Friday the 13th is traditionally viewed as an unlucky day, but the men and women of IXC had anything but that on the first race of the season at Aurora, producing some super fast performances. With perfect weather and a flat course, the team did not disappoint.
On the women’s side, new Sophomore Natalie Sarris ran her first 6K with the club in a stellar 22:15.0, good for 4th place overall and one of the fastest times in club history! After a summer of consistent training, our President/overlord and local coffee junkie Julia Schultz was 6th overall with a time of 22:34.0. Sophomore Grace Gudwien had a terrific first season with the club last year, culminating in an All-American finish at nationals. She continued to impress at Aurora this year, coming through with a top 10 performance and a massive PR of 22:51.9, skipping the 23 minute zone entirely. Mia Bertaud was 4th for the team with a time of 24:12.4. Freshmen Annika Koester , Mikeelie Jensen , and Sophomore Clare Oehler rounded out the top 7 for the women with excellent debuts of 24:45.5, 25:02.0, and 25:23.1, respectively.
Following them was a stream of new runners dropping some impressive times. Maddy Feehan ran 25:26.5, followed by Ally Tippett with a 25:40.7. Brisa McGrath and Lauren Brunk finished closely together with times of 26:15.0 and 26:22.0 respectively. Audrey Calkins raced despite having bronchitis, but still produced a great time in 26:46.4. We’re all looking forward to seeing what she can run while healthy. After a summer of training on her own in the corn fields, Senior Brianna Legner showed up with a PR of 27:10.6! Margo Van Loon ran her first ever race in a great time of 27:36.0 and finished next to returning Sophomore Gabby Aguilar-Ripley , who ran 27:38.8. Big dog Grace McDonough has dealt with a frustrating series of injuries in the past year, but raced with a time of 27:48.4! It’s great to have her back in action! Our very own Gender Minority Captain Riley Maloney was next in 28:16.4, and is hungry to improve as the season goes on. New freshmen Lauren Bartels and Maggie Kosterman were next in 29:18.8 and 29:19.4, respectively. Grad student Anna Winnicki was next in 29:37.1, and Sophomore Natalie Maguire rounded it out for the women with a 30:06.1. She is looking forward to running better next time, and we all know that she will drop lots of time as the season goes on!
On the men’s side, the charge was lead by the supreme duo of Head Coach Josh Mollway , and Russian hacker Nikita Smyrnov , who finished neck and neck in 25:36.2 and 25:36.4, good for 4th and 5th place overall! Justin Ostrem also dipped under 26 minutes and was 9th overall with a time of 25:54.3. Junior Brian Butcher had an oof moment and forgot his spikes at home, but still impressed with a 12th overall and 26:01.7 performance in trainers. God, what a heart throb. Ryan Somerfield didn’t have the race he wanted but still ran well, finishing 16th overall with a time of 26:11.9. Ole redbeard will be back for sure, and he has his sights set on getting another piece of paper (or better) at Nats. Webmaster Jarod Meyer broke 28 and 27 minutes for the first time with a 26:22.6 performance to get 25th overall and, even better, cucked Travel Coordinator/Aspiring Soundcloud rapper Connor Farrell out of the last meet t-shirt. Connor still ran a fantastic PR in 26:25.4 for 26th overall, and is happy to be back and fit again. We’re all looking forward to his album too.
Continuing the stream of IXC men was converted Sophomore Middle-Distance runner and Newman Hall Guru Jeffrey Hesselbein , who in his first 8K ever ran a ridiculous 27:01.5. Some quick math shows that the 8K is 10 times as long as the 800m, making this a very impressive run for a big step up in distance. Freshman Spencer Nelson also ran great in his IXC debut, closely following Jeff with a time of 27:02.7. Merry thiccmas definitely came early this year, as Senior Cody Lund ran a PR of 27:11.1. Sophomore Jordan Meyer also PR’d huge with a time of 27:29.3 while running on no sleep the whole week. John Kellum did not feel great but still ran a 27:41. Kellum will be dangerous later in the season when the good races start coming. After punishing his body with feats of strength before school even started, McChicken enthusiast and naughty secretary Evan Patel still broke 28 minutes with a 27:48.8 performance on a destroyed leg. Once he ups the caffeine dose to the kilogram range, he’ll drop that by another 5-10 minutes. Up next was Daniel Engel who shattered his PR and is knocking on the door of the sub-28 range with a 28:01.4. German exchange student Lukas Koller ran a time of 28:24.8, with freshman Cade Baker right behind him in 28:26.4. Very nice debuts! New Freshman Arthur Mazzeo ran great to finish in 28:59.5, just barely edging out fraternity legend Timothy Green , who was also clocked at 28:59.5.
Gies Business student and full-time IXC treasurer Alex Kogen ran solid with a 29:03.5, with a rabid pack of other IXC boys right on his heels. Sophomore Robbie Sieczkowski was next in 29:15.6, followed closely by new freshmen Ian Repking and Garrett Minich . They both ran awesome with times of 29:16.5 and 29:17.9, respectively. Sophomore Lucas Carillo was weighed down by his gat, (and an illness), but still ran a PR of 29:24.3 while “surrounded by killers”. Hinsdale Central enthusiast Nathan Saltzman tracked him closely with a very respectable time of 29:31.5. Senior Matt Dickinson is just getting back into the swing of training, but put up a very promising time of 30:10.6. He’s gonna drop some big time off of that.
In his first 8K, Grad student and former teacher Wassim Elhouar continues to put children in their place with a great run of 30:26. Senior Sean Frintner also ran 30:26.4 despite not being able to train much, a sign of good things to come later in the season. Freshman Norb Nieves ran a great debut of 30:42.8, much faster than his Big Ten 10K time where he clapped Jarod Meyer’s cheeks. Another freshman, Justin Baysore , was next with a time of 31:57.2. Look for him to improve as well as he gets used to the 8K. Sophomore club legend John Feeley ran a time of 32:14.5, and is on pace to have an awesome second season. Freshmen Tristan Taylor , Isaac Schifferer , Marcus Herrington , Saif Kazmi , and Sahil Yemul all ran solid openers with times of 32:49.9, 32:58.1, 33:13.2, 33:20.3, and 34:07.9, respectively. All five of them are getting used to the jump from 3 miles to 8K, but will improve rapidly as the season goes on. Keep an eye on that Isaac kid too, sub 33 minutes is impressive for having never run before joining the club less than a month ago!
Aurora was a great start for IXC club’s competition record this year, with 22 women and 35 men finishing the races! Even better than that, everybody got to feast at Culver’s after the race. Congratulations to all of the new people who finished. 6K’s and 8K’s are very difficult to get used to, especially moving up in distance from the 3 miles/5k’s everybody runs in high school. Even though the Aurora course is one of the fastest ones we race on, a tidal wave of PRs can be expected from the new runners as they train consistently and get used to the patent-pending IXC racing strategy.
Till next time! Stay tuned for another action write-up when the men and women of IXC take on the competition at the Brissman-Lundeen invitational in Rock Island, Illinois on October 4th. Rock Island is also the homeplace of the hit underground single “A Nite in Rock Island” by famous rapper Chief Big. The song is the highpoint of his 2010 album “Town Business”, which has run rampant on the spotify charts the past few years.