This past weekend was a big one as ITFC looked to get the best possible performances at Nationals. A squad of distance runners went Friday to race in the many 5k’s at The WashU Invite and other athletes attended the John Creer Invite.
Friday night, Quinn Todzo led the team with a 15:49 performance. In a big pack, he made sure to move up well on the straights. After closing in a 72, Quinn knew he had more in the tank and has his sights set on 15:40. Anneliese Schulz, in her final track race before The Boston Marathon, ran 18:40. A 4.6 second PR from her freshman year Nationals performance. After leading for 8.5 laps, she was able to put up a strong performance.
My favorite race of the night goes to Riley Maloney. Nobody deserved a PR more that night and with a lot on her plate, she ran with the hopes of breaking 21:00. She did, of course, with lots of surges. A time of 20:19 is not only a PR but also a big step towards her sub 20:00 goal. She noticed the surges in the middle of the race took a lot out of her. Once she gets an evenly paced race, who knows where she’ll end up.
Olan Bruyere, Tim Zmudzinski, and Matt Dickinson all ran in the same heat, with Matt pulling away to 17:43. He’s shooting for 17:30. He’s had phenomenal training and is in the best shape of his life considering he PR’d in the 3k on a split. In his log, he described how his legs locked up towards the last mile and he’s ready to improve on his pacing and pack running.
Tim and Olan finished together in 18:59 and 19:02. Those two are on a big upswing. Olan’s looking to race the 5k again at Nats and the mile at Peaks. #RoadToSub5. Hanskat, the speed demon, ran 16:24 off of a fast mile followed by a hard surge. Though he wants another crack at the 5k, he knows he’s got bigger goals. I, however, would love to see this man race another 5k with better pacing along with his lethal kick. He’s a fun one to watch.
The next day, just a few towns over, Lauren Grant PR’d some more. She PR’d in every event indoors and she’ll probably keep doing it outdoors too because this season is her season. She ran 28.36 (over a 1 second improvement) and 1:02.78 (about a 2.5(!) second improvement). NIRCA is probably wondering how Becky Haight is going to dominate Nats, but they’re sleeping on Grant. Stay tuned for Nats.
Maia Haworth, after some knee injury, wanted to get a distance race under her belt. She ran 5:44 in the 1500. She’s looking to focus on the 400/800 in future meets. Remember, this woman split 2:35, 68, and 70 at club relays.
Laura Houston got her 3k steeplechase qualifying mark in 15:11. Though she was worried, as all of us would be, about the hurdles, she kept a steady pace and actually enjoyed the water pit. Know that she knows the race and how to run it, she’ll give it another go at Peaks or at the NCC meets. Congrats to Laura for taking a risk like that!
Her coach, Josh Feldman, loves to run 3k”s. Indoors he runs em without barriers, outdoors he has them. In his fourth 3k race, he ran a phenomenal time of 10:00.29, an 11 second PR!!! Big congrats to Josh on such a great performance. Now that he”s 5th on the club leaderboard, he”s got a shot at moving up to top 3 (9:57 or better).
In the 100, Shan ran 15.78 and will look to keep racing the 100/200 at Nats.
In the 200, Harris PR’d with 23.11 and Bienduga ran a 2nd best in 23.11. Freshman Steven Bellefontaine ran 22.63 for #8 all time. This guy is on fire. He’s dominated the sprints after a disappointing injury his senior year. At Jacobs High School, he ran 10.93 and 22.39, but right now he’s writing a new story with a potentially much better ending.
The 800 was filled with college PR’s. Kellum ran 2:00.55 in a wet and wild 2 lap race. Sean McCarty ran a phenomenal 2:00.53 and Patrick Willhalm PR’d by 2 seconds in 2:06. He got out slow but felt good. Beau Barber also PR’d with 2:08.94. He’s a living testament that when you love the sport, it shows you love back. This mid D crew is killing it in the 800s. However, my favorite part of Nationals last year was when the depth of our sprinters/mid D runners was made clear as the men won the 4×400 A, B, C, and D heats of Nationals and the women went toe to toe with 4:00 flat squads and competed with them.
After his Achilles injury, Michael Jang is looking good with a 400mH time of 1:00.56. He nearly matched his time from Lindenwood last year and will do some damage at nationals.
Tyler Splitt ran 51.91 in the 400. We all know what time he’s chasing and that it’s going to be a happy day when he does. Until then, it’s a lot of grinding.
The 4×100 of Jang, Bienduga, Bellefontaine, and Harris ran a #6 all time with 43.37. Someone go check how many top 10 performances came from this season. It’s insane I feel like I’ve typed “all time” like 30 times this year I love it. The throws had quite a day as Kelvin Cross threw 9.63/24.17 in the shot/discus. Shantanu threw 5.79 in the shot. But the big chucks came from Zach Sawackis. Walking in with a 27.12m PR in the discus, he threw 29.64m!!!!!! I’m eating whatever he had for breakfast that day. He also improved his shotput from 8.90m to 9.15m. Big congrats to Zach on some well earned performances.
Lindenwood had some very cold, very rainy, very unpleasant conditions, ITFC was dry thanks to Beau Barber and his tents as well as the good vibes and positivity the team maintained. S/O Beau+team <3 <3 <3″,2018-04-06 12:00:00+00,Outdoor
192,Muneeb Ansari,ITFC Spends the afternoon in Decatur before Nationals,”After the Western Illinois meet was canceled due to weather, head coach Tyler Splitt quickly contacted meet directors and found a meet a mere 44 minutes away at Millikin University in Decatur. For many mid-distance and sprinters, it was a final chance to get racing legs in time for Nationals.
Katherine Miles has made a pleasant return to the club, looking to work on her 200 speed and move up to the 400 where she has the most experience. She ran 32.10 in the 200.
Shantanu Amin improved his 100 and 200 times and Andy Marszewski took second in the 400m dash with a time of 52.41. Winning the 400 was Justin Nebel who also set a new club record in the outdoor long jump with 6.64m. His indoor best was 6.72m. Big congrats to Justin who continues to dominate the long jump!!
Evan Sacks set a club PR in the 200 with a time of 26.53. His indoor best from the 2018 Titan Open was 27.36.
In the 800, Coach Splitt ran 2:02.59, Zack Fishman 2:06.25, Maggie Madden 3:00.70.
It’s a big week of homework and sleep as we prepare to go to NATIONALS this Saturday!