This past weekend, the Men and Women of the Illinois Cross Country Club competed at the NIRCA National Championships in North Carolina. After a long and arduous season, the Men and Women were able to bring their best race on the day that mattered. And, it paid off beyond belief. On Saturday, November 12th, the Men and Women became the newly crowned NIRCA National Champions.
For the men, the main competition was Iowa State”s Running Club. With Mike Frigo (Sr.) leading the charge with a 3rd place overall finish, the IXC Men were able to take home the title by a margin of almost 30 points over Iowa State. Aaron Silver (Sr.) and Brendan McDonnell (So.) were able to sneak in to the First Team All American spots with a 5th place and 13th place finish respectively. Ron Revord (Sr.), the IXCC”s 4th man, was able to get the last Second Team All American slot at the NIRCA championships. Rounding out the scoring five was Matt Birkel (So.), who stepped up big time to help the men bring home the title. But, perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the IXCC”s 6th man. Vigneshwar Karthikeyan (Jr.) came almost out of nowhere to be in the top 7 for the team, running a fantastic race in the process.
The Illinois Women had a bit of a tougher road going into the competition. The women of the University of Virginia”s running club looked to be the clear favorites after the first 4k of race.
But, the race didn”t end at 4k.
Two kilometers later, the IXC Women showed that they had the best finish of any club team in NIRCA. Amanda Zamora (So.), Grace Hucek (So.), Kerry Devitt (Grad.), Jo Dibuz (So.), and Mary Looby (Grad.) (pushed along by the women”s coach, Jess Mulcrone, who finished one place behind Mary…) ran their hearts out, and it was just enough to get the women”s title by only 2 points. All of the Women seemed to be running with an incredible amount of heart, and it was simply amazing to watch them come from relative obscurity to being NIRCA National Champions.
It was a fantastic experience for all who were involved.