Photo: Deer Creek-Mackinaw’s Boys team celebrates their win Saturday at Bureau Valley.

By Michael Newman

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Conditions were not the best this past weekend with temperatures in the mid-80’s with high humidity. There were some meets that got their main races in but had to cancel open races at the end of their program.

Even with the heat, there were some great performances turned in on Saturday. Here is a look at some of the meets that took place.

Click here for a recap of the Richard Spring Invitational.

Click here for videos from the Richard Spring Invitational.

Meet Results

Minooka Flight Invitational

The meet setup is simple in this meet. The top runners for each team runs against each other and so on and so forth until you get to the seventh runner. Add up the total places of your seven runners and see who has the lowest number. It is a determiner of deep your team is.

In the Boys portion of the meet, 3A top ranked Downers Grove North was the best winning six of the seven flights and scoring only nine points. They did this without one of their top seven Matt Moravec who was held out for the second meet in a row. #13 Batavia led a tight pack for the next four teams with 32 points. Plainfield North (33 points), Maine South (36 points), and Huntley (38 points) followed. Maine South’s Tommy Brady won the Championship Flight race covering the 3-mile Channahon Park Course in 15:03. Brady finished 14 seconds ahead of Whitney Young’s Clayton Mendez. Downers Grove North’s Jacob Ridderhoff finished third (15:22).

#3 Yorkville tuned up for this Saturday’s Roy Griak Invitational by winning three flights on their way to the win with 13 points. 2A #2 Belvidere North was next with 20 points followed by #12 Batavia (23 points), #10 Minooka (25 points), and #15 Lyons Township (31 points). Madison Diercks of Belvidere North, who won last week at the First to the Finish Invitational, showed that she is one of the top runners in the state by winning this race crossing the line in 17:56. She was 11 seconds ahead of Minooka’s Emily Shelton and another 9 seconds ahead of Yorkville’s Emily Eberhart.

Dunlap Invitational

The top 2A team in the state Dunlap were rude hosts in the Girls race at this meet taking five of the first top spots in winning the team title with only 17 points. 2A #24 Metamora was a distant second with 100 points followed by 1A #11 Williamsville (106 points). The Eagles swept the first three places led by the individual win from Franny Verville (17:37). Teammates Campbell Petersen (17:49) and Abby Johnson (18:12) were next across the line. Morton’s Aspen Gordon broke up the Dunlap pack finishing fourth. Dunlap ran without their #3 runner Ayah Aldadah who was held out of the meet due to illness.

Alleman’s Spencer Smith led from wire-to wire to easily win the Boys Varsity race. His time of 15:28 was 12 seconds faster than the time of Adam Gilbreath-Glaub of Metamora (15:40). Metamora scored 58 points to win the team title placing 5 runners in the first 19. Rock Island Alleman (68 points) and Dunlap (97 points) finished second and third.

Edwardsville Invitational

Edwardsville was in charge in their own invitational winning both team titles on the hills of the SIU-Edwardsville cross-country course. #6 Edwardsville placed five runners in the first seven to win with only 17 points. Missouri’s Nerinx Hall was next with 82 points. Waterloo’s Jenna Schwartz ran 18:44 to win the individual race. It was an excellent time on that course considering how warm the temperatures were. Edwardsville’s Abby Korak (19:11) and Abby Schrobilgen (19:18) were next across the line.

Edwardsville’s Boys team was just as dominating. The #25 Tigers placed four runners in the top eight to score 32 points. 2A #12 Waterloo was next (110 points). Justin Mumford of Trenton-Wesclin will be a runner to watch in 1A. The freshman ran the 5k course in 16:22 for the win four seconds ahead of Edwardsville’s Roland Prenzler.

Bureau Valley Invitational

Dawson Smith won his second consecutive race but it was a little closer than the margin he had a week ago in Peoria. The Rock Falls sophomore ran 16:14 for the win but was only six seconds ahead of Seneca’s Christopher Collet. Owen Habeger of Illinois Valley Central finished third (16:22). 1A #5 Deer Creek Mackinaw won the Boys team title with 86 points running a 51 second split off the eighth-place finish by Gary Cates. Their split from their second to fifth runners was only 16 seconds. 1A #3 Rock Falls received top five finishes from Bailee Fortney (3^rd) and Alex Gomez (4^th) to win the Girls team title 64-71 over 1A #7 Eureka. Kayla Schiera of Sandwich won a close race (19:06) by four seconds ahead of Emma Argo from Eureka.

