The Illinois Cross Country Club kicks off the postseason today at home with the NIRCA Great Plains Regional. After facing competition from across the collegiate ranks, IXC will now face club teams from around the Midwest this weekend on its home course at the University of Illinois Arboretum. Bradley, Illinois State, Iowa State, Loyola, Marquette, Northwestern, St. Louis, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Wash U will descend upon Champaign for NIRCA Regional action. This year, Kansas and Nebraska will also compete in the Great Plains Region instead of their home Heartland Region.
The men race first on Saturday at 9:00 am. It’s the second time this season that the men’s pack will be led by both grad student Auburn Jimenez and junior Jared Ripoli. The duo will look to lead IXC to back-to-back regional championships after defeating Minnesota 36-50. It should be a competitive race across the board featuring a match-up between IXC, third at Nationals last year, and Northwestern, a surprise narrow fourth place finisher at Nationals. Wisconsin also brings almost as many runners as IXC and will try to compete with Illinois’ depth.
The women’s race kicks off at 10:00 am. They are headlined by women’s captain Megan Mocogni and grad student Beth McGreal. Both dominated on this course a week ago at the Illini Open. Mocogni smashed her own club record in the 5K with an 18:06, good for a second place finish at the meet while Beth ran 18:54 to finish in 10th. These two will be the ones to watch on Saturday as the women look to continue a string of Regional championships. There will also be intrigue at the fifth spot for the women’s team. Behind a strong top two and Lauren Choi and Heather Guetterman, the women have had a rock-solid top four, but it remains to be seen who can be a steady fifth runner. Emma Burkhardt will look to fill that hole, as well as freshman upstart Anneliese Schulz among others.
It’s IXC’s third consecutive year hosting the regional meet, and they’ll look to take advantage of running on their home course. The Arb course is nearly all flat except for one big hill at the end of the main loop that the Illini have trained on all season. We hope to see a lot of support for IXC on our home course as IXC looks to take home another regional championship in both divisions.
