Road to Charleston - A view of the 2023 IHSA 3A Boys Sectional Distance Events

By Michael Newman

Here are the number of runners that ran under the state qualifying times in the four distance events this season:

4x8 = 26 (8:04.23); 3200m = 59  (9:35.94); 800m = 99 (1:59.36); 1600m = 58 (4:23.79)

Where to start in Class 3A?

Dan Watcke and Aden Bandukwala could be running some wild doubles at a loaded Plainfield North Sectional. How many runners will Plainfield South qualify at the Minooka Sectional. The Wheaton-Warrenville South Sectional has 10 runners that have times under the state qualifying standard. One of them is not Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North who ran the fastest time in the state (4:07.91) last Saturday at the WSC-Silver Meet. Eddington will concentrate on the 800 Meter Run.

It should be fun for the next three days.

Here is a look at the 11 3A Sectionals that will take place from Wednesday to Saturday with focus on the four distance events.

Wednesday, May 17

DeKalb – Riley Newport of DeKalb just qualified in the 1600 Meter Run in last year’s sectional race. The ridiculous preliminary heats in Charleston caused him to finish 13 overall and missing the finals by just one spot. He is entered in two events in his final race on his home track. Evan Horgan of Belvidere North ran 9:18.28 (3A #12) at the Crystal Lake Central Invitational at the end of April and is the top seed in this event. Newport will be close to Horgan. He enters with a 9:23.46 time. Tommy Nitz of Huntley will be in front with Horgan and Newport having run 9:23.98 this season. Aidan DeMuth is right at state qualifying at 9:35.88 and will need a good race to make it to state. Teammate Julian Van Antwerp is four seconds back and could also get to the EIU starting line. Newport made it look easy running 4:17.39 to win at the DuPage Valley Championship last Thursday. Teammate Jacob Barraza went under 4:20 for the first time with a 4:18.95 clocking. Will Gelon of Prairie Ridge and Brandon Lawson of Rockford Guilford are position to qualify having times under 4:22. Nitz is doubling back from the 3200 Meter Run and is within a second of the 4:23.79 qualifying time.  Matthew Andreano of Jacobs (1:57.91) and Landon Bachta of Rockford Guilford (1:58.25) are the only two runners under the qualifying standards in the 800 Meter Run. Gelon is the only runner under two-minutes (1:59.62) and could also attempt to qualify in this event. Jacobs enters the 4x800m Relay as the favorite with a best time of 8:03.02. Crystal Lake Central, Belvidere North, and Prairie Ridge will challenge for the second spot. None of those teams are under the state qualifying standard.

Edwardsville – Dylan Ybarra of O’Fallon could be a double winner in this sectional meet. The junior has a best of 9:18.21 (3A #11) at Distance Night in Palatine. Ybarra is 22 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. None of the other runners in the field have run under state qualifying. The closest runner is Aaron Hendron of Champaign Centennial who has a 9:40.03 season’s best. Ybarra will also be the favorite in the 1600 Meter Run again being the only runner under state qualifying of 4:23.79. The junior has a best of 4:21.22 run two weeks ago at Collinsville. Matt McClelland of Quincy along with Joseph Varos of Normal Community and Sky Riddle of Normal West have seed times between 4:30 and 4:32. Nine athletes are under the 1:59.34 qualifying time in the 800 Meter Run. O’Fallon’s Zach Thoman and Eli Greenstreet are the top two qualifiers in this event. Two seconds separated the next eight runners led by Trey Peterson of Collinsville. Van Schneider of Chatham-Glenwood, McClelland, and Aiden Swanlund of Normal Community all have times in the 1:58 range. Normal Community’s Ethan Snyder and Drew Patterson, Thomas Hess of Quincy, and Alex Uder of Edwardsville could also make it into the state field having times under two-minutes. O’Fallon has the fastest time in the state (7:47.53). That was run with Ybarra in the lineup. Chatham-Glenwood ran 7:54.13 (3A #4) at Troy Triad at the end of April and will challenge for the win.  Normal West and Normal Community are close to the qualifying standard in the event. Both Normal schools could make it to state.