Tuscola Invitational

The Girls race was perhaps the best of the weekend as Jordan Harmon of Tolono Unity ran 18:01 to win only three seconds ahead of Urbana University’s Arielle Summitt. The next finisher, Ailey Mitchell of Shelbyville, was 51 seconds back but still ran under 19 minutes (18:55). 1A Top ranked Tolono Unity put 5 runners in the first 12 to win with 34 points ahead of 2A #15 Urbana University (65 points) and Neoga (153 points).

Freshman Reece Johnson of Neoga stepped into the spotlight winning his first race (16:14) four seconds ahead of Tolono Unity’s Cameron Woodward. 1A #13 Urbana University scored 67 points to win the team title ahead of Toledo Cumberland (98 points) and 1A #21 Tuscola (108 points).

Kaneland Invitational

It was a Richtman domination day at Kaneland’s Eddington Invitational as the brother/sister duo from the host school won the varsity individual races. The winning margin for Matt and Rachel Richtman was only 1.8 seconds. The Girls race was the closest as Rachel Richtman ran 17:58.1 to hold off DeKalb’s Katherine Olsen by only two tenths of a second. The margin was only 1.6 seconds in the Boys race as Matt Richtman (15:14.2) edged Zach Albrecht of Jacobs (15:15.8). Sycamore’s Stephen Poorten was close less than four seconds back in third (15:19.2).

#14 Benet Academy again proved why they could be a team that inches into the top 10. The Redwings had three runners in the first seven led by Freshman Kelly Andrews and her third-place finish as they scored 38 points to win the Girls team title. 2A #5 Kaneland (87 points), DeKalb (123 points), and 2A #13 Crystal Lake Central (125 points) were the next teams in.

#20 Glenbard West bounced back from a so-so race in Peoria to dominate this meet placing 6 runners in the top 16. The Hilltoppers, led by Rory Cavan (4^th), Stephen Moody (5^th), and Will O’Brien (6^th), scored 40 points to win the team title ahead of DeKalb (109 points) and Jacobs (115 points). #3 Sycamore was the first 2A team as they scored 173 points to finish fourth just five points ahead of #7 Kaneland (178 points) and Crystal Lake Central (181 points).

Warren Blue Devil Invitational

A new course at the Warren High School campus was necessitated by floods that hit the Gurnee area during the summer. That meant there would be new course records. Jack Becker of Crystal Lake South ran conservatively because of the heat in the first two miles of the race. He broke away from the pack to win easily crossing the line in 14:47.3. Collin Luell of Zion-Benton was next (15:05.6) followed by Antioch’s Charlie Smith (15:12.3) and Mundelein’s Robert St. Clair (15:12.5). #3 Mundelein had a time-spread of 56 seconds on their top five that finished in the first 23. The Mustangs scored 60 points for the win ahead of Glenbrook South (110 points) and Evanston (114 points).

Enyaeva Michelin of Evanston pulled away at the end to win the Girls race (17:52.3) seven seconds ahead of Round Lake’s Fatima Giron. #17 Fremd, led by the sixth-place finish from Marisa Ban and two other runners in the top ten, won the team title with 64 points. Cary-Grove (105 points) and 2A #11 Carmel Catholic (115 points) finished second and third.

Libertyville Invitational

#11 Prospect put their top seven on the line for the first time this fall and it produced a win at Adler Park. The Knights had all 5 scorers in the first 12 with only a 26 second spread between the five. Prospect scored 41 points to outdistance Highland Park (67 points) and Libertyville (106 points). Alex Tam of Libertyville dominated on his home course running 16:00 winning by almost 30 seconds. Lake Forest’s Nathan Schmitt and Jack Terry of Prospect were the next two runners to cross the line.

A 3-4 finish from Ola Skibicki and Madison Polinski helped Lockport to win the Girls team title 43-51 ahead of New Trier. Prospect finished third (69 points). Melissa Manetsch made it a Libertyville individual sweep as she ran 19:06 for the win ahead of Prospect’s Mikayla Olsen (19:30).

Flashrock Invitational @ Carmel, Indiana

#5 Hinsdale Central traveled east into Indiana and came away with a team win. The Red Devilettes scored 73 points to win the Girls team championship. Fishers (102 points) and Hamilton Southeastern (108 points), both Indiana schools, were the next two teams to finish.

DeKalb (IN) senior Tyler Schwartz ran a great race covering the 5k course in a fast 17:19 for the win. Hinsdale Central’s top five included Mckenna Revord (2^nd), Grace McCabe (6^th), Reilly Revord (10^th), Lucy Fisher (27^th), and Bella Pisani (28^th). The split on their top five was 87 seconds.