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AAA Boys Regional Preview

With a 5th sectional added, the regional fields have shrunk. A look by regional on what could happen this weekend.

Michael Newman

Burbank Reavis Sectional

Chicago Marist Regional at Midlothian Meadows

Brother Rice should win this regional. Finishing 4th at the Chicago Catholic League Championship last weekend, this squad should rebound. Brian Corcoran has been running strong all season and will be the individual favorite. The closest team to Rice should be Marist, who finished 3rd at the East Suburban Catholic Conference.

Hinsdale Central Regional at KLM Park, Hinsdale

Strongest regional in this sectional bracket. 6 of the 7 teams are rated in the Dyestat Illinois Sectional Ratings. #6 Lyons Township should be the team favorite in this race. Mike Janusek has been consistent all year and leads a stront Lions pack. The key for LT is to see the continued improvement of Senior Alex Lyons, who was sick just before Peoria Notre Dame and is just rounding back into form. It could be a battle for the next few spots. Downers Grove North has been running good the last couple of weeks and could push for second. Sophomore Ben Silver has been consistently in the front all season and we should not see any change on the rolling KLM Park course. Host Hinsdale Central has been rated the last couple of weeks, but dropped out after Saturday's conference performance. The Red Devils will look to Senior Doug Moore along with Sophomore Billy Fayette to charge up the team. Hinsdale South won the WSC-Gold last Saturday and are on a roll. Max Rodrigues will be one of the individual favorites. Watch for Sophomore twins Michael and Donald DeSalvo to be close to Rodrigues. One of the unsung teams in this regional is Benet Academy. After winning the East Suburban Catholic Conference last Saturday, the Red Wings are peaking at the right time with Jerry Olp leading the way. Great individual race is looming with Silver, Rodrigues, Janusek, and Jack Hostetler of LT looking to claim the regional crown.

Bolingbrook Regional at DuPage River Park

One of two regionals at this location, look for Lockport to be the favorite. The Porters have been a mystery team of sorts this fall by not running their full line up in some meets. Their top 7 consists of all underclassmen, led by Junior David Inczauskis, who should be the favorite. Watch for Sophomore teammate David Sajdak to push him. The only team that may come close to Lockport is Andrew.

Sandburg Regional at Turtlehead Forest Preserve

Not to much of a team battle at this regional. #8 Host Sandburg should be the class of the field. Zach Dahleen has proven all season that he will be a force to be reckoned with at Peoria in a couple of weeks and should cruise to the individual championship. Look for Sandburg to score 20 points here if they decide to run their full lineup. Shepard and Stagg will be battling for 2nd here.

Normal Community West Sectional

Granite City Regional at Wilson Park

Another battle between conference rivals #9 Edwardsville and #20 O'Fallon. Last week at the Southwest Conference, Edwardsville looked some what tired after a tough week and squeeked out a 1 point victory. Freshman Garrett Sweatt has been the story for the Tigers. He keeps running better and better week in and out. Watch for him as one of the favorites here along with teammate Devon Dudding and brother Eli Sweatt. O'Fallon ran their best race of the season, even without #2 runner Matt Coon. Josh Parkinson stepped up with a fine performance last Friday. Michael Scolarci has been the #1 man for O'Fallon and will be towards the front in the individual race. Individually, also watch for Aaron Werths of Granite City to be up towards the leaders as well.

Minooka Regional at Channahon Community Park

Lukas Verzbicas returned to racing last Saturday and edged Zach Dahleen of Sandburg by 3 seconds. The fantastic frosh should be the favorite in this race. His team, #19 Lincoln-Way Central should be the team favorite. Their is a gap between Verzbicas and his teammates, but the 2-5 split has been close all season. This won't change on Saturday. Host Minooka should be pushing Central. Josh Keck has been the lead man for Minooka most of the season, but the emergence of Freshman Kyle Smith has been a pleasant surprise for Coach Kevin Gumerson. Lincoln-Way East will push Minooka, led by Sophomore Nick Sinadinos. Also watch for Joliet led by Senior Nick Scheuber to advance.

