Teams from far and wide all came together in Bloomington, IN for NIRCA’s Track and Field National Championship (and half marathon). Let’s take a look at how our team did!
It was a strong day for most of the throwers, as PR’s were set and Club Records were blown away. Starting off with the men’s Shot Put, there were three NIRCA All-American’s with Thomas Nute getting 3rd overall with a throw of 12.30m, Sal Ruiz getting 7th overall with a throw of 11.53m, and Greg McLain getting 9th overall with a throw of 11.21m. Also with notable throws in the men’s shot, Zach Sawackis threw an outdoor PR of 8.90m and Connor Murphy threw way beyond his indoor mark with a 9.84m heave. On the women’s side, all the ladies made it onto the podium as All-American’s which is a very impressive feat for sure. Leading the group and breaking the outdoor shot put record by more than a meter, Obi Azie dominated all but one the field throwing 10.43m which landed her in the 2nd place spot. Following her was now former club record holder Tare Emuze who threw 9.10m, enough for 4th overall. Mid-distance/throwing hybrid Nayeli Lara was up next beating out her throw last week by almost a meter with a throw of 8.30m and good for 8th overall. Rounding out the group was their coach, Ali Djokic who took 9th with a throw of 7.11m. Onto Discus where on the men’s side, there was a clear champion. Paul Fina re-broke his own record by over 2 meters and absolutely dusted the field beating out 2nd place by 2 meters and 3rd by almost 8. On the women’s side, three of the women above retook the podium once again. This time Ali led the group throwing 26.04m, enough for 4th overall! Shortly following her was Obi who threw 25.10m, good for 5th overall. In 9th place was Nayeli, who threw 21.04m.
As always, it was a quite busy day for the sprinters as it seemed like they were just always racing. Becky Haight got to show off her insane speed getting the sprinter Triple Crown winning the 100m (12.65), 200m (25.99), and 400m (60.31). All three of those performances were outdoor PRs for Becky as she keeps climbing her way up the top performance lists. In the 4x100m, Becky was joined by Abby Ralph, Lauren Grant, and Sonia Zhang where the ladies took 5th with a time of 53.14. On guy’s side, our immense depth was really shown. In the 200m, Junior Mateusz Lopez led the group as the only All-American, running 22.89 in the prelims and securing 9th in the finals after an incredibly long day. Just outside of the finals spots but in the top 25, we had Kevin Sager at 11th (23.09), Sully Bazai at 12th (23.16), Garret Barch at 14th (23.19), Alex Bienduga at 19th (23.39), and Michael Jang at 24th (23.47). Later in the day, Kevin dominated his heat and the two heats while securing the 2nd overall spot in the 400m with a blazing time of 49.78, enough for a spot on the illustrious 400m top ten list. Also breaking 50 seconds, Sully took 3rd with a time of 49.94. Joining those two just outside the finals, Alex Bienduga got 11th running 51.21, and Mateusz Lopez got 14th running 51.51. On the following day, freshmen Garret, Kevin, and Alex were our three fastest in the 100m, narrowly missing finals by just hundredths coming in at 11th (11.54), 13th (11.58), and 14th (11.63) respectively. In the 4x100m, Mateusz, Alex, Kevin manage to rebound quickly after the open 400m as they joined Michael Jang to run 43.77. The B team was not far off as Sully and Garret joined Thomas Harris and Mason Rosenberg and ran 44.61.
In the hurdles, we got to see Coach Abby Ralph run 16.47 in prelims and end up with 5th place overall. Improving by exactly a second from last weekend, thrower/hurdler Ali Djokic ran 18.69. In his first hurdle race of the season, Connor Murphy secured a spot in finals running 16.50 and ended up 8th overall. In the 400m hurdles, Abby made it on the podium once again getting 7th overall. Continuing to tease the 60-second mark, Michael Jang ran 60.04 which got him 9th overall.
In the jumping events, all three girls in the Triple Jump, Robyn Ellerbrock, Abby Ralph, and Sonia Zhang made it to the podium as they reached 4th (10.13m), 6th (9.95m), and 8th (9.76m) respectively. Abby also sneaked in and scored one point in the Long Jump with her jump of 4.53m. Becky”s second time high jumping in a decade was enough for 6th place overall as she jumped 1.37m. On the men”s side, Coach Mateusz Lopez placed 2nd in the Triple Jump jumping 13.15m and Connor Murphy, the man who does everything, placed 8th in the High Jump with a leap of 1.67m.
