Prairie Derby Showcase Preview

The Prairie Derby Showcase is one of the states premier middle school meets with some of the best competition in the State being there. We will see a lot of athletes that will be vying for all-state positions this year at the IESA State Meet. The headline event at this competition looks to be the Illinois Running News Miles! Which are set to excite.

4x800m

The 4x800m is a very interesting event as it is rarely ran at the middle school level in Illinois. That can make for some really cool experiences for athletes competing in this event.

According to the heat sheets this should be Arlington Heights Souths race here on the Boys side. They are seeded at 9:30 which is the fastest seed by over a minute. Arlington Heights Thomas and Barrington Prairie have some excellent names listed on their relay cards. Thomas having Joshua Morrison and Kyle Dugan listed while Prairie's card contains Dominic Voth and Thomas Blanke.

On the girls side it looks like Arlington Heights Thomas is loading up their relay with Adelaide Galla, Clara Vincent, Vada Ashman, and Madeline Serur here. This relay can honestly challenge 10:10 here which is exceptional for a middle school group. Their anchor Serur ran 2:18 indoors! Arlington Heights South has a great team that will be stepping to the line as well with the quartet of Brenna Klokkenga, Lily Newman, Audrey Childs, and McKenna Carroll. This group should be 2nd in this race.

Hurdles

The top seed in the Boys Hurdles is Dylan Nag of Dixon Reagan who just recently ran a new PR of 17.26 earlier in the week. Nag was part of Reagan's 4x400m team that took 4th at the IESA State Meet last year. He will attempt to dip under 17.00 here. Parker Post will challenge him here. Post is a very unique athlete with a wide range. He can perform well in the hurdles, High Jump, and is a great distance runner who was 26th at the IESA 1A State Meet. He was 20th at the IESA State Meet last year in the hurdles.

On the girls side its Maddie Viken of Arlington Heights South who is the top seed in the field. She was 4th at the Buffalo Grove Sectional in the 100H last year. Competing with her will be Mairead Kane and Annie Palm of Mt. Prospect Lincoln. Kane took 5th at the IESA 4A 7th Grade State Meet in 2023 as a 6th grader, but ended up unfortunately not qualifying as a 7th grader. She is the most experienced hurdler in the field, if she can find her footing then this will be her race potentially. Palm was 3rd at the Sectional last year. She has been hurdling during the indoor season and will try and shoot for the win here.

4x200m

The Boys 4x200m looks to be anyone's race to win. The contenders look to be Johnsburg, Arlington Heights South, and Mt. Prospect Lincoln. One of these teams will be looking to make this race a breakout event for them.

The Girls 4x200m looks to be an extremely enticing race with last years IESA 4A State Champions Oak Park Julian being in the field. The quartet of Zoey Danley, Ava Pero, Nyah Kissoon, and Maya Davis hold the honors of being called the defending State Champions and will look to kick their season off here. Barrington Prairie will be a team to keep an eye on with Lana McKendree listed on the relay card. She is a massive difference maker on the relay. Arlington Heights South is also in the field. They were 11th at the IESA 4A State Meet last year.

Illinois Running News 1600m

The meet will be headlined by the "Illinois Running New Miles" which are packed with IESA All-Staters in both fields. This will be the headline event here for everyone to watch.

The Boys side has a major favorite in Ethan Carter of Dixon Reagan ran 4:34 in the 1600m indoors. Carter was 4th at New Balance Indoor Nationals in the Mile and will be running for the first time since his national appearance here. He was the State Champion in the 3A division and was 6th at USATF Junior Olympics in XC. Once of the top runners in the country will be gracing the track in Barrington. Phoenix Viger of Plainfield Aux Sable has had an amazing last year of performances with his PRs dropping to 4:52 in the 1600m, 9:37 in the 3K, and 16:52 in the 5K. He will be trying to finally break through the 4:50 barrier to be under. Alonzo Bautista of Hampton will be right with Viger. Bautista ran 4:55 in the 1 Mile at New Balance Indoor Nationals just a few weeks ago. He will also try and go sub 4:50. Jaron Greve of Dixon Reagan is a name that could show up big here. He was 5th at the IESA 3A State Meet in XC as he ran 10:54 in the 2 Mile.

The Girls side looks to be a rematch between Berrit Shure of Chicago St. Benedict, Chloe Wettstein of Lake Zurich South, and Lennox Szymonik of Hampshire from their Midwest Youth Championships encounter. Shure has had a great season so far in the 400m and 800m as she has ran 58 and 2:16. In her first Mile of the year she ran 5:33. Expect her time to be much better here. Her PR is from last year when she ran 5:05 in the 1600m. Wettstein won that race at Midwest Youth Championships in 5:13. She will be looking to finally dip under 5:10 here. Szymonik was right with Wettstein at Midwest Youth. She finished running 5:14 for the Mile there. She was the AAU Junior Olympics Runner-Up in the 3K. She will also be trying to run under 5:10 here as well. This race has some great depth pieces who may dip under 5:20 here in Abigail Kocher of Lake Zurich South, Hazel Atkins of Shelbyville Moulton, Adelaide Galla of Arlington Heights Thomas, Chloe Milton of St. Benedict, and Madeline Serur of Arlington Heights Thomas.

100m

The Boys side will be a great moment for a rising athlete to make their name on a big stage. Damilion Rollings of Barrington Prairie, Connor Mui of Barrington Station, and Luke Foster of Arlington Heights Thomas will all be potentially the winner in this race. Or many another name will emerge here.

On the girls side it will be Lana McKendree of Barrington Prairie as a big favorite entering the race. She ran 12.73 last summer and had a phenomenial indoor season. This will mark her first meet outdoors. Cora Headley of Mt. Prospect Lincoln, Eliza Farry of Arlington Heights South, Gretchen Heckard of Arlington Heights South, Charlotte Seitz of Chicago North Park, Elle Torres of Arlington Heights Thomas, and Nevalyn McGovern of Mt. Prospect Lincoln will duke it out for 2nd place.

4x400m

On the boys side Dixon Reagan is the favorite to take home the title here. They are running their relay that took 4th at the IESA State Meet last year. Barrington Prairie, Johnsburg, and Arlington Heights Thomas will battle for 2nd.

On the girls side it will be a highly competitive race with St. Benedict, Oak Park Julian, and Arlington Heights South. It will likely take a time in the 4:20s in order to win this.

Long Jump

On the boys side it looks to be Connor Mui of Barrington Station that will be the favorite. Miles Christensen of Mt. Prospect Lincoln and Dave Allkanjari of Iverness Holy Family will also be others that could get the win here. Luke Foster of Arlington Heights Thomas was 9th at IESA State last year and will be a name to watch here as well.

On the girls side this will be a great competiton between Zoey Danley of Oak Park Julian, Maya Davis of Oak Park Julian, and Hailey Hood of Hamsphire for the win.

Pole Vault

Only the boys field will be taking place here. Jason Sterk of Barrington Station is the top seed by 3 feet, it is hard seeing anyone beating him here.

Shot Put

This is the best field event on the boys side with Damilion Rollings of Barrington Prairie being a returning all-stater in the event from last year when he took 5th place. Watch for Daniel Daczewitz of Johnsburg, Dominic Watrobka of Iverness Holy Family, and Kevin Oswald of Mt. Prospect Lincoln all to be battling for 2nd place.

On the girls side it will be Danica Balsis of Barrington Station that is the favorite to win. I wouldn't be if one of the NM seeds challenge for the win here.