Rank

Team – Report

1 – York

York is XC.  Watch and be a Fan.  No team in this sectional can do anything but.

2- Fenwick

Have always been a good team with a tight pack.  This could be their coach’s last year and he has the boys running espically strong and tight.  They ran argo (09-20) with a :20 1-5 defference (wow)  15:38  15:54  16:00  16:06  16:08.  They also look to be a lock for state and have depth to spare.

3-Loyola

Have a powerhouse 1-3 and barring any injury look to be the 3^rd and final lock for state.  They have major issues at 4/5 (they were way back of bana in Peoria) but they have such a good program and good numbers they’ll fill those spots with capable runners.

Ok now here is where the section opens up.  5+ good teams for 2 spots.  All 6 are close and will train hard in remaining weeks.  It could come down to who shows up to Skokie with 7 gamers.

4- Maine South

Ran in Peoria Saturday.  We know Peoria is the fastest big invite course in the state.  So you can look at it a few ways.  One solid philosophy is that sept Peoria is a predictor of what you can run 6-7 weeks later at sectional.  I’ll just add :20 for comparison purposes.

Peoria Times (15:42)  (15:55)  (16:07)  (16:13)  (16:29)

So +:20 gives

                      (16:02)  (16:15)  (16:27)  (16:43)  (16:59)

pretty darn similar to us.  A very good team though.

5- Lane Tech

Also Ran in Peoria Saturday and were impressive no doubt finishing right behind Maine south.(and beating MSL power Hersey – go cps)  They look :30 a man better than the ’07 version.  We know this team as well as any.  They are well coached and passionate about the sport.  The ’08 version is legit.  They will run 3 or 4 solidly under 16 at Sectional  with a strong top gun.  Their bubble may burst though if they cannot find a #5 on their campus of like 15,000 kids.

Peoria Times (15:26)  (15:51)  (15:57)  (16:10)  (16:53)

So +:20 gives

                      (15:46)  (16:11)  (16:17)  (16:30)  (17:13)

6 – Mather

We had a strong meet at Minooka.  We’ve run there 5 years in a row now w/ the same black uniforms but I had 3-4 coaches asking who we were (cause we were beating themJ).  Our ‘07 team at (50 mpw) is so much improved to the ’08 team (65 mpw).  We look like the “5 under 16” team we’ve wanted to become.   We too are about :30 per man better than the ’07 version.

Saturday (9-20) Times (16:26) (16:16) (16:10) (16:25) (16:40)

Saturday’s 1-2 flights were slow (for all teams) as the sun blistered the corn fields at their high noon start but as we compare the top 5 of all the bubble teams we are most certainly in the mix.

7 – Lake Park

Ran in Peoria and looked ok up front but had depth issues.  I don’t know this team well enough to know if they had all hands on deck Saturday but will watch for them moving forward.

Peoria Times (15:36)  (15:56)  (16:11)  (16:28)  (17:03)

So +:20 gives

                      (15:56)  (16:16)  (16:31)  (16:58)  (17:23)

8- Glenbard East

Ran Argo on Saturday and finished 3^rd.  Times are true xc invite times and GE looks like a very solid but not unbeatable team.

Saturday Agro times (09-20)

                  (15:52)  (15:59)  (16:30)  (16:38)  (17:01)

9/10 Northside

/Evanston

Have not shown the #4 / #5 times yet necessary to avoid getting points piled on at a big competitive sectional.  Both have nice top ends (Evanston espically w/ Marmol) and are good programs but have only 6 weeks to find their depth.