Grayslake North – There are some great races ready to happen in this meet starting with the 3200 Meter Run. Dylan Myers of Lake Zurich ran 9:12.02 (3A #3) on his way to winning the 2 Mile Run at Distance Night in Palatine. Myers is the top seed in this event. Five runners have times under 9:35.94 and should advance to state with good races. Mario Torres of Buffalo Grove will be the closest to Myers with his best of 9:22.39. Braden Eckman of Lake Zurich, Mason Krieg of Palatine, and Dylan Zimmerman of Stevenson are all between 9:33 and 9:34. Trey Sato of Grayslake Central ran 4:13.82 (3A #6) at Palatine and will be the favorite in this race. He is 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field that is led by Myers and Carter Hayes of Palatine who are under state qualifying standards. Torres is entered in this event doubling back from the 3200 Meter Run. Cole Boudreault of Lake Zurich and Alex Krieg of Palatine are both under 4:26. Either or both could finish in the top three or possibly qualifying. All-state runner Caleb Levy of Warren Township ran 1:53.32 (3A #2) at Arcadia in April. He has the fastest sectional in the state by five seconds ahead of Owen Davies of Grayslake North and Eric Barajas of Zion-Benton who have times under state qualifying. Four more runners are within two seconds of each other. Ryan Moats of Warren Township and Jack Casaccio of Palatine are the only two from the group under two minutes. Grayslake Central will be the favorite in the 4x800m Relay with an 8:08.53 best at Deerfield at the end of April. This race for the Rams should be faster especially with Sato anchoring. Palatine and Vernon Hills are within a couple of seconds behind Grayslake Central and could surprise for the sectional win.

Minooka – The question for the distance events in this sectional is how many runners that 3A State Champion Plainfield South will qualify. The Cougars ran 7:53.05 (3A #3) last week to win at the Southwest Prairie Conference with Jack Wright, Tyler Anderson, Ethan Reynoso, and Camyn Viger part of their quartet. Joaquin DeAlba will substitute for Reynoso in this sectional race. They are the team favorite in this race. Joliet West ran 8:01.93 last week in the same race and will be seeded second with Marcellus Mines part of their quartet. Minooka and Lincoln-Way Central are within a second of the 8:04.23 qualifying time and could both make it to state. Four runners have bests under 4:20 in the 1600 Meter Run and should all qualify form this sectional. Mines ran 4:12.57 (3A #4) at the Pete Struck Invitational. He will be the top seed ahead of Viger who ran 4:13.23 (3A #5) at Distance Night in Palatine. Zachary Balzer of Minooka at 4:16.18 (3A #10) and Reynoso (4:19.89) should all qualify. There is a nine second gap before the field led by Ben Whaley of Yorkville. The two Plainfield South runners in the 3200 Meter Run are both good bets of making it to the state meet. BJ Sorg ran 9:12.31 (3A #4) to finish third in his conference meet last week. Dylan Maloney ran 9:14.66 (3A #7) at Distance Night in Palatine and should be with Sorg in this race. There is a gap of 20 seconds between these two runners and Jack Roberts of Lincoln-Way East who is also under the state qualifier with a 9:34.18 best. Owen Horeni of Yorkville is having a standout freshman season and should be running another week in Charleston. Horeni ran 1:55.79 (3A #15) to finish second at the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet. Gavin Borger of Plainfield South has a 1:56.03 best and will challenge for the win. Just like every other 3A sectional this year, there are three more runners under the state qualifier and two more runner that could go under that. Devin West of Lincoln-Way Central and Arnold Arce of Plainfield Central lead that group.

