Heavy rains slogged the course at Lewis University in Romeoville last weekend, but the runners of IXC refused to be deterred by less than ideal course conditions. Stiff D2 level competition allowed our runners to mingle with and race teams of a higher caliber than will be encountered at NIRCA Nats.
Starting with the women’s race. As per usual this season, Natalie Sarris ran a well-measured race, moving up the whole time and finishing 39th overall to lead the team with a 23:31.6. Ms. President Julia Schultz was next for the team, with a solid time of 24:19.4. 20 seconds later, Grace Gudwein came through with another solid performance in 24:40.9. Freshman Brisa Mcgrath had a great top 7 performance in 25:34.5. She was followed in close order by Senior Mia Bertaud in 25:53.5. Freshman Audrey Calkins was 6th for the team in 27:30.4. Rounding out our top 7 was Freshman Mikeelie Jensen in 27:43.8. This was an excellent return to racing for Mikeelie, who ran the race after 2k with only one shoe, and after dealing with ankle sprains and other injuries in the lead-up. Running with one shoe is an interesting tactical choice, but in this case it clearly paid off. Next time 2, 3, or even shoes may lead to a faster time though.
Up next was a very close pack of runners. Clare Oehler, Maddy Feehan, Riley Maloney, Emily Condic, Lucy Jensen, and Lauren Brunk , who all finished within 15 seconds of each other with times of 28:07.9, 28:08.3, 28:11.4, 28:12.4, 28:15.6, and 28:23.3, respectively. Now that is the kind of pack running you like to see on this team! All runners in this group ran excellent, but a special shoutout to Riley Maloney, who is regaining some excellent form through hard work and dedication after dealing with injuries in past seasons.
Next up for the Illini was Brianna Legner in 29:23.1, who is working hard to catch up to the “mega-pack”. Then came Gabby Aguilar-Ripley 29:29.4. Grace “Big Dog” McDonough 29:38.3. Lauren Bartels came through in another solid performance of 32:53.8, followed by Natalie Maguire in 33:10.3. MaryBeth Feeley finished in a time of 34:56.7, followed by newcomer Mary Rose Farruggio in 36:34.6, and Katelyn Howley in 37:59.8. Nice job ladies!
Now for our muddy men. The men’s 8k for IXC was paced by head coach Josh Mollway , who ran a very solid race with a time of 26:19.1, not too far off from his fast-course times, and on a really slow day. Ryan Somerfield and Justin Ostrem were next for the Illini with times of 27:38.8 and 27:46.6. John Kellum and Matthew “Becky” Beckerman ran hard-fought races to finish 4th and 5th for the team with times of 28:09.2 and 28:12.8, respectively. Big shoutout to Becky, who based on his performance was likely pretending to be sick with the flu and injured from a motorcycle falling on his leg the past month. Thanks for hustling me and the other gamblers, Matt. Because of you, I lost thousands of dollars, my house, my car, and my wife to the casino. I only kept $12 because of a small hedge bet I placed in case you had the race of your life… oof.
Connor Farrell was next for the men in 6th on the team with a time of 28:23, followed by Freshman Spencer Nelson , who ran a great race to make his first top-7 appearance for the club in 28:29.9! Well Done! Loan Shark/IXC Treasurer Alex Kogen took some time out of beating up freshman for their meet money to finish 8th on the team in 29:23.3. Jeffrey Hesselbein was next in 29:40.4, followed by Cade Baker in 29:56.5. Breaking 30 minutes was no easy feat on the Lewis Course. Senior Daniel Engel just barely missed dipping under 30 with a 30:00.1, however this was a super-fast race for the lad on a tough course. He is ready to run a heck of a lot faster at regionals if he got more than 1 hour of sleep a week. Freshman Justice Carter finished close behind Daniel with a 30:02.7, and Garrett Minich was another 7 seconds back in 30:09.3.
Finishing close to Garrett were the goon boys Lucas Carillo and Tim Green, who came through with times of 30:17.9 and 30:20.1, respectively. What a bunch of THUGS. Liam Bots was only 0.7 seconds behind Thug Tim, but Liam is a good boy. Nice race and a nice guy! Old man and grad student Wassim Elhouar finished up telling some youngsters about his service in the merchant marine corp during the war, just in time to race at Lewis, and finished with a time of 30:53.9. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Wassim is getting fast. Mid-D Coach Patrick Willhalm ran about 200x as far as he usually runs to make his season debut in the 8k with a time of 31:29.0. He finished next to Senior Zac MacAdam , who we are happy to have back this season!
Freshman Arthur Mazzeo was next in a solid time of 32:01.5, followed by Norb Nieves in 32:19.2. Two other Freshman, Nathan Zachar and Saif Kazmi , also went under 33 minutes with times of 32:27.3 and 32:40.1. Marcus Herrington and John Feeley came through together in times of 33:05.9 and 33:07.8.
Olan Bruyere gets his own paragraph as usual. It’s not favoritism, it’s science. He ran 34:07.1.
Running under the fake name of Evan Patel was Sam Barranco, who finished in a time of 34:14.1. Our secretary Evan is a FRAUD and a HACK, so I’m glad it was actually Sam who ran under his name. Evan told me to “roast him in the meet recap”. I would go into more heinous detail, but the executive board told me to keep this professional. Feel free to message me on linkedin for roasting of Evan Patel .
Finishing it up for the IXC men were Raymond Romero , Thomas Tran, and Tristan Taylor with times of 34:36.9, 34:37.5, and 34:52.9, respectively. Although the IXC women’s “mega-pack” was the best out there today, these freshman guys have a solid group going too.
And that finishes up the race performances for IXC at Lewis. However, this weekend would not have been possible without several families of IXC members opening up their homes to host the club overnight in the suburbs. A special thanks to the Schultz, Feeley, Mollway, Minich, Jensen, and Hesselbein families for hosting our runners last weekend! We appreciate your support!
Till next time! Get excited for IXC regionals AT HOME this year in the arboretum on Nov 2nd!