What a perfect day at the races on our ‘home’ track. Our happy little club slept in, ran our race, and enjoyed the rest of the day. Ah, the joys of hosting. Several people looked to capitalize or bounce back from Nats. Others looked to have their first race after injury and other issues.
In the women’s 100, Lauren Grant PR’d with 13.90. A week ago she ran 14.17. In her first race due to injury and a very busy schedule, our beloved Social and Fundraiser Adriana Miltko ran the 100 as well. (Sign up for fancy dinner if you haven’t by the way)
For the men, Tyler Muckian made a comeback running 12.36. Shan PR’d again with 15.34, knocking off another .2 seconds. Do I hear a sub 15 next season? I do. I’m saying it. Throwback to club relays when I asked Michael Jang how his comeback was going. He said “my hurdle form is good, I’m just trying to get my speed back”. Like One Direction in a year, Jang came back together strong. He was the top Illinois sprinter in the 100 throwing down an 11.42, good for second overall. Andy also improved his collegiate PR from 11.83 to 11.48.
In the women’s 800, Grace McDonough continues to astonish us with a MEET RECORD of 2:32.02. Right on her hip was Tiffany Yathaputanon who has been grinding and grinding and grinding all of college and got a phenomenal race for second place. Tiffany ran 2:33.09 and her previous open best was 2:37.65. She said in her log “This was quite the redemption from last week at Nirca, and maybe all of this season. This is probably the first time in YEARS that I”ve felt that real ‘”in the zone'” feeling, where you don”t really feel the pain, or hear the people, or see anyone else besides who is in front of you.” Go Tiffany! Maggie Madden matched her PR from last week #consistentlyFast.
For the men’s 800, Keith Lee, John Kellum, and Mollway hammered the last 300 pushing one another. Keith took the W in 1:57.51. A lifetime PR! After a disappointing finish at Nats, Kellum took Coach Skogsberg’s advice and ran the week easy. He ended up with a season’s best and a satisfying end to his racing schedule until cross. Fishman also got a collegiate PR in 2:03.19. If you remember, he used to blaze the first 400 in 57-58 and crash and burn. I think he’s figured out how to race even splits. Beau Barber knocked another 0.9 seconds off his PR and finished in 2:06.92. Pierre ran 2:15.14, a 3.5 second improvement from Nats. The team also graced him with an Illinois flag for him to remember us back in Europe. :’( gonna miss u
The women’s 5k was essentially 3 separate races. One Northwestern girl going 18:30ish, another going 19:20, and Vicky Dent looking to run 6:20 pace. She was paced by Julia Schultz who kept it going and Vicky ran perfectly! She closed in an 88 for a PR!
The men’s 5k was lead by Eli Walker who was duking it out with his TA. Sean McCarty ran a pretty decent time in the 3k Steeple considering he’s never done it before. In a flurry of senioritis, he ran 11:13 and looked like he was having fun while jumping the barriers. Good for him!
I swear all I do in this board position is talk about Lauren Grant. She PR’d. Again. In the 400. And set a meet record. 1:02.65. I don’t know, just expect it at this point. Malorie Moore also shaved off some time to get a new 400 PR in 1:04.67. Her dogs also came so that was pretty great.
The men’s 400m was led by Andy Marszewski. This freshman ran the FASTEST 400 OF THE SEASON for the entire club. 50.77 is quick. Coach Tyler Splitt also ran a season best of 51.09. Some guy named “Martin” on Yahoo Answers says that starting blocks can take off .15-.30 seconds in the 400. That’s all I’m saying. It was written ‘1 decade ago’ and has one thumbs down but I broke 60 I don’t care what the timers say.
LAUREN GRANT PR’D IN THE 200 AND WON IT 27.54 HER PREVIOUS BEST FROM LAST WEEK WAS 27.64. wow reacts only. Julia Schultz ran the 200 and just wanted to beat her 29.00 seed time. She’s got serious wheels and can pace down to the 100m split. She ran 28.64: go Julia you’re a Rockstar. After missing all of outdoor, Ciara Ward ran under 30.00 with a time of 29.88! Her indoor best was 30.91 so shout out to Ciara for all the behind the scenes work she’s done on and off the track! 😀
In the men’s 200, Michael Jang showed us why he’s the GOAT travel coordinator by running 22.90. That exactly matches his PR from LAST year’s Club Peaks. Is Michael Jang a part of the Illuminati? Yes.
2018-2017=1.
1 x 22.90=22.90.
2+2+9+0=13.
13 reasons why.
Illuminati confirmed.
John Brandenburg PR’d by .37 seconds by running 23.61! His previous record was from last week. He’s progressed from 24.14 in 2016 to 23.61 that’s great.
In the women’s mile, Emily Foley took it out from the gun and never looked back. She finished in 5:31. Lexy Rudofski and Noel Brindise stuck together and Noel ran a 5 second PR! Megan Frintner finished her last race as a club member with a cartwheel across the line and a hug from her twin. They grow up so fast .
The men’s mile was my favorite race to see. It wasn’t because Mollway won, or Feldman got second. Not because Cody went sub 5 again or Matthew Beckerman ran 4:59.99. Yeah it was cool to see our beloved home meet coordinator race the old home meet coordinator. But I loved this race for Rhode. Andrew Rhode came up to me, the IXC President, at the beginning of the year and explained that he’s injured and won’t be training with this season. He bought a uniform, and I was convinced we just made 45$ and will never see this guy again. But we did see him. He’d be out there doing 2-4 mile days. Slowly, very slowly building his mileage back up. For a full 8 months this guy stayed patient while we were out hammering 40-80 mile weeks. And finally, after a 4:56 time trial last weekend, Rhode showed up in the uniform he bought in September and ran 4:45.73 for 6th. If you’re injured, you got a string of bad races or bad training, look at his logs. See what it’s like to persevere and struggle in silence with your eyes on the prize. I am so very proud of him. The other notable performance was Leonel. He gave his heart and soul and 1000 paper cranes for us and his racing. This isn’t the last you’ll see of him. I know that for sure.
In the long jump, Ashley Raehsler jumped once and never again. But I don’t blame her. You jump 5.18m (17’), break your own club record by .08, why keep going? She triple jumped as well and improved her mark from last week to 10.52m (34-06.25).
Inga in the shotput was quite the performance. She threw 9.99m on her final throw which is good enough for a #2 all time performance. She also threw 28.80m (94-06) in discus which puts her at the #1, #2, and #3 performances in club history. Erin McKee also threw 21.62m (70-11) in discus which is pretty awesome.
Thomas Nute came back after a knee injury and tossed 11.24m. Liam Nassib PR’d in the discus by .64m by throwing 33.34m.
All in all, it was a gorgeous day for a meet. A great close to many seasons and collegiate careers.