The success of a cross country meet is not measured by the performance of a few girls or guys in one race. Sure, it is the top 5 who contribute to the team score. But you will greatly miss out if you believe that those 5 are all that matter. On Saturday, November 10th, the Illinois Cross Country Club showed its depth at NIRCA Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky, and secured a spot in the minds of other clubs as a team to fear.
Our runners found success at Masterson Station Park in various ways. Some saw enormous PRs. Some tried something new and saw it pay off. Some found themselves running with people they never thought they could run with. Some found the All-American honor. Some ran their last cross country meet. However each runner found his/her success, each one raced with heart and grit and contributed to the overall success of the team.
Alrighty. Strap in. This’ll be a long one.
The first race of the day was the Open 5k. Representing Illinois was Abby Ludwig, Maia Haworth, Riley Maloney, Leah Ziolkowski, Adam Bruyere, Gaby Aguilera-Ripley, and Evelyn Hughes (as well as alumni Michael Frintner). Some of these runners weren’t sure if they wanted to come race, but we are thankful they still did and hope they enjoyed their race. Adam was able to close out his senior season strong. Leah ran her fastest 5k since high school, and Riley had a great race despite the cold and a hip injury early in the season which hindered her training. We are very grateful these runners came along and raced and cheered on their teammates throughout all the other races!
Next up was the men’s Jr/Sr/Grad 8k race. Coach Richard Skogsberg fittingly led the charge with a season PR of 26:59 to take 3rd. He has put an enormous amount of effort into setting up everyone on this club to improve and building a strong team culture and for that we all owe him our thanks. Eli Walker wasn’t far behind in 27:15 to come in 6th place. We are very grateful for Eli’s cheerfulness and how much he smiles 🙂 Matthew Beckerman finished in 27:30 solidifying a personal best in a race that he was rightfully very proud of. Evan Patel ran a 4 second PR with 27:35 after not getting much sleep the night before. #nappingisntanoption. Cody Lund ran 27:37 which was his first non-Aurora sub 28 performance in a race that he calls his favorite XC race of all time. “Hugged Evan, hugged Beckerman, said congrats to Coach and Eli. It was just an unbelievable feeling seeing how the five of us worked together to dominate a race like that,” Cody says in his log. This level of comradery is what is so beautiful about this sport. Those first 5 guys all finished among the top 15 which secured the Jr/Sr/Grad victory for our men.
Coming in next was Jarod Meyer who finished in 28:15 and suffered from some hypothermia during the race. He’s very proud of his teammates and thankful for such a fun weekend. Sean Frintner raced another huge PR with a 28:58. He challenged himself early on and went out there and took what he wanted in the cold. He has had one of the biggest success stories this season, for sure, and it’s exciting to think about where he can be next season. Daniel Engel finished his race in 29:50 after a quick start. He also has next season to look forward to seeing how strong he can finish off his time on the club. Matt Dickinson ran 30:14 and crossed the finish line completely wiped which is something he should definitely be proud of.
Muneeb Ansari finished in 30:21, but there’s way more to say about this man than just what he ran in his last cross country race. Too much to say about this man. He found it hard to fit in freshman year. But he didn’t give up and walk away. He invested his time and effort more and more in this club each year. When he became President his junior year, the club instantly became the welcoming, inclusive home for growing as runners and friends that it is now. It was Muneeb. A personalized, heartfelt note card for every. single. runner. at nationals. I can guarantee you that is not done across other clubs. Despite being so involved on campus, Muneeb still makes the time to always make someone’s day on the club. He constantly checks up on us through our logs to make sure we know we’ll always have his support. I just don’t think we can thank him enough for all he’s done for this club. But we better try. Muneeb, thank you for the love. Thank you for all you’ve provided. Thank you for all you’ve taught. Thank you for all of your heartfelt words. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the impact you’ve had on this team. I truly believe your mark will be left for years to come. Your efforts and accomplishments far transcend those before you, and will continue to transcend those that come after you. And for that, we all truly love you.