Plainfield North – The question as entries closed is where would Hinsdale Central place their star distance runners in this sectional leading to state. The races in this sectional should be competitive to say the least. Nine runners have run faster than the state qualifying time of 9:35.94 in the 3200 Meter Run. Parker Nold of Oswego East and Matt Padilla of Oswego finished 1-2 last week at the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet. The two runners have the top two times in Class 3A. Zac Close of Neuqua Valley ran 9:14.66 indoors at Lakes at the end of February. He could improve that time in this race. Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central made an impression after running 9:15.15 (3A #8) two weeks ago at the McCarthy Memorial. He is entered in this event and has the kick to win this race. Oliver Burns of Plainfield North, Jesse Gamboa of Hinsdale Central, Quinn Davis of Plainfield North, and Downers Grove South’s Carter Smott and Josh Poeschel all have times under state qualifying. Nine runners entered in the 800 Meter Run have faster than the state qualifying standard of 1:59.34. 2021 State 800 Champion Dan Watcke of Hinsdale Central is on the relay card in two events and is entered in two individual events. Watcke has the fastest time in the state in the 800 Meter Run (1:50.68) and is the favorite in this race. Teammate Michael Skora has a 1:54.67 (3A #6) and should qualify along with Foster Shelbert of Naperville Central who has a 1:55.08 best (1A #8) and teammate Samuel Barnard who has a 1:56.10 indoor best. Jett Breed of Oswego, Austin McInturff of Waubonsie Valley, Matthew Gutierrez of Neuqua Valley, Luke Barham of Stagg, and Hussein Almousawi of Bolingbrook all under state qualifying. Colin Corcoran of Naperville North is within three tenths of a second to the qualifier. Both Watcke and Bandukwala are entered in the 1600 Meter Run. The question is whether one or both of them be in this race. Watcke ran 4:09.67 (3A #2) last Saturday at WSC-Silver finishing second. Bandukwala ran 4:12.40 (3A #3) at the Pete Struck Invitational three weeks ago. Six runners are within the state qualifier of 4:23.79. The next six runners are within three seconds of each other. Could we see double digit qualifiers in this event? Nold, Luke Noren of Naperville Central, Robert Glenn of Neuqua Valley, and Alex Das of Oswego are under the qualifier. Brady Nelson of Oswego leads the next pack and within a half a second of the state qualifier. Hinsdale Central is the top seed in the 4x800 with their indoor national championship time of 7:43.82 the seed time. Six teams in this event have run 8:02 or faster. Naperville Central ran 7:48.86 (3A #2) at Prospect and will challenge Hinsdale Central for the win. Downers Grove South at 7:58.80 (3A #9), Oswego East at 7:59.74 (3A #15), Bolingbrook (8:01.07), and Plainfield North (8:01.62) will make this race interesting. Neuqua Valley has a best of 8:07.01 heading into this race. Their best time for this season will be faster once they finish.

Proviso East – It could be WSC-Silver powers Oak Park-River Forest and Lyons Township that get the majority of the distance qualifiers in this sectional. Oak Park-River Forest is the top seed in the 4x800m Relay. The Huskies ran 7:57.77 (3A #8) two weeks ago at Hinsdale Central. Lyons Township ran 7:58.81 (3A #10) last Saturday at the WSC-Silver Meet. Maine South has a best of 8:09.03 and could qualify for state with a good race. Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest will be the top seed in both the 3200 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run.  Newhart ran 9:14.05 (3A #6) at Minooka in April. Teammate Nick Parrell ran 9:22.47 at Distance Night in Palatine and will be with Newhart throughout the race. Maine South’s Joey Karlesky and Owynn Garrelts of Maine South along with Cillian Henning of Lyons Township all have times under the state qualifier. Jose Lozano of Reavis is three seconds behind that standard and could qualify with a personal best race. Newhart ran 4:14.76 (3A #7) last Saturday at WSC-Silver. Nicholas Strayer of Lyons Township ran 4:17.29 at Distance Night at Palatine. Both Newhart and Strayer are under 4:20 and should advance. Maine South’s Luke Pravecek and  Luca Arcuri along with Lozano are within a second of each other. They are within two seconds of the state qualifying standard. Michael Polizzi of Taft leads the field in the 800 Meter Run with a 1:54.44 seed time from indoors. He ran 1:55.17 (3A #9 last Saturday at the Chicago City Championships. Five runners are under the 1:59.34 state qualifier led by Michael Ferrell of Lyons Township, Jack O’Brien of Riverside-Brookfield, Will Huddleston of Maine South, and John Meyers of Lyons Township.

