams entered the top 25 this week. Father McGivney is in their first year of cross-country in the school. In our first update of the rankings, they move into the top 25 at #17 with an opening win at New Athens and then a fourth-place finish at SIU-Edwardsville. They did not run their full team up on varsity last week at Granite City. Jefferson Bushur is only a freshman but could be a top ten state runner in November. A thing to watch is their five-runner split. Their race at New Athens it totaled 2:48. It dipped down to 2:22 on the hills of SIU-Edwardsville. It will be interesting to see how this team develops and improves this month. They do run at Detweiller Park at the end of September.

Urbana University moves into the top 25 at #23 based on their third-place finish behind St. Joseph-Ogden at the Kickapoo Kickoff Classic.