Here are five storylines to watch for Suburban Life-area athletes at the IHSA state boys track meet

The IHSA boys track and field state meet is this weekend on the campus of Eastern Illinois in Charleston. Class 1A preliminaries are scheduled for Thursday, Class 2A and Class 3A prelims Friday, with the finals in all three classes set for Saturday.

Here are five storylines to watch for Suburban Life-area athletes this weekend:

Will Downers Grove North go for relay repeat?

Downers Grove North has enjoyed great success in distance racing in recent years.

The Trojans are back-to-back Class 3A state cross country champions. Last year Downers Grove North won the Class 3A 4x800 relay state championship, then won Nike Outdoor Nationals.

Will they go for a repeat in Charleston?

Downers Grove North ran the top 4x800 indoor time of 7:43.28, but has not run the lineup used to run that time during outdoor season. Downers Grove North’s time of 7:56.31 run last week was the 12th-fastest at sectionals.

Potential runners in that relay are also medal contenders in open events, with Grant Schroder running the third-fastest 800 time of 1:54.64 at sectionals, and Philip Cupial and Will Surratt seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 1,600. The Trojans should be squarely in the hunt in the 4x800 and could be the favorite depending on how they configure their lineup.

Kyle Quaid-Bowman goes for pole vault gold

Glenbard South junior Kyle Quaid-Bowman could be poised for quite a redemption weekend in Charleston.

Quaid-Bowman was Upstate Eight Conference and sectional champion last year in the pole vault as a sophomore, but no-heighted at state.

He has come back with a vengeance in 2025.

Quaid-Bowman went 5.03 meters (16 feet, 6 inches) at the UCS Spirit National Pole Vault Summit in January in Reno, and went 4.85 meters for seventh at New Balance Nationals in March.

He is undefeated outdoors in the pole vault this spring, his 4.98 meters (16 feet, 4.25 inches) in April at the Haake Invitational at Glenbard West the second-best in the state behind Rochelle’s Andrew Nuyen, who went 17 feet, 1 inch in May. Nuyen, like Quaid-Bowman, looks for some redemption in Charleston after no-heighting at the Illinois Top Times meet in March.

Others are in the mix, but Quaid-Bowman looks to be Nuyen’s chief competition for the Class 2A pole vault title.

Quaid-Bowman is far from the only area athlete who is a contender in the field events.

In the Class 3A high jump Willowbrook junior Otis Powell cleared 2.08 at sectionals, tops in the state, and Lemont junior Daniel Jaquez went 1.98 meters.

Finn Richards’ run for the distance double

Benet senior Finn Richards in the fall broke a 53-year-old school cross country record. Then he beat his own school record at state in winning the Class 2A state cross country championship.

Can the Vanderbilt recruit repeat his own history?

At sectionals last week, Richards broke a 49-year-old Benet record in the 3,200-meter run. His time of 9:09.11 was the second-fastest in Class 3A sectionals last week behind only New Trier senior Ben Crane’s 9:04.83.

Crane has to be considered the favorite in the event. He ran an 8:49.02 at the Arcadia Invitational, the state’s best this spring by over seven seconds. Richards might need another big PR to get in the hunt for a state title.

Amari Williams goes for hurdles repeat

Amari Williams’ athletic future may be on the football field, as the Wheaton Warrenville South senior is headed to NIU to play wide receiver.

But he could have a big finish left on the track.

Williams last year won the Class 3A 300-meter hurdles state championship.

He’s back this year, his 38.29 run last week the second-fastest at sectionals behind Belleville East sophomore Daylin Donaldson’s 38.19. Williams did run the state’s fastest outdoor time this spring, 37.69 at the DuPage County Meet.

Can York football stars finish big year?

Speaking of football players, York’s Bruno Massel and Henry Duda would no doubt love to put a bow on quite an athletic school year.

Massel, headed to Indiana for football, was the quarterback and Duda the leading rusher for the York football team that made the Class 8A state championship game, a first for the program.

Their speed showed between the sidelines, and it translates to the track.

Massel ran leadoff for York’s 4x100 relay that took ninth at state last year. The Dukes could have much higher aspirations this weekend.

York’s 41.91 run last week was the fourth-fastest time in the state in sectionals. But the Dukes ran a 41.50 at the West Suburban Silver meet the week before, which is the state’s fastest time outdoors. York also posted the fourth-fastest 4x200 time of 1:27.91 at sectionals, and Dukes’ senior Luke De Simone posted the fourth-fastest 300 hurdles time of 38.49.