UEC bragging rights on line Saturday
It's getting to be the fun time of the cross country season - something the Batavia Bulldogs remember quite well.
The Bulldogs certainly had fun late last year, qualifying for state for the first time and giving retiring coach Mike DiDomenico quite a send-off.
We're still a couple weeks away from the key sectional races, but the postseason does get going this weekend with area teams hungry for bragging rights at their respective conference meets.
Batavia will try to run down the Upstate Eight River Division championship Saturday at Lords Park in Elgin. All 16 River and Valley schools will race together, and then the finishes will be scored separately to crown winners in each division.
With top runner Ryan Wieties back in the lineup to join a group that finished third without him last Saturday at the West Aurora Stampede, Saturday could be a special day for the Bulldogs.
Wieties joins Patrick Redmond, David Morrison and Shea Bastian as a consistent top four with Zach Choffin, Keaton Keller, Sean Adams and Quinn O'Brien working hard to close the gap.
"We have a very strong top four," Redmond said. "We are really good friends and we run together on a daily basis. I think that could be a factor. And our bottom three run together so we are always pushing each other."
Redmond is coming off a career-best time of 15:28 to take third Saturday.
"It's a really big confidence builder," Redmond said. "I'm under a lot of pressure now because of school and college and stuff but I let it all lift and I felt so much lighter and I just did it.
"We are all very confident right now. We are on a good note after today."
Valley race: It's a change of scenery for West Aurora, done competing with the likes of Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville North in the DuPage Valley Conference but with some new challenges in the Upstate Eight.
"The DVC was a lot of competition obviously but there's some in the Upstate Eight too," said West Aurora's top runner Connor McCue.
McCue has had a strong fall including a victory at Kaneland's Eddington Invitational and a runner-up finish last week at the West Aurora Stampede where he ran a 15:11.
He should be one of the favorites Saturday while keeping an eye looking ahead at his ultimate goal of high finishes at sectional and state.
He's also excited about teammates like freshman David Castille who broke 16 minutes for the first time last Saturday to take 13th in 15:45.
"That was a big PR by our second man," McCue said. "We didn't have not much of a spread (1-5) like we normally do which is good."
Girls race: The race of the day could be the River girls with Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles East all fielding strong teams this fall capable of coming out on top.
That doesn't include St. Charles North who might have the top individual in freshman Audrey Ernst.
Geneva and St. Charles East have deeper teams. The Vikings line up McKenzie Altmayer, Emma Ehrhardt, Brooke Nusser, Brittany Caskey, Emma McSpadden and Mary Grace Neville while the Saints have a fast group that includes Torree Scull, Hannah Ewald, Anastasia Honea and Anna Arrick.
Batavia sat out several of its key runners last week at the West Aurora Stampede. Emma Stephens, Dakota Roman, Marygrace Golden and Miranda Rea did not race as the Bulldogs looked ahead to conference.
Daphne Kolody (16th, 18:22), Anna Malay (17th, 18:26) and Erika Mansfield (24th, 18:42) did race at the Stampede and will join the Batavia runners who sat out for the River race Saturday.
Coach Chad Hillman said the sky is the limit for his team if every Bulldog runs as they are capable of.
"We haven't talked much about it (winning conference) but I know they know because here or there we'll mention it to a few of the leaders that they should talk it over to know what they want to accomplish together," Hillman said.
"But overall it's take care of business as individuals and do what you are supposed to do as an individual and that will take care of the team goals. As long as they are clear together, we haven't talked about it was a big group yet, but the expectation is to win the conference meet which is going to be extremely hard. It's going to be a three-team battle if not four. They know it is going to be really close but they also know what they are capable of."
Elsewhere: Rosary, Aurora Christian, St. Francis, Montini and Marmion have decided to get together Saturday at Marmion for a conference race for the former Suburban Christian Conference schools.
"I call it a fake conference meet because our conference disbanded," Rosary coach Vic Meade said. "It will be a nice warm-up on our course."
That's because Rosary will return to Marmion to host a Class 2A regional meet the following Saturday. Meade said there will be eight teams at the regional capable of grabbing one of the six spots that qualify for the sectional.
Emily Martin is coming off a second-place finish Saturday at the West Aurora Stampede. With teammate Madison Ronzone right behind in sixth the Royals have a 1-2 punch to rival anyone.
"I don't have any worry about them getting to the big dance but it's whether we can get down as a team because we are a little spread out," Meade said.
On the bright side Meade said he had 11 girls in the open race set a PR on Saturday and several more in the varsity race.
"It was a great day to run," Meade said. "I thought it (first-time course at Stuart Sports Complex in Aurora) would be flat and boring but it was flat and fast. We were happy. We got a lot of PRs.
"I wanted to check with the boss and make sure you measured it right," Meade joked. "Maybe we were just ready. It's getting to be that time of the season where it's time to go."