Wheaton-Warrenville South – Four runners are under the 9:35.94 state qualifying standard. Vijay Krishnamoorthi of Conant has the top seed with the 9:17.03 (3A #9) that he ran at Palatine in April. Lucas Yonker of Wheaton-Warrenville South, Rory Gaan of Fremd, and Topher Ferris of Downers Grove North are under the qualifier standard and within three seconds of each other. Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South and Caleb Youngstedt of Wheaton North are within five seconds of the qualifier. Both could make it to state with great races. The 800 Meter Run will be a wild race with possibly six runners advancing from this sectional. Aidan Hill of York ran 1:55.59 (3A #12) and is the top seed in this event. Colin Nelson of Wheaton-Warrenville South is close at 1:55.85 after his win last week at DuKane Conference. The wild card in this final section will be Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North who ran a state leading 4:07.91 last week at the WSC-Silver 1600 Meter Run. He is in great shape. All three runners could be under 1:54 in this race. Ben Shebar of Wheaton North and Anthony Nitti of Glenbard West are at 1:58 or under and should also qualify. Gavin Coprin of Conant is close to qualifying having run 1:59.42. He could be under 1:59 in this race. The 1600 Meter Run is loaded. Five runners have run under 4:19. Hill and Krishnamoorthi are doubling back from earlier races. It is possible that neither will race if they have qualified. Caden Weber of Downers Grove North is the top seed having run 4:14.95 (3A #8) three weeks ago at the Pete Struck Invitational. Theodore Cunningham of Fremd ran 4:16.19 (IL #11) and will challenge for the win. Hill ran 4:16.71 (3A #13) last week to finish fourth at WSC-Silver. Krishnamoorthi ran 4:16.95 (3A #14) last week at MSL Championships. Asa Gaspar of Downers Grove North is also under 4:20 with a 4:18.99 time. Gann, Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North, Danny O’Shaughnessy of York, Chuck Halden of Glenbard West, and Nathan Virginelli of Wheaton-Warrenville South all have run under 4:23 this spring. Sam Cruz, also of Wheaton-Warrenville South could make it to state. He has a 4:26.91 best that could improve in this race. Glenbard West ran a great race last week in the 4x800m Relay at the WSC-Silver Meet. The Hilltoppers are the top seed at 7:55.73 (3A #5). Conant at 7:56.27 (3A #7), Wheaton-Warrenville South at 7:59.25 (3A #12) and Fremd (8:00.02) and Downers Grove North (8:00.47) with Eddington will all challenge for the win. York and Wheaton North could possibly make it to state with both teams within the qualifying standards.

Thursday, May 18

Batavia – Quintin Lowe will run on this track for the final time as Batavia hosts this meet. Lowe is entered in all three distance events. Which races will he choose to run? Three runners are under 9:20 in the 3200 Meter Run with less than a second separating the three. Joseph Bregenzer of Barrington has only run the 3200 Meter Run outdoors. He was timed at 9:18.95 (3A #13) at Distance Night in Palatine. Lowe has an indoor best of 9:19.22. Mitch Garcia of St. Charles East ran 9:19.40 in the same race. All three runners should advance. Sean Heetland of West Aurora, Jedidiah Wilson of St. Charles East and Justin Hurtado of Barrington all have times under the state qualifier. All three of those runners could also advance. Lowe ran 1:55.98 at the end of April and is the top seed in the 800 Meter Run. There is a three second gap between him and Austin Brown of Metea Valley. There are four more runners behind Brown that have run under two minutes. Felipe Wickler of Batavia leads that pack. Perhaps four runners could make it under state qualifying. Lowe and Brown are the only two runners in the 1600 Meter Run. Colin Knowles of Batavia and Heetland are within two seconds of the qualifier and are the best chances to advance to the state with a state qualifying time. Barrington and Batavia both have times at 8:06 in the 4x800m Relay. Metea Valley is the next closest team with an 8:17.03 seasonal best.

