We might as well start calling the last race of the Circuit the Championship. For most categories, it comes down to the last race to see who will win, who will finish top 3 in the age-group and get CARA Hall of Fame points, and who is going to wish they had just run one more race.
Here is a breakdown of the battles going down this Sunday.
Rule Reminder: Runners below are all CARA members. To be award eligible, they must run at least 5 Circuit races and only their top 8 scores count. For overall and age-graded, 1st place earns 25 points. For Age-Groups and Clydesdale/Athena categories, 1st place starts with 15 points.
Overall Women: CARA Racing Crew’s Mandy Kompanowski clinched first place at the Lake Bluff PTO Pumpkin Chase 5k and will be the overall champion for the second time in three years. Fleet Feet’s Angelica Guerrero is looking strong in second, but needs to finish 18th or better on Sunday to lock it in. Third place is a battle between three DW runners (Kristin Dailey, Julie Bruns, Samantha Greenwood) and Oak Park Runners Club member, Erika Edmonson.
1 Kompanowski, Mandy 161
2 Guerrero, Angelica 104
3 Dailey, Kristin 92
4 Bruns, Julie 87
5 Edmonson, Erika 69
6 Greenwood, Samantha 67
Overall Men: 2021 CARA Circuit champion Jeremy Ruston and Nathan Kennedy will battle head-to-head for the title. Nathan needs to beat Jeremy by 3 places on Sunday to go to a tie-breaker or by 4 places to claim the Championship outright. Defending champion Brendan Thielsen is looking good in third, but mathematically could get knocked down by Chris Wolf, Matt Jeromin, or even long-shot Volker Rose.
1 Ruston, Jeremy 161
2 Kennedy, Nathan 158
3 Thielsen, Brendan 126
4 Wolf, Chris 115
5 Jeromin, Matthew 113
6 Rose, Volker 103
Overall Non-Binary: Unfortunately, no runner will have completed the minimum of 5 races. CARA will continue to offer this category and is looking forward to crowning our first champion!
Age Graded: Angelical Guerrero claimed this category last year, knocking Evanston’s Nancy Rollins to second after a 10+ year streak. Nancy came back this year and locked in first place early. A win again at the XC race will give Nancy a perfect score of 200. Like the overall competition, Angelica is looking solid in second and needs to get at least 7th to gain any more points and distance herself from Fast Track’s Volker Rose. Volker would have to beat Angelica and place at least 8th in order to pass her into second. David Maley is not eliminated from third, but would need to beat Volker and finish top 6.
1 Rollins, Nancy 199
2 Guerrero, Angelica 181
3 Rose, Volker 165
4 Maley, David 146
AGE-GROUPS
Men 80-84: Places are final.
1 Joe Sehnal 120 perfect score
2 Lynne Hans 113
Women 80-84: Muriel Odeen is the first 80+ woman to run the Circuit since Doris Schertz in 2019. Muriel has 4 races under her belt and just needs to cross the finish line to win the age-group and her participation award. If you know her, please encourage her to race on Sunday!
Men 75-79: Places are final.
1 Dale Monroe-Cook 120 perfect score
2 James Kubik 113
3 Donald Jensen 108
Women 75-79: No surprise here, Nancy won her age group with a perfect score. In one of the most exciting duals, Oak Park’s Isola Metz and Paula Scheiwe are in the closest race possible. Both have already maxed out with over 8 races and can only gain another point by finishing 1st or 2nd. Whoever wins head-to-head will finish second in the category, assuming they are at least second on Sunday. If not, a tie-breaker will need to be calculated.
1 Nancy Rollins 120 perfect score
2 Isola Metz 110
2 Paula Scheiwe 110
Men 70-74: Evanston’s Bill Leiner and Bernard McGourty have clinched 1st and 2nd respectively. Oak Park’s Doug Watt surprised himself with his highest finish ever but has conceded that Elmhurst’s Bob Richards will finish 3rd after he won’t be able to make the cross country race. Bob will race to grab the few extra points needed to pass him.
1 Bill Leiner 120 perfect score
2 Bernard McGourty 110
3 Douglass Watt 61
4 Bob Richards 60
Women 70-74: While it seems Kaori Maeshima looks comfy in 1st place - only 5 points away from a perfect score, it’s not safe to get in the water when Fast Track’s Grace Wasielewski is behind you. Kaori has already finished 8 races this year and a 1st place finish would only earn her 2 more points. Meanwhile, Grace has a perfect score through 7 races and can earn the 10-12 needed points to pass Kaori on Sunday.
