This past weekend was the first meet for the Illinois Track Club, and kicked off the season on a very high note going into winter break. With just the 18 sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, and Mid D runners who competed, the team came through with 12 top five finishes in meet events; not a bad way to start at all. That being said, lets get into some of the spectacular individual performances.
From the women’s side, it was senior Lauren Jonen, junior Selena Wallace, and Freshmen Becky Haight and Ali Djokic who led the charge. Jonen had very good races in the 200 and 300 placing second and third respectively in each event, while also adding her name to the top ten club leaderboard in both events (which can be found under performance lists). Her times were 26.85 for the 200, and 42.11 in the 300. Becky and Ali, in their first ever club track meet, showed great promise with their fast times. Becky had an impressive day in the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.64, as well as a 300 with time of 45.52. Ali Djokic had herself a day in the 60m hurdles with a new club record time of 10.86! Selena Wallace from the Mid D squad had quite the 600 meter race, placing 4th overall and setting a new PR with a time of 1:46.36.
The men’s squad also had a lot of notable performances that look extremely good going into winter break training. The Mid D guys had a very promising 4×400 race of freshman Keith Lee and sophomores Mario Barenas, Tyler Splitt, and George Gunter, winning their heat, and placing 4th overall with a time of 3:36.27. Mario and Keith also ran good open 600s with Mario running a new PR of 4 seconds (1:32.94) and Keith having a great start to the season with a time of 1:27.47. The highlight of the day for the men’s team came from freshman Joe Haight and sophomore Mateusz Lopez. Joe Haight’s day was highlighted with a first overall finish in the 200, and a second overall finish in the 300 with times of 22.90 and 36.42 respectively. Mateusz Lopez also had a very good day in many different events, but especially the 300 meter dash. Mateusz won the race with a new elusive club record time of 36.09! With this great performance, Mateusz earned the first ever ITC Official Interview:
Me: So Saturday you made it onto three leaderboards including a club record, can you describe how that feels?
Mateusz: It feels great. I have been very consistant with my workouts lately, I was given a challenge, and I did what I needed to do.
Me: What do you do before a race to get yourself prepared?
Mateusz: I try to chill out, stay relaxed, and listen to music. I have worked hard enough at this point so that I don’t have to be nervous
Me: What is your favorite pump up song before a race?
Mateusz: Victory by Puff Daddy
Me: Is there anything you could recommend to those who struggle to stay focused over winter break?
Mateusz: Make sure to organize your schedule well, and if you do that, you will be able to find time to get your training in.
Me: Well thank you so much for doing this. Is there anything else you would like to tell the fans out there who have believed in you since day one?
Mateusz: Make sure you don’t quit even when you are feeling down, and make sure to stay focused every day!
With that, Illinois track will be back after a long winter break of training on January 23rd for EIU John Craft Invitational, so stay tuned!