Deerfield – Five runners could advance in the 3200 Meter Run out of this sectional. Ben Crane of New Trier enters this meet with the top seed time of 9:18.88 (3A #14) run in April at Distance Night in Palatine. Crane has a six second gap ahead of the rest of the pack that are within five seconds of each other. Brian Hatoum and Nate Wehner of Highland Park, Liam Naughton of Hersey, and Felix Hekster of New Trier are all good enough to come away with the win. All five runners should advance to the state meet. Naughton ran 4:17.69 last week at the MSL Championships and will lead the field in the 1600 Meter Run. New Trier’s Crane and Oscar Dueno-Alda are the next two seeds with times at or under 4:20. James Lombardo of Loyola Academy is within a half a second of the New Trier with a 4:20.67 time. Hatoum and Wehner are near state qualifying in this race and could qualify for state in their second event. The 800 Meter Run is ridiculously loaded with 10 runners under the state qualifying time of 1:59.34. John Ihrke of Glenbrook North lead the field with a 1:55.72 best. William Simon of Loyola Academy and Barak Goldstein of Highland Park have seed times under 1:57. The next six runners are within two seconds of each other. Hersey at 7:58.82 ( 3A #11) and Prospect at 7:59.49 (3A #13) are the top two seeds in the 4x800m Relay. Highland Park as a best of 8:01.62. The Giants could be in contention for the win. Wheeling and New Trier are just outside of the state qualifying time but could finish under the state time standard.

Lockport Township – Homewood-Flossmoor ran 7:59.66 (3A #14) to win last week at the Southwest Prairie Conference in the 4x800m Relay. Sandburg ran 8:00.09 earlier this season and should challenge the Vikings for the sectional win. Lockport is the next closest team with an 8:16.56 time. Trent Anderson of Sandburg and Owen Forberg of Richards are the top two seeded runners in the 1600 Meter Run both with times under 4:20. Anderson ran the top seed time of 4:15.86 (3A #9) at the Pete Struck Invitational three weeks ago. Forberg ran 4:16.26 ( 3A #12) in the same meet. The next group of runners are close to 20 seconds behind Forberg. Grant Giblin of Sandburg will be the favorite in the 800 Meter Run after running 1:55.81 (3A #16) at Distance Night in Palatine. Dane Ivancevic of Homewood-Flossmoor is the only other runner in this event that is under the state qualifying time. Caden Wolfe of Andrew and Habtamu Epley of Homewood-Flossmoor will also challenge for the second auto qualifying spot. Only two runners should advance out of the 3200 Meter Run. Cameron Valcich of Lockport is the top seed with a 9:48.79 best. The junior is almost 20 seconds ahead of the field led by Nathan Powley of Lockport and followed by Matthew McKee of Marist and Luke Atzman of Sandburg.

Friday, May 19

Whitney Young – The 800 Meter Run could produce six state qualifiers out of this sectional. Landan Gillespie of Kenwood ran 1:54.16 indoors, but 1:56.05 last week at the Chicago City Championships. Andrew Nelson of Jones Prep ran 1:56.00 at Palatine in April and could claim the win in this race. Muhiyadin Ali and Mohammed Abdullahi of Mather, Thomas Fitzpatrick of St. Ignatius Prep, and Kendall Easterly of Whitney Young could comfortably qualify for state in this event. Abdullahi also is in the 3200 Meter Run with his seed time of 9:36.52 coming last week in their league championships. It could be Matthew Conroy of St. Ignatius Prep or Tommy Stecz of Lane Tech that also challenge for the win. Three runners are under the 4:23.79 qualifying time in the 1600 Meter Run. Will Kozlowski of Lane Tech ran 4:18.32 in April at Arcadia. Dalton Lowery of Whitney Young and Thomas Fitzpatrick of St. Ignatius Prep both have 4:23 times and could be making the trip to Charleston. Lane Tech (8:01.25) and Whitney Young (8:04.01) are the top seeded teams in the 4x800m Relay. Mather ran 8:06.01 this season. They could also advance to state along with St. Ignatius Prep.