1 Kaori Maeshima 115
2 Grace Wasielewski 105
Men 65-69: In another heated battle, Fast Track’s Brian Sweney faces off with Evanston’s Keith Holzmueller. Both have maxed out with 8+ races and can only earn a max of 2 and 3 points, respectively. Keith needs to finish top 3 and beat Brian in order to take the age-group, otherwise the crown belongs to Brian. While Brian beat Keith last Spring at the Shamrock Shuffle and CARA’s Spring Trail Chase 10k, Keith finished a substantial 2 minutes ahead of Brian at the Alpine Races 10 Mile. Meanwhile, Dave Carpenter, Oak Park’s Rainer Schochat and Mike Brosilow are virtually tied for 3rd place. Mike has the edge in terms of speed, but will he have recovered from his 5th place age-group finish at the NY Marathon last weekend? Rainer also ran a marathon this fall… no, wait, he ran several marathons in the last few weeks and… nevermind. The question is more about whether Rainer can fit this one in his busy racing schedule.
1 Sweney, Brian 113
2 Holzmueller, Keith 111
3 Carpenter, Dave 84
4 Schochat, Rainer 83
4 Brosilow, Michael 83
Women 65-69: Oak Park’s Eileen Dolan has clinched first. Marcella Catledge and Evanston’s Kielo Sauvala could finish 2nd, 3rd, or drop out of the standings. Both are at 4 races and need this last one to secure their eligibility of complete 5 Circuit races.
1 Eileen Dolan 117
2 Marcella Catledge 56
3 Kielo Sauvala 48
Men 60-64: David Maley clinched 1st with a perfect score. Elmhurst’s Marc Woodcock and Oak Park teammates Terrence Keleher and Eugene Callaghan are competing for 2nd and 3rd. The advantage goes to Eugene, who is undefeated against the other two this year and can earn a full 15 points with this being his 8th Circuit race. Marc and Terrence are already maxed out on races and could only gain another 4 or 6 points respectively.
1 Maley, David 120 perfect score
2 Woodcock, Marc 89
3 Keleher, Terrence 88
4 Callaghan, Eugene 86
Women 60-64: Places are final.
1 Guerrero, Angelica 120 perfect score
2 Harvey-Hill, Libby 110
3 Gross, Julie 87
Men 55-59: While Aaron Barnhart and James MacDougall have clinched 1st and 2nd, respectively, Elmhurst’s Doug Pearson and Oak Park’s Dave Schaub are in a tight race for 3rd (pun intended). Both have 8 Circuit races already and can only gain points with a top 3 finish. Dave needs to finish at least 3rd and ahead of Doug to force a tie-breaker.
1 Barnhart, Aaron 118
2 MacDougall, James 110
3 Pearson, Doug 105
4 Schaub, David 103
Women 55-59: Fast track’s Christine Bell and Oak Park teammates and besties Kristin Otto and Geri Bensen will finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, but who gets what depends on the race Sunday. Kristin looks good with 115 points, but she can only gain 1-2 more points with a 1st or 2nd place finish. Meanwhile, Christine has only run 7 races and a 4th place or better finish ahead of Kristin could give her the Circuit victory. Geri also can only gain 2 more points, and her finish standing (2nd or 3rd) will be determined by Christine’s placing.
1 Kristin Otto 115
2 Geri Bensen 108
3 Christine Bell 103
Men 50-54: Fast Track teammates Volker Rose and Frank Cira have clinched 1st and 2nd, respectively. Oak Park’s Gavin Kearney has a narrow hold on 3rd place over DW’s Trent Fifield. Trent has a perfect score through 6 races this year, so if he competes this Sunday, it’s looking likely he can pull ahead of Gavin.
1 Rose, Volker 119
2 Cira, Frank 108
3 Kearney, Gavin 92
4 Fifield, Trent 90
Women 50-54: Fast Track’s Julie Bruns took control this year and clinched the title with a perfect score. Evanston’s Maria Amaro is in 2nd, but Track and Trough’s Erica Agran has beaten her a few times this year and could knock her down to 3rd. Evanston’s Catherine Way could sneak into 3rd with a win Sunday, if Erica and Maria don’t race.
1 Bruns, Julie 120 perfect score
2 Amaro, Maria 72
3 Agran, Erica 65
4 Way, Catherine 51
Men 45-49: Evanston is guaranteed 1st and 2nd with Chris Wolf and Scott Mangum both more than 15 points ahead of 3rd place. Chris has a perfect score through 7 races and will assure himself the championship if he places a feasible 10th in his age-group on Sunday, leaving Scott to hold onto 2nd. 3rd place will go to DW’s Kwan-Youn Kim if he is 6 places ahead of Fast Track’s Steve Breese on Sunday.
1 Wolf, Chris 105
2 Mangum, Scott 95
3 Kim, Kwang-Youn 78
4 Breese, Steve 72
Women 45-49: Places are final.
