The Men”s and Women”s teams both took the season-opening cross country meet by storm. This past weekend, the Illinois Cross Country Club ran their first meet of the season at Aurora University. Half of the course consisted of crushed limestone while the temperature was in the upper 60”s making for prime race conditions. The stage was set for a successful day but the race results that followed shocked everyone.
Out of the eleven teams present, the Illinois Men”s Cross-Country Club finished second overall just fourteen points behind North Central University. Out of the top ten, three Illini placed with Brian Butcher placing third, William Wolf placing fourth, and Josh Feldman placing sixth! Brian and Josh have both come off a strong summer of training and are looking sharp early on in the season along with Willie who ran well alongside Josh, pushing the pace for each other. Here are some guys to watch out for in future meets:
Eli Walker- 20th place overall, surprising the coaches every race. Quinn Todzo- 22nd place overall after coming off a summer of quadricep injuries, won the NIRCA B race last year. Richard Skogsberg- new head coach, expect him to be a role model for the underclassmen in races. Kevin Callahan- Freshman runner who is already making big strides, watch out in case he challenges the top five. Cody Lund- Had a big summer of training and is one of the most consistent runners, PR”d by a minute and twenty seconds! Going to need to find a new goal after shattering his goal of breaking twenty-eight minutes. Josh Mollway- going to be a key player this year, learned a lot from his first 8k race. John Kellum- this kid has been dedicated since May so it”s exciting to see him come out and perform as well as he did in his first collegiate race. Alex Nauman- Yorkville native that brought out a crowd, learned a lot about the 8k and had a great season opener. Andrew Walmer- hurt his back but is training like a beast.
All-in-all, the meet was a great ‘”confidence booster for most [and] a learning experience for some'” according to (President of the Illinois Cross-Country Club and Men”s captain) Muneeb Ansari. This meet showed a lot of guys that trained over the summer just how much it pays off.
Moving over to the Illinois Women”s Cross-Country Club, the team finished sixth overall in the 6k out of the eight teams present. Finishing second overall with a time of 22:39.9, Julia Schultz had a big day, just behind the first-place finisher by a mere nine seconds. Way to go Julia! Women”s captain Anneliese Schulz said she was ‘”very proud of the women”s team'” and is ‘”looking forward to the rest of the season'”. Other standout runners on the women”s team include:
Anneliese Schulz- Gender Minority Captain, placed twentieth and helped set the tone for the freshman newcomers. Piper Buyansky- finished as the 3rd women from the IXC team at her first collegiate race, brought out a large crowd from Yorkville just as Alexx Nauman did from the men”s side. Noel Brindise- Very consistent runner that has battled ankle injuries over the summer, those injuries seemed long behind her as she PR”d BIG TIME by thirty-nine seconds. Anastasia Rodriguez- PR”d as well and was the women”s fifth runner. Riley Maloney- Pushed hard the second half of the race which paid off as she PR”d by an entire minute! Abby Ludwig- Sophomore who lets her performance do the talking, outkicked a girl at the finish line by 0.2 seconds. Ava Fiandaca- Freshman that has been dedicated to the team before the season even started, strong first race. Megan Frintner and Mariela Marquez- Senior vets that ran the race hard together and finished together, looking to have a big final year. Andrea Arriaga- Senior newcomer from Nevada, great first race. Sofia Sinnokrot- first collegiate race, learning the ropes and getting acclimated to the team very quickly.
In short, the Aurora University meet showed competitors that the Illinois Cross-Country Club is a force to be reckoned with. Our core upperclassman in addition to the staunch Freshman newcomers will propel success throughout the rest of the season and it is exciting to see how much we will improve from what was already a phenomenal performance.