Richard Spring Invite 2026 Results
Running at Detweiller Park is always a privilege. 13 of our 26 runners ran at Detweiller for the first time at the Richard Spring Invite. It was a stormy day in Lisle, but luckily Peoria only got a few brief showers before we arrived. The air was cool and course ready for fast times.
Full Meet Splits
Girls Varsity Race - Results
Senior Dani Erickson has more experience than anyone on the team at Detweiller Park since she qualified for State as an individual her freshman year. That experience showed as Dani ran great splits of 6:10, 6:44, and 6:37 to finish with a time of 19:31. This was nearly two minutes faster than Dani's time at Richard Spring last season. Junior Ashley Ritchey got lost in the crowd and didn't run as close to Dani as usual, but Ashley still ran a fantastic lifetime PR of 19:58 and became only the ninth female runner in Lisle history to break the 20-minute barrier. Junior Summer Klein ran a fast first mile of 6:31 and held on in the last two miles with times of 7:00 and 7:09. Summer's lifetime PR of 20:40 was close to breaking her season goal of 20:30. Junior Jennifer Duban had a great first mile and stayed in sight of Summer with a time of 6:39. Sophomore Madi Madsen started a bit behind Jen with a first mile of 7:41. Madi gained some ground on Jen during the second mile and ultimately passed her a bit before the 800-meter mark. Madi finished with a season PR of 22:10 while Jen set a season PR of 22:27. Sophomore Sofia Maldonado was nervous before her first race at Detweiller, but ran incredibly well to set a 30-second lifetime PR of 24:12 and nearly match her pace from our two-mile race at the start of the season. Senior Molly Martin and freshman Lila Helderle, running her first varsity race, stayed close for most of the race. Molly ran a great race and was ahead of Lila for the majority of the race to finish with a season PR of 24:39. Meanwhile, Lila had a HUGE lifetime PR of nearly three minutes, running 24:44, which was close to her two-mile pace from the start of the season. Lila also met her season goal of breaking 25 minutes. Junior Rose Helderle showed great sportsmanship cheering on her opponents and finished with a season PR of 25:45, which was Rose's third-fastest three-mile time ever.
We weren't focused on the team race in a field that included some of the biggest schools in the state, including the #1-ranked 3A school, Mt. Prospect. Still, the girls had a great team showing for a 1A school. The girls finished in 45th place out of 68 schools and beat notable 3A schools Waubonsie Valley, West Aurora, and Lake Forest. The girls are ready for the post-season even if it's still three weeks away.
Boys Varsity Race - Results
Freshman Luke Erickson ran another great race with splits of 5:31, 5:46, and 5:31. Those are fantastic splits for only his second race at Detweiller. Luke also met his season goal of breaking 17 minutes with his time of 16:48. We now have three runners who have already set their season goals (Lila, Luke, and Steven) and we are just above halfway through the season. Junior Charlie Wang ran his best race of the season to finish as our second runner. After a 6:03 first mile, Charlie settled in to run 6:39 and 6:40 for the last two miles and run a lifetime PR of 19:22. Junior Liam Newton was right with Charlie for the first half of the race, but fell off the pace a bit and ended up finishing under 20 minutes for the first time this season in 19:53. We had a pack of runners behind Charlie and Liam including sophomore Blake Madsen, freshman Carson Thomas, sophomore Cayden Denhart, and freshman Steven King running in his first varsity race. Steven went out hard and was with Blake and Cayden through the first mile. After two miles, Steven was leading the pack of four, with the other three about seven seconds behind him. Carson and Blake gained ground in the last mile, though, and Carson recovered from a poor start to finish with a lifetime PR of 20:32 while Blake set a lifetime PR of 20:34. Steven came in next in 20:48 while Cayden was struggling through the last mile and finished in 20:59. Senior Aiden Slehofer was with the pack for the first mile, but fell behind in the last two miles to finish in 21:31. Senior Ethan George ran a lifetime PR of 24:06 while sophomore Liam Marquez ran a season PR of 28:40 and was only 20 seconds away from his lifetime PR.
Girls Freshman/Sophomore Race - Results
Freshmen Sadie Shields and Hylie Woodhouse ran just steps apart for almost the entire race. They were next to each other at the mile mark while Sadie took a nearly 10-second lead after the two-mile mark. Hylie gained on Sadie over the last mile, but Sadie ended up finishing first with a time of 25:53 to Hylie's 25:57. Freshman Giuliana Rotelli, struggling through an injury, finished next in 29:35. Freshman Zoe Gutierrez ran a steady race and finished her first three-mile race ever with a time of 30:32. Finally, sophomore Violet King ran an entire race without walking for the first time and had a season PR of 31:25.
Lion of the Meet
Lila, who had a HUGE PR and met her season goal, was in the running for our Lion of the Meet. Charlie had his best race of the season, as did Molly. Dani and Luke continue to run steady races week after week and are always going to be in the running for Lion of the Meet. Sofia had a great race and nearly met her two-mile pace from Portage Park. Violet ran a full three-mile race without walking for the first time and Zoe finished her first three-mile race. Our Lion of the Meet, however, is Steven King. After Steven's race victory last week at PBL, he came out at Detweiller and ran with no fear to lead our main pack. He met his season goal last week, but improved on it by a minute and a half at the most famous cross country course in the state. Congrats, Steven!