1 Evance Stalley 101
2 Lorrie Buenrostro 85
3 Daniela Munoz 64
Men 40-44: Jeremy Ruston has clinched 1st place and Fast Track’s Matt Jeromin has clinched 2nd. Drew Gibbons is likely the 3rd place winner, but John Craig is not mathematically eliminated and could pull an upset.
1 Ruston, Jeremy 115
2 Jeromin, Matthew 110
3 Gibbons, Drew 71
4 Craig, John 59
Women 40-44: This is the tightest race of any age-group! The spread from 1st to 4th is 7 points with three DW runners (Jeannie Sullivan, Mollie Green, and Kristin Dailey) and Oak Park’s Erika Edmonson all vying for the title. With a perfect score through four races, Kristin is the fastest, followed by Good Life Rave 5k winner and current age-group leader Jeannie Sullivan.
1 Sullivan, Jeannie 67
2 Edmonson, Erika 62
3 Green, Mollie 61
4 Dailey, Kristin 60
Men 35-39: Overall contender Nathan Kennedy has clinched 1st, with Fast Track’s Yoon Oh clinching 2nd. Oak Park’s Sarang Supekar could get 3rd in the age-group if he gets his 5th race in this weekend, but if not, CARA Racing Crew’s John Archer will likely grab the last spot.
1 Kennedy, Nathan 117
2 Oh, Yoon 89
3 Supekar, Sarang 21
4 Archer, John 13
Women 35-39: DW’s Samantha Greenwood and Margaret Flynn have clinched 1st and 2nd respectively. Janelly Rodriguez is just one point shy of having clinched 3rd and is looking promising to hold onto it over Nadia Pimenova.
1 Greenwood, Samantha 85
2 Flynn, Margaret 45
3 Rodriguez, Janelly 29
4 Pimenova, Nadia 15
Men 30-34: Venado’s Axel Munoz and Fast Track’s Ken Love have a 4 point spread for the title. Both are eligible to earn 15 points this Sunday, so Ken will need to beat Axel by 4 places in order to move ahead and drop Axel down to 2nd. 3rd place’s strongest contenders are Oak Park’s Nick Blashill and Cole Easterday, with Venado’s Silvestre Arambula and Jonathan Kinsey having potential to slide in if the former two don’t race on Sunday.
1 Munoz, Axel 56
2 Love, Ken 52
3 Blashill, Nicholas 31
4 Easterday, Cole 29
5 Arambula, Silvestre 20
6 Kinsey, Jonathan 19
Women 30-34: Overall top finisher Mandy Kompanowski clinched 1st place, but 2nd and 3rd are up for grabs. Three runners have four Circuit races under their belt and could podium finish only if they race on Sunday: Maureen Miller, Jane Simpson, and Molly Roche. If not, last year’s 25-29 age-group winner Karin DeHaven and Stephanie Omuelti could take 2nd and 3rd.
1 Kompanowski, Mandy 105
2 Miller, Maureen 24
3 Simpson, Jane 16
4 Roche, Molly 11
5 Karin DeHaven 5
6 Stephanie Omuelti 2
Men 25-29: Fleet Feet’s Brendan Theilsen and Fast Track teammates Andrew Guibord and Sebastian Ramirez Wiener are guaranteed of at least 3rd place. Brendan is looking strong in 1st, but it’ll come down to Sunday’s results.
1 Thielsen, Brendan 81
2 Guibord, Andrew 72
3 Ramirez Wiener, Sebastian 69
For the below, these CARA members have completed 4 Circuit races. If they show up on Sunday, they will win 1st place in their age-group and start their journey to the CARA Hall of Fame!
Women 25-29: Alexandra Berl
Men 20-24: Evanston’s Aaron Holzmueller
Women 20-24: Fleet Feet’s Khloe Pastore
Scoring Note: Clydesdale and Athena places are determined by age-graded score, not time.
Athena A: Elmhurst’s Judith Warren has won first place.
Athena B: Oak Park’s ‘Lovie Twine clinched 1st place with a perfect score. Alexandra Berl can get 2nd if she races Sunday.
Clydesdale A: Greg Smith clinched 1st place with a perfect score and CARA Racing Crew’s Lynn Crim clinched 2nd. Cole Easterday has locked in 3rd.
Clydesdale B: If Evanston’s Edward Donovan races Sunday, he will clinch 1st place. If not, John Archer could force a tie breaker with a win on Sunday. And then next in line is Peter Roberts, who could move up from 3rd to 2nd if he races Sunday and John does not.
Clydesdale C: While Fast Track’s Shane Petrelli clinched 1st place with a perfect score, there’s a contest for 2nd. David Dziagwa has a 13-point lead over 3rd place Eric Landschoot, but Eric can overtake him if he races Sunday and gets a higher age-graded score.
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