Normal West Regional at Maxwell Park

A good team battle shapes up in this regional. #16 Moline squeaked by in winning the Western Big Six last weekend at Credit Island and will look for a strong performance on Saturday. Jonathan Smith has been with the front runners all season and should be towards the front on Saturday. #24 Normal Community West benefits on running on their home course two weeks in a row (regionals, sectionals). This team has been coming on of late...it is a young team led by Sophomore Drew Kerscheiter and looks to be peaking at the right time.

Rockford Guilford Regional at Rock Valley College

Only six teams line up at this regional, so the team the finishes sixth will still have 5 runners qualifying as individuals. This Rockford area regional will feature Rockton Hononegah, who figures to be the favorite after getting second at their conference last weekend to AA#1 Belvidere North. Kevin Jacobs of Hononegah will be one of the favorites in this race. Watch for William O'Malley of Rockford Boylan to push Jacobs.

Schaumburg Sectional

Lake Forest Regional at Lake Forest East Campus

A good competitive regional shapes up here at Lake Forest. #17 Lake Forest looks to bounce back after a disappointing loss at the North Suburban Meet last weekend. Kyle Brehm has been a surprise for the Scouts this season and will lead their pack. New Trier looked strong in getting second to Maine South last weekend. The Trevians annually peak at the right time and this year is no exception. Sophomore Thomas King looks stronger week by week and will lead New Trier. Watch for Deerfield led by Billy Malmed to be pushing for a top spot here. Stevenson should also make it through.

Libertyville Regional at Adler Park

A toss up at this regional as no ranked teams in either the State or Sectional Rankings are here. Grant would tend to be the slight team favorite here led by Karsten Green. In the individual race, the favorite should be Cameron Rieger, the East Suburban Catholic Conference champ, from Carmel.

Hoffman Estates Regional

A loaded regional here. #5 Palatine ran its best race of the season last week at Busse Woods and will be the favorite here. The split keeps getting smaller and smaller for Coach Chris Quick. Chano Bernardo will be one of the individual favorites. #13 Conant placed 3rd at the MSL last weekend without standout Jeffrey Thode. If Thode is running this weekend, look for Conant to possibly challenge Palatine. The one surprise team is #15 Lake Zurich, who crushed then #8 Lake Forest last weekend. Gerardo Perez and Andrew Morrison form a powerful 1-2 punch and will be up towards the front. The big question here is Schaumburg. Having been hit with injuries most of the season, the Saxons will look to bounce back with a strong group of Sophomores running on the Varsity...will this be enough to get them to next week? A great individual race with MSL champ Pat Lesiewicz of Schaumburg, Gerardo Perez and Andrew Morrison of Lake Zurich, Jeffrey Thode of Conant, Chano Bernardo of Palatine, and Aaron Ferst of Fremd all will be in the front pack.

Rolling Meadows Regional at Salk Park Fields

#10 Prospect should be the favorite in this regional. Chris Hayek has been the go-to guy for Coach Mike Stokes all season and will be counted on for a high finish on Saturday. Look for the split for the Knights to continue to shrink again this week. Hersey is looking better with an influx of Sophomores on the Varsity, and a healthy Erik Stanton back in racing shape.

Skokie Niles West Sectional

Whitney Young Regional at Horner Park

A repeat of last weekends Chicago Public League Championship. Mather looked strong in winning CPL last week and will be the slight favorite here. Northside Prep looked surprisingly strong and will push Mather here. Lane Tech will look to rebound after placing 3rd. One team to watch out for here is St. Ignatius, who has kept a couple of Sophomores down and will look for them to help Jimmy Connelly here. Ivan Coronel of Mather should be the individual favorite in this race.

