The Illinois Cross Country Club opened up its 2016 campaign on Friday with a successful showing at Eastern Illinois’ Walt Crawford Open. The men finished third and the women finished fifth overall. IXC’s performances were marked by two words: young talent. Eight of the fourteen top-seven finishers were freshmen or sophomores, including three of the men’s scoring five.
Freshman Emily Condic was the first finisher for the women, running in her first-ever 5K. It’s only her second cross country season and she made the most of her debut. Perhaps most promising for the team is that the three women in the front pack all finished within one second of each other. Sophomore Anneliese Schulz, coming off a strong track season, finished just 0.08 seconds behind Emily. Senior women’s captain Emma Burkhardt was just behind as the team’s third finisher.
The top five was rounded out by some savvy veterans. Senior Allison Gibson was the fourth for the team in her first cross country action since a strong performance at NIRCA Nationals last fall. Junior Erin McKee was the final scorer, back on the course after a semester overseas en España. Erin was the team’s fourth runner at Nationals her freshman year, and now back on US soil, she’ll look to contribute once again for the women’s side.
Two more newcomers completed the women’s top-seven. Senior Ellie Palacios was sixth for the team in her IXC debut and freshman Callie Rukavina was seventh in her first collegiate race.
The men’s third place effort was spearheaded by underclassmen. Leading the charge for IXC were sophomores Willy Wolf and Josh Feldman. Last time out on the XC course, they were the two freshmen to run in the top-seven for the club at Nationals, both finishing in the top-five. Willy set a new PR with his finish as the first finisher and Feldman followed up on a stellar race at Nationals last year. After a strong track season, it looks like they’re ready to make a strong impact in cross country.
Senior David Choi came in shortly after Josh to finish third. Behind him came a fellow civil engineer with one of the day’s highlights. Young Arturo Woodward-Montes looked great as the team’s fourth runner. The DC product set a big PR (shaving off a few seconds after shaving a gross-looking mustache) and after a disappointing race at last year’s Nationals, he looks ready to take 2016 by storm.
Senior Jared Ripoli rounded out the scoring five for the men. Another pair of sophomores finished out the top-seven. Jared’s high school teammate Justin Shim followed as the sixth finisher in one of his strongest races for the club and Leonel “El Léon Loco” Rodreguez was seventh.
Freshman Zach Mesplay made a strong debut for the team, running 27:44 for his first collegiate 8K in his return to EIU after last spring’s State Track Meet. Freshman Cody Lund broke his season goal by running 28:43. Last season marked the first time in the last four years that two brothers raced together for IXC in Willy and graduated Henry Wolf. This year featured three siblings racing together. It was a family affair for the Frintners as Sean “Crunchy” Frintner made his collegiate debut alongside brother Michael and sister Megan.
Several newly-minted IXC athletes kicked off their career at EIU. Leah Ziolkowski, Vicky Dent and Veronica Deane all toed the line for the club for the first time on Friday. For the men, Eli Walker, Alex “Balloon Man” Hanskat, Evan Patel, Brendan Stonequist, Jeff Abbott, Jacob Anderson and Ryan Fitzgerald all raced for the first time as members of IXC. Congratulations to all the newcomers on their inaugural race with the club.
The team returns to action on September 23 at Augustana’s Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. The large field always promises strong competition at every level and the team will spend the next few weeks preparing for the gun to go off in Rock Island, Ill.
