The Illinois Cross Country Club will kick off the post-season tomorrow at the NIRCA Great Plains Regional Championships in Ames, Iowa. The club travels to Iowa State for the first regional meet held in Iowa since 2012. It’s the team’s first NIRCA competition of the season as they’ll face a competitive field, highlighted by Minnesota, Iowa State, Wisconsin and Northwestern.
The Iowa State Cross Country Course was the first course in the US built exclusively for cross country. It has hosted NCAA national championships as well as regional and conference championships. The true cross country course will challenge athletes, mixing a flat grassy plain with a tough, hilly back loop through the Iowa State Arboretum.
The women’s team races first on Saturday and it has a history of dominance at Regionals. The Great Plains Regional began in 2011 and the women have won every single year. Last time out at Parkside, several athletes step up to contribute to the top-seven. This weekend the women will be back at full strength and renewed depth, with senior women’s captain Emma Burkhardt and sophomore Anneliese Schulz returning. They’ll be joined at the front of the pack with freshman Emily Condic. Emily has put on a stellar first year run with the club and she’ll look to continue that success with her first NIRCA competition. Beyond them, sophomores Noel Brindise should go into Sunday with renewed confidence after strong races at Parkside. Sarah was the team’s second finisher and Noel rounded out the scoring five.
The men will look to win an ever-more competitive regional. A different team has won each of the last three years, but IXC has placed every year of competition, with the club’s last regional championship coming in 2014. Last year, IXC came in third behind Wisconsin and Iowa State. Senior Jared Ripoli is coming off a strong performance at UW-Parkside and sophomore Willy Wolf had a great regular season of competition. Sophomore Josh Feldman had a breakout race at last year’s NIRCA Nationals and has not looked back, placing in the team’s top three in every race this season. Grad student Auburn Jimenez was the team’s top finisher at last year’s Regional, coming in sixth place for all-Regional honors.
