It was a day for sunscreen and water bottles at the Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, IL. After a 3-hour drive, IXC members were thankful to find their race pushed later and shorter from 6k to 5k for the women and 5 miles to 4 miles for the men. A big thank you is in order to all the parents who came to line the course and support our runners through some of the most difficult conditions in recent memory.
The women raced first as the men simultaneously warmed up and cheered their teammates on. As per usual, the women were lead by their fearless leader, Anneliese Schulz who battled cramping and a rushed start to finish 37th in a time of 20:33. The women’s captain said “I think the women had a really positive response to the difficult race conditions, women who work together in workouts stuck right with each other in the race and while no one ran a PR for the day a lot of women ran their first race with our club and will use the things they learned in this tough race (like working with your workout partners, being conservative at the start) to enhance their future club races.” In her first race of the season, Emily Condic reminded us why she finished 45th out of 325 last year at nationals by “powerhousing” a 21:12 followed close behind by Vicky Dent in 21:25. Vicky found success through pack running with Emily and propelled the duo to great times. In her college debut, Erin Kainrath ran a promising time of 21:32, look out for a breakthrough race in the coming weeks. She has been one of the most consistent women and, as we all know, consistency is #MajorKeyAlert in running. After her race, Erin said “We finished! And in front of people too!”. She’ll be in front of many more people later on. Coming off of two strong PRs from Aurora, Anastasia Rodriguez and Noel Brindise finished together in 22:08 and 22:09. The coaches and teammates are eagerly expecting their times to drop even further come regionals and nationals. Audrey Dombro had quite an experience at her first cross country meet ever. Citing “lots of water and inner strength”, she ran a phenomenal career opener in 22:39! Andy Arriaga, in her final year at UIUC, showed us what she’s capable of. At beautiful, flat, 60 °F Aurora, she ran 8:12 pace but despite Friday’s frolic through the Fire’s of Mordor, she ran 7:39 pace! Congratulations to her on a such a big improvement. Commitment to club running is something special. You can’t always see it or quantify it but you can simply feel it. Few give a level of commitment comparable to Erin McKee who, despite the 6 hours of driving and a meeting ON CAMPUS at 8:30, raced for the sake of her team and went back to Home Sweet Home Urbana-Champaign right away. You gotta respect that commitment. Last, but not least, is another lifelong committed member of IXC. Coach Richard stated, “[Megan Frintner] was always making moves when she ran past where I was”. Her gritty race earned her a 26:02 time.
30 men toed the line on Friday knowing their training would carry them through their ordeal. The borderline impossible conditions offered adversity that they, as a whole, responded well to. In particular, freshmen Connor Farrell and Josh Mollway ran “very smart” races to finish 43-44th in 21:36. They were 2nd and 3rd on the team behind junior William Wolf who finished 22nd in 21:09. Cody Lund, a model for consistency, ran 21:59 to be the 8th man on the team. This pace was the same pace he ran at Aurora and, given the heat and fast start, Parkside will be a showstopper for this biology-loving lad. In his first club meet, Matthew Beckerman ran a solid 23:10. Look for him and his headbands to do some damage at regionals and nationals, this guy can race. Other notable season openers include Ciaràn Lynch who ran 24:53 on little warmup, Jahleel Perrin who conquered the race despite worries, and Matt Dickinson who finished in 27:44.
In all, Coach Skogsberg had a lot to say. “I thought people did a good job in contextualizing how this race could be beneficial for us as a team even though it wasn”t a PR opportunity – focusing on preparation and race execution rather than overall time. People did a really great job working together during the race, which was a focus for us going in to the race, and something that will only continue to translate to success down the road. We weren”t as successful in our pacing; many of us got out too fast, but we”re aware of that, and seek to improve in that part of the race at Parkside and beyond.”
The team will compete next at the UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa Invitational on October 7th.