Easily one of the hardest races on the track, the 3000m Steeplechase was an exciting event to watch this year. Newcomer Robyn Ellerbrock got to stretch her legs after a long time away from the track as she strided her way onto the podium getting 1st overall and a new club record of 11.36. Joining her was former club record holder Emily Foley who got 4th overall running 12:22. It was a big day for Josh Feldman on the guy”s side, who ran a 10 second PR to sneak his way onto the podium getting 9th overall with a time of 10:11. His coach, Ryan Somerfield, was close behind him running 10:20. Zach Mesplay ran a PR with a time of 10:28 and Quinn Todzo was just behind him running 10:42. Continuing with distance, we saw club PRs/debuts in the 1500m from Wiam Wolf (4:08.50), David Choi (4:14.03), Alex Hanskat (4:14.89), Eli Walker (4:16.08), Cody Lund (4:26.67), Leonel Rodriguez (4:24.55), Jarod Meyer (4:34.04), and Austin Kuehr (4:36.21). On the girl”s side, Anneliese Schulz ran a solid PR of 5:15.35, and Noel Brindise ran well in her first 1500m with a 5:37.12. Noel also ran well in the 5000m as she and Riley Maloney finished very close running 20:27 and 20:28 respectively.
Saving the coolest event group for last, we saw some great stuff from the Mid-D squad throughout the weekend. Starting out with the 4x800m relay, the women’s team of Selena Wallace, Emily Foley, Tiffany Yathaputanon, and Emily Condic broke 10 minutes and were just shy of the record running a 9:57. Emily Condic also ran very well in the 1500m where she ran a PR of 5:05, 10 seconds better than last week. Hannah Smith for some reason decided to run the 5000m and she ran a massive PR of 20:44. Sprinter/Mid-D runner Kaleigh Evans had the very brutal 400/800 double on day one where she ran a 64.38 and followed it up with 2:30.45. Shortly after her was Selena who ran 2:33.19, Hannah Behle who ran 2:37.90 and then Tiffany who ran 2:38.82. Shifting focus to the guys, the 4×800 B team of Cody Hansen, Mario Barenas, Beau Barber, and Zach Fishman ran well coming in at 8:43. The men’s A team of Keith Lee, distance runner Jason Golden, Sean McCarty, and Tyler Splitt ran fast enough to break the 8-minute barrier as well as take down the outdoor record with a time of 7:59.58! Sean McCarty followed up his speedy split in that with a speedy open 800m running 2:00.50. He was joined in that event by his coach Tyler Splitt who ran 1:59.18, as well as teammate Keith Lee who ran 2:01.73. In the 400m, Zach Fishman ran a club PR of 55.9.
The final event of the evening proved to be so cool it needed its own paragraph. The 4x400m relay was quite an exciting event yet again. Beginning with the girls, sprinters Becky Haight, Lauren Grant, and Abby Ralph were joined by Kaleigh Evans in the A team where they got 4th with a time of 4:15.01. The B team was made up of Selena Wallace, Tiffany Yathaputanon, Emily Condic, and Hannah Behle where they ran a time of 4:28 with the help of Selena’s speedy lead leg. We had 4 guys teams run and every single one won their heat which was awesome to see. The D team of John Brandenburg, Will Reyes, Cody Hansen, and Mario Barenas ran 3:53.68 to seal the deal in their heat. The C team of Beau Barber, Zach Fishman, Jason Golden, and Connor Murphy ran a time of 3:40.22 to win their heat. The B team of Keith Lee, Sean McCarty, Michael Jang, and Garret Barch kept up with the trend winning their heat with a time of 3:34.79. Last in the list but first in the meet, the men’s A team absolutely obliterated the competition in what has been called “the most exciting race of the year” by Beau. Kevin Sager, Alex Bienduga, Mateusz Lopez, and Tyler Splitt ran a blazing 3:18.47 which beat out 2nd by over 6 seconds. It shattered the meet record as well as the club record by that much as well.
With Nationals behind us, the team has shifted focus to our home meet Illinois Club Peaks which will be run on April 29th. Full results for the Nationals meet can be found in the Meet Results section of the Results page.”,2017-04-21 21:09:00+00,Outdoor
138,Taylor Spliff,ITFC Takes On D1 Elite at Illinois Twilight,”A troupe of varsity runners took to the track this weekend at the Illinois Twilight meet, and some of the ITFC athletes decided to take them on. Let’s take a look at how they did.
Our lone girl, Becky Haight, was set on showing the Varsity what they’ll be missing as she ran a speed 100m with a time of 12.67 and then followed it up with a record-breaking 200m of 25.32! You are insane Becky!
For the men, we had seven guys competing this weekend which is the most we’ve ever had. The men’s 4×100 team of Michael Jang, Garret Barch, Kevin Sager, and Mateusz Lopez started off the evening running 43.31. After that, Kevin and Mateusz joined Tyler Splitt and Alex Bienduga in the open 400m where we saw Mateusz break the elusive 50-second barrier, coming in at 49.91. Following him was Kevin, who ran 50.16, then Tyler who came in at 50.38, and then Alex at 51.05. Those four teamed up in the 4×400 where they battled three varsity teams and took them all down, taking 1st overall with a time of 3:20.71! Lone thrower Paul Fina also made an appearance throwing 39.04m in the discus, good for 4th on the top performances list.
Keep an eye out for all of those athletes and the many more talented people from the club team this weekend at the first annual Illinois Club Peaks!