It’s a new season and a new dawn for the Illinois Cross Country Club. After one of the team’s most successful performances ever at NIRCA Nationals last fall, the club will look to soar to new heights in its 2015 campaign. Both the men’s and women’s teams are reloaded with talent and will look to build upon a fantastic end of 2014.
The women’s team is stacked on paper going into the 2015 season. The ladies of IXC bring back a whopping five of their top seven from last year’s second place finish at Nationals. The lone non-returnee is last year’s individual runner-up, Emma Grimes. However, the talent coming back should far outweigh the team’s losses. Returning to IXC after a year away is Beth McGreal, who was consistently at the front of the Illini pack two years ago, finishing as a NIRCA All-American and women’s No. 1 runner at Nationals in 2013. Women’s captain Megan Mocogni is back as the fearless leader for the ladies and has had a big summer of training in preparation for her final year with the team. Perhaps most exciting was the performance behind Mocogni at last year’s Nationals. There was a tight, tenacious pack of 3-4-5 runners all returning for IXC in junior Emma Burkhardt, sophomore Erin McKee, and sophomore Lexy Rudofski. This pack should once again be close in races, but higher up in places. The women also bring back senior Heather Guetterman, who’s on her senior farewell tour this season. Heather just returned stateside after a semester trapzing around Europe, and she’s back as a savvy veteran racer. Heather always seems to peak at the right time, and she’ll be an important presence all season.
And that’s not even mentioning the new talent on the women’s team plus those who have been grinding all summer to improve. There’s a promising freshmen class of runners who will have a chance to prove themselves over the course of the season, starting today at Eastern Illinois.
The men’s team also brings back a boatload of talent from last year’s team. Only two return from last year’s third place team: junior Jared Ripoli and senior Eric de Guevara. However, the men’s team absolutely dominated the B-race last year, placing 7 in the top-15. Last year was a devastatingly deep group, and that depth should translate to more success as all of those runners have progressed over the course of a full track season and summer. Ryan Somerfield led the charge for the men in the B-race, claiming the individual title. Now sporting the title of assistant coach, Somerfield is back and ready to make some noise in the A-race. The other returners from the B-race will keep the Illini competitive all season long. Sophomore Jack O’Neil, sophomore secretary Michael “One-Speed” Frintner, grad student Henry Wolf, junior Jack Morrissey, junior David “Cliff” Choi, and senior Mike “Kid Brother” Schaible.
Mr. Bradford Coyle has some lessons to teach NIRCA during his first season running cross country with the club. After a highly successful track season, where he ran PR after PR, and scored key points at NIRCA Nats to propel the men to a second-place finish, he’s ready to take his talents to the grass.
There’s also an intriguing class of new talent, some who even took unofficial visits with the team to practice. Willy Wolf (brother of Henry), Josh Feldman and Nick Tandle have been turning some heads in early-season workouts. Add in a hungry group of athletes from group 5 and beyond who have been grinding all summer, like the Dancellor himself, Quinn Todzo, and the men’s team is poised to reach new heights.
Head coach Steven Krauklis returns for his second year at the reigns, this time with Somerfield joining the staff. He has a talent-rich squad that is packed with potential. Expectations are sky-high, but Krauk’s mantra is that if everyone is running their best, the trophies will come.
The club will compete in five meets this season. The season kicks off in Charleston today at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open. That’s followed by mid-season meets at the quick-moving Saukie Golf Course for Augustana’s Brismann-Lundeen Invite and a true cross country challenge at UW-Parkside’s Lucian Rosa Invite. The club will host the NIRCA Great Plains Regional for the third consecutive year, where the team put on a stellar performance last November. In mid-November, the team will travel to the NIRCA National Championships, held in Lexington, Kentucky, for the first time.
The start of a season is a magical time when anything can happen. The sky is the limit for IXC this year. Everyone’s excited to toe the line at the start of a season overflowing with potential. Could this be, as one exuberant sophomore declared, a “golden age” for the club? Time will tell, and we’re ready for the starter’s pistol.