As you wipe those tears away, let’s talk about Zach Scheffel who ran 30:51. As he continues to learn more about himself as a runner and racer, he will continue to see improvement. Alex Hanskat wrapped up our men in the Jr/Sr/Grad race with a 31:10. A huge thank you to Hanskat for all the organizing he did to make this weekend a success.
Next to toe the line were the Jr/Sr/Grad women. Leading our women in this race were Emily Condic (25:10) and Tiffany Yathaputanon (25:12). Both of these women had fantastic races. Emily ran a nearly 30 second season PR, and Tiff got pretty close to her PR despite having to deal with some health issues in her final season. Lindsey Schmidt came in next in 25:52, which is more than a whole minute faster than her debut at Regionals! Brianna Legner PR’d by a couple seconds running 27:38 and Samantha Gonski ran a PR of 27:48! Adriana Milkto also posted a personal best and got under 30 for the first time with a 29:25 after training alone nearly the entire season. Congrats on all the PRs!
As the temp started to finally warm up a bit, it was time for the Men’s Championship race. Josh Mollway decided to push it early on in hopes that it would pay off in the end which led him to a time of 25:59 and 9th place. Ryan Somerfield had the race he knew he could have, running 26:11 for 17th place. Being All-American has been on his mind since 2015 and he finally accomplished it. He should be very proud of his season. Jean Rasmusen was a little worried leading up to Nats that he overtrained, but if 26:35 and 35th place was him overtrained, I’d love to see what he could do trained just right. Jean will be dearly missed and we appreciate the time he has spent with us this semester.
Josh Feldman closed out his last cross season strong with a time of 26:59. A four time Championship racer and an All-American his sophomore year, Josh is a very hard worker who embodies the idea that you get out of your training what you put into it. He also used to love beets. He will be missed. Closing out the scoring five for the men was Justin Ostrem in 27:02. This freshman has shown what he’s capable of and it’s exciting to think about what he can accomplish in the club running scene. He also writes fire raps so don’t cross him. Brian Butcher finished his race in 27:07 which he knows wasn’t his best performance. He looks to learn from this season and improve upon it next year where he’ll be looking to truly show what he’s got.
Coming in at 28:34 was Leonel Rodriguez . Chronic bronchitis can really interfere with aerobic exercise sometimes. But Leonel refuses to give up or quit because of his love for this sport. With his family and closest friends cheering him on, he put on a pure grit performance in which he dug his absolute deepest in order to cross that finish line. Despite the unimaginable pain, he never once doubted he would finish and never once had thoughts of fear. The amount of strength he has cannot be taught or even explained. Leonel is a one of a kind runner and a true testament to the notion that success isn’t found purely through places and times, but rather effort and resiliency. I want to personally thank Leonel for the impact he has had on his teammates. He is an honor to run and interact with. He now sets his sights on what he can accomplish in track, and I wish him the best of luck.
The Women’s Championship race proved to be the best performance from our women since 2013 with four All-Americans in Emma Burkhardt (11th, 22:18), Julia Schultz (17th, 22:32), Anneliese Schulz (20th, 22:37), and Grace Gudwien (30th, 22:55). ALL of these women ran personal bests and did an amazing job of working off each other throughout the race. A tremendous showing of teamwork leading to success. The last time Emma Burkhardt was at this course, she was unable to finish and had to be carried off the course. No doubt that was in her mind as she returned this year, but she was not afraid, she was excited. She went on to PR by almost an entire minute which is practically unheard of when you get to her talent level. Her time of 22:18 is also the second fastest 6k time EVER by a woman on our club! Julia wasn”t quite having the races she wanted earlier in the season, but this fearsome runner focused harder and trusted in herself to have her best performance in the last race of the season. Anneliese is another four time Championship racer who became an important leader on the club as she became Women’s Captain. Her PR of over 40 seconds came from trusting in the process and winning the tough mental battle down the stretch of pushing your body to the limit and finishing on empty. Grace has showed all year that she runs with confidence and isn”t afraid to run with the most elite women. She might be our first freshman All-American ever, and I”m sure she”ll be looking for that honor for each year that she”s here which would be a feat truly unheard of and remarkable. Mia Bertaud raced strong to finish in 23:51. This is a PR for her by over 30 seconds! Look out for what she can do as she steps into more of a leadership role on the team next year. Noel Brindise had her best race yet with a 24 second PR of 24:12. What a great way to end off her XC career with Illinois! Vicky Dent also brought home a PR with her time of 24:20, which means that all seven of the women in the Championship race ran lifetime PRs in the 6k. The goal for these women going into the race was to have them all under 25. Well, they smashed that and all ran 24:20 or under.
