Boys Midwestern HS Team Rankings as of 10/5.
1. Downers Grove North (IL)
2. Carmel (IN)
3. Plainfield South (IL)
4. Plainfield North (IL)
5. Noblesville (IN)
Illinois is the dominant state yet again in the midwestern region on both the boys and the girls sides. Indiana obviously has multiple teams that could compete for an NXN Bid, likely an At-Large Bid though.
Downers Grove North finished last track season on fire. Their current #1 and #2 runner for the XC season, Ryan Eddington and Caden Weber ran incredible 1600m Times (4:07, 4:12) and were both All-State runners in multiple events. They started off their XC Season strong, dominating the First to the Finish Invitational, defeating many of Illinois best teams. They then headed down to Wisconsin to face their best teams, and once again, to no one's surprise, dominated. They ran at the Naperville Twilight Invitational yesterday (10/4), and won by over 20 points, ahead of Plainfield North. DGN was without their usual #2 runner, Caden Weber, who according to journalist Mike Newman (ILXCTF), was out with a small injury. They look to do great things this season, and hopefully come home with a trophy in December. They are already ranked within the Top 10 Nationally, but that is likely to continue improving.
Plainfield South and Plainfield North have turned themselves into incredible programs. In a town that only has a population of 44,000 people, they have established 2 of the nation's best teams. Plainfield South are the defending Illinois 3A state champions, and qualified for NXN last season. Plainfield North has a very young group, which includes their top 2 runners of Thomas Czerwinski and Quinn Davis, who are both returning next year. They have the current #1 Sophomore Class in the NATION, and many of them are already making a large impact on the varsity level (4 in the top 7). Plainfield South is led by senior Camyn Viger and Junior Dylan Maloney, both who could compete for the individual state championship this season. The favorite is Viger, but Malone was able to get the upper hand on him at Nike Twilight in Indiana, so do not count him out. These two teams are both in contention for either the #2 or #3 spots at NXR Midwest and could 100% be teams that you see in December at NXN.
Carmel Indiana is coming off of an impressive team victory at the Nike Twilight Invitational in Indiana last weekend. They defeated many of the nation's best teams, including some that are listed below:
Plainfield South (IL)
O'Fallon (IL)
Jesuit (LA)
Mason (OH)
The Bolles School (FL)
Noblesville (IN)
Carmel lost their defending national champion, Kole Mathison from last season, but return an incredibly strong group of runners. This team is 100% a favorite to make NXN this season, after a disappointing performance at NXR Midwest last year, they are ready to make a big bounce back.
Noblesville is a very interesting team to look at. They recently were the 3rd Midwest team at the Nike Twilight meet in Indiana, behind Carmel and Plainfield South. Noblesville does not currently have a team frontrunner, but they do have an incredible 1-6 back that includes 6 guys sub 16:00 in the 5K. Caden Click has been finish at the top of the platform for them, but they need everyone to continue stepping up if they want to be a nationally ranked team.