Last Saturday ITC kicked off the new year with some solid performances at the EIU John Craft Invitational. Although the athletes just came back to school after 4 grueling weeks of solo winter break training, it was clear at EIU that the team has been progressing steadily.
On the men’s side, there were notable performances by Keith Lee and Muneeb Ansari from the mid distance squad, and David Choi from distance. Freshman stud Keith Lee set a new personal record in the 600 meter dash with an impressive time of 1:26. Muneeb Ansari, a freshman and first time Mid D runner, showed off his winter training with a solid first 800 meter run as well. Junior veteran David Choi had a solid 3k with a time of 9:16.
The women also looked strong with especially good performances by sprinter Becky Haight, sprinter/jumper Abby Ralph, and distance members Lauren Choi, and Megan Mocogni. Freshman Becky Haight had a good all around day in the 60, 200, and 400 meter dashes, most notably with a time of 8.31 in the 60. Abby Ralph looked great in the 60m hurdles setting a new club record of 10.39! Moving to the distance, senior Lauren Choi ran her best ever 3k with a huge 38 second PR! With all the great performances of the day, it was grad student Megan Mocogni who stole the show with great times, and PRs in both the mile and 3k with times of 5:14 and 10:44 respectively. Megan’s performance on Saturday also earned her the official ITC interview!
With that, ITC will travel to SPIRE and Illinois Wesleyan next weekend, so remember to tune in Saturday for instant notification (@IlliniTrackClub) on Twitter. Good luck to all those competing!