Moving onto the future of the club. The Men’s Fresh/Soph race was led by Connor Farrell who finished 13th place in 27:22. Nikita Smyrnov followed in 28:04, with John Kellum running hard to finish in 28:16. As these guys continue to gain experience and put in hard work, they are bound to see the results they want. Freshmen Jordan Meyer (28:24) and Liam Bots (28:25) both bested their Regionals performances, with Bots running a PR of 30 seconds! Nathan Ehrenhofer was able to just get under 29 with his 28:59 for another PR of about 10 seconds. Blake Duncan improved on his time from Regionals running 29:18. Patrick Willhalm (29:32) and Alex Kogen (29:34) came in next, both also improving on their Regionals performances with Patrick running a PR of 17 seconds!
Nathan Saltzman finished in 30:08 which is over a minute of a PR. Bryan Himmel was dealing with some knee troubles but still finished in 30:35 which is almost a minute faster than his race at Regionals. Nick Schuster had a breakout race, running 31:38, a 50 second PR! Olan Bruyere wasn’t far behind in 31:50 and Derek Engelbrecht won biggest PR with his 2 minute and 8 second PR of 32:05! Wow! With an opening cross country season like that, Derek could see himself under 30 minutes next year.
David Creger had a strong race to finish in 32:21. John Feeley cracked out a 33:08 for another minute PR. John has gone from 36:17 to 35:06 to 34:04 now to 33:08! Amazing progress! Speaking of progress, Nate Sun also had an enormous Nationals race to end his first cross country season with a time of 34:04, almost a whole 150 seconds faster than his Regionals race! Sean Norris dropped 20 seconds with his 35:42 performance, and Robert Chen finished his first Nationals race in 36:38. The improvement in these men is thrilling. I look forward to seeing how they all come back and do next year.
The final race of the day was the Women’s Fresh/Soph 6k. We ended up only having three women racing in this, which meant they each got a whole lot of cheering directed right at them. Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan ran a monstrous PR with her 24:31 performance to finish in 10th. A promising future on the club awaits this freshman who moved up 7 places in the last kilometer of the race. Grace McDonough was stricken with serious shin splints after Regionals and was unable to run any serious mileage for the weeks leading up to Nationals. Instead of dismissing her season as over, she grinded out hours and hours on the Elliptical to set herself up for as much success as she could for Lexington. Her time of 25:25 just barely missed being a PR and was almost two minutes faster than her Regionals time. Never give up. Always keep working. Natalie Maguire finished her race in 28:12 which was a PR by over a minute! She improved at each race she ran this season!
The Illinois Cross Country Club left NIRCA Nationals 2018 with two All-American men, four All-American women, 5th place in the Men’s Championship, 4th place in the Women’s Championship, 3rd place in the Men’s Fresh/Soph, 7th place in the Women’s Jr/Sr/Grad, and 1st place in the Men’s Jr/Sr/Grad. They also left with roughly 25 personal bests, and (hopefully) some great memories from a fun weekend.
Great job to everyone that raced this season.
A very warm thank you to all the seniors/grad students that will not be returning next year. We wish you luck in all your pursuits.
Have a wonderful off season, and good luck to all athletes in track.
Until next season.