2026 Conference Previews: Friday Conferences
Conference week is here, and we're breaking down all of the friday action below! There are a couple good meets today, so read up and see who's the favorite to win their conference title around the state!
Friday
Southwest Prairie Conference
Writer: Brayden Gaffud
Boys Teams: 3A - #1 Plainfield (South), #14 Plainfield (North), #24 Yorkville, Bolingbrook, Joliet (Central), Joliet (West), Plainfield (Central), Plainfield (East), Minooka, Oswego, Oswego (East), Romeoville
Girls Teams: 3A - #7 Plainfield (North), #14 Yorkville, #20 Minooka, Bolingbrook, Joliet (Central), Joliet (West), Plainfield (Central), Plainfield (East), Plainfield (South), Oswego, Oswego (East), Romeoville
Boys Individuals: 3A - #4 Dylan Buturusis(Plainfield South), #6 Alex Batsala(Plainfield South), #20 Nathaniel Gabriel(Joliet Central), Liam Beavers(Plainfield North), Dominic Frigo(Plainfield North), Dominic LaMontagna(Plainfield North), Carter Reichert(Yorkville)
Girls Individuals: 3A - #11 Marlie Czarniewski(Plainfield North), #17 Athena Triner(Yorkville), #22 Natalie Nahs(Minooka), Olivia Eager(Plainfield North), Linden Moss(Yorkville), Paige Joachim(Minooka), Laurel Eager(Plainfield North).
Outlook: Conference week is here, and for every team in the field, the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet is a great race to end off the season for some, and a final tune-up before postseason for others. This has been one of the premier conferences in the state of Illinois, and this year is no different with some of the top teams and individuals in the state in both the boys and girls races. Everyone will be chasing a trophy. Nobody wants to hand a rival a conference title and confidence going into regionals, sectionals, and eventually state.
The boys individual race should come down to how well the Plainfield South duo of #4 Dylan Buturusis and #6 Alex Batsala controls the front pack. They both have consistently gone back and forth in races. It’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top in this matchup: will they work together for 1-2 or will one try to break the other? Or will another competitor, such as #20 Nathaniel Gabriel of Joliet Central, steal the spotlight. He has raced hard all season, notably with his fast finish as Richard Spring a month ago. Don’t count out Plainfield North seniors Dominic Frigo and Liam Beavers, who were both key in last year's state title. On the team side, #1 Plainfield South is the clear favorite here. They have been running out of the state for a few races, including Woodbridge and Nike Twilight. But watch out for #14 Plainfield North. These two teams are always battling it out. Last year South got the best of them at conference, but North was the one to take home the IHSA State trophy and make it to NXN. Anything can truly happen during a conference meet in the Southwest Prairie Conference
Turning it over to the girls race, it is headlined by Plainfield North’s own #11 Marlie Czarniewski. She is the top returner in this conference, finishing 9th at state a year ago and winning meets such as the EIU showdown this season. She has many other top finishes from this past year against the best of the best, so expect her to be taking this one from the gun. Following her will be #17 Athena Triner of Yorkville and #22 Natalie Nahs of Minooka. They will be right on Czarniewski’s tail the entire race, trying to run her down for 17 minutes and an individual conference title. As the team race goes, this will be the most fun race of the day to watch. #7 Plainfield North is led by Czarniewski, with Olivia Eager and Laurel Eager following closely behind. They are looking to individually top the runners for #14 Yorkville, notably Triner and Linden Moss. Also, #20 Minooka should find themselves in the mix with Nahs and Paige Joachim. This race will definitely come down to the fourth and fifth runners, so whoever can win the little battles in the more crowded packs during the late stages of the race will come out of this race with a SPC team title to cap off the regular season portion of Illinois XC.
Mid Illini Conference
Writer: Jacob Cranford
Boys Teams: Bartonville (Limestone), Canton, Dunlap, East Peoria, Metamora, Morton, Pekin, Washington
Girls Teams: Bartonville (Limestone), Canton, Dunlap, East Peoria, Metamora, Morton, Pekin, Washington
Boys Individuals: Ben Gorsage (Sr., Washington), Maxwell Carter (Sr., Morton), Ethan Adams (Jr., Washington), Zach Born (Sr., Metamora), Dalton Miller-Klunke (Sr., Dunlap), Duke Hendrick (Sr., Morton), Keyston Beyer (Sr., Morton)
Girls Individuals: Morgan Coker (Sr., Pekin), McKinlee Williams (So., Pekin), Lauren Ladendorf (So., Pekin), Claire Fournier (So., Canton)
Outlook:The Mid-Illini Conference is filled with a lot of the best teams in Central Illinois, but the individuals are where the best stories are told. Central Illinois is a strong area for distance running on both the girls' and boys' sides. There are a lot of great individuals in this field on the boys' side. The main guys to look for are Ben Gorsage, coming off a super impressive race last week, and Maxwell Carter, who has been on fire all season. The individuals looking to shake things up and surprise those top two are Duke Hendrick, Zach Born, Dalton Miller-Klunke, Abe Martin, Keyston Beyer, and Ethan Adams. The team race on the boys' side looks to be in Morton's favor. With Morton being a hard team to beat, the battle for second is going to be very close between Dunlap, Metamora, and Washington. On the girls' side, the individual race looks like Pekin is going to take the top three spots with Morgan Coker, McKinlee Williams, and Lauren Landendorf. With that being said, there are other girls, like Elsie Parnham, Sanjana Siddaraju, Aubrey Ott, and Brooklyn Virtue, who will be looking to shake things up. The team race on the girls' side looks similar to the boys' race, with Pekin looking like a very hard team to beat as they aim to take the top three spots. After that, it's another battle for second, with Dunlap, Morton, and Metamora all looking to claim the spot.