OPRF Regional at Schiller Woods

#12 Fenwick looks to come back from a disappointing loss to Loyola last weekend at the CCL. Fenwick relies on a tight pack and should prevail in this regional. Oak Park-River Forest will fight it out with Leyden for second place. Look for Coach Jose Sosa to move up most of his Sophomores up to Varsity, which will make them interesting come the sectional race next weekend.

Loyola Academy Regional

#11 Loyola Academy will be the favorite at their own regional, but look for a challenge from #21 Maine South. Loyola ran their best race so far this season...the key was keeping their split down. Maine South should be able to get some of their runners in between Loyola's 3rd and 4th runners. The Hawks problem is their gap between 4 and 5, which could be their down fall on Saturday. Evanston's Matt Marol will challenge Loyola's Nico Composto in the individual race.

Lake Park Regional at East Campus Course

#1 York could run their JV and still win here. Definite favorites to score between 18-20 points here. We might see Sophomore Jack Driggs on the Varsity. Watch for York to work on their split here. The fight for 2nd will be between Lake Park and Glenbard East. Wheaton North was a distance fourth behind Glenbard last week and looks to be the same here. York's Jordan Herbert and Steve Sulkin are the favorites here. Watch for Nathan Peterson of Glenbard East or Steve Krauss of Lake Park to possibly break into York's top 5.

St. Charles East Sectional

Woodstock Regional at Emricson Park

Could be a repeat of last weekend's Fox Valley Conference. #14 Cary-Grove and #18 Crown will go at it again....should be a close race. Cary Grove has improved dramitically over the last couple of weeks, the main reason of the great running of Phil Fairleigh. Bill Roth and Kai Rikkardsen have been close to Fairleigh which will make them tough at Sectional. Crown did not run their best race of the year and could catch the Trojans in a emotional letdown after last week. Sophomore Anthony Manfrin again will challenge Fairleigh in the individual race. Crown needs to get their split down if they want to make it to Peoria. Individually, also watch for Josh Udovich of Crystal Lake South to challenge.

St. Charles North Regional at Leroy Oaks Forest Preserve

#7 St. Charles North should have an easy go of it at this regional...could go a perfect 15 here. Not much else to really say here...Max Clink, Todd Vandkerkhoff and Steve Miller of St Charles North will challenge for the individual championship.

Naperville North Regional at DuPage River Park

Best regional in AAA. The first of 3 consecutive possible meetings between #2 Naperville North and #4 Neuqua Valley. At their first meet at Lockport 3 weeks ago, Naperville North beat Neuqua runnning man on man. The only thing that could possible hurt North is their split between Gibson and fifth man Mike Herbert...57 seconds last week at conference. Coach Paul Vandersteen of Neuqua will probably rest #2 runner Aaron Beattie, who is still recovering from an IT Band problem. The Wildcats have incredible depth as evidenced by their changing line up. He will go with whoever is the hottest. #22 Wheaton-Warrenville South sould be a distant 3rd here. Aaron Peck leads a squad who has seen their split get smaller and smaller. Plainfield South and Plainfield North should get the other two spots. Great individual dual looms here between Kyle Gibson of Naperville North and Danny Pawola of Neuqua Valley.

Aurora West Regional at Waubonsee Community College

Can #3 Geneva duplicate what it did last weekend at their conference meet...score a perfect 15? I don't think that it will happen with the quality of talent here. The Vikings are still the favorite...their split has been tough all season between 25 and 30 seconds. It will be interesting to see how #23 Aurora Marmion performs here. They also scored perfect at the Suburan Catholic Conference Meet, but it should be interesting to see how this team runs in tough conditions. Waubonsie Valley has been running better the last couple of weeks, but will it be enough to get them out of sectionals. They should clear the hurdle here. #25 Batavia pushed the pace last week against Geneva, how will they run the race this week. Andrew Nelson of Geneva should get a challenge from Andrew Larson of Marmion and Emmett Lorenz of Waubonsie Valley in the individual race.
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