Thanks for keeping the seat warm IXC, but now it’s time to return to the track where we judge how fast we can run in circles or how far we can throw heavy objects. ITFC is gearing up for an incredible season and shook out the preseason rust at this early bird meet at the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open. While we didn’t have our full arsenal of athletes, it was a great chance to get back into the competitive mindset. While this was the first meet of the season, the Illini showed up to compete, setting multiple All-Time Bests for the club throughout all of the events! It was an exciting day to watch and we’ll see just how well the Illini performed with the individual results.
First event of the day was the Women’s 60 Meter Hurdles. Our only athlete, Desarae Echevarria, came in at speedy 10.35, a huge improvement over her 10.60 she ran at this meet last year. For the Men’s 60 Meter Hurdles we saw Decker Elias run a 9.54 in qualifying and came back in a huge 9.27 for finals.Not only was this an amazing PR, but also our 7th All-Time Bests for men’s 60m hurdles!
The next races were the 60 Meter Dashes. On the women’s side, Maria Becerra crossed the line at an 8.98. Cayman Beckham followed suit at a 9.37. This was both of their first ever collegiate races and much improved over their November testing times! Nice job ladies!
Representing the men, we saw a promising pack of young first-time racers. We had Shawn Rosofsky finish in a 7.37. Andre Ells ran a 7.50. Jad Karajeh close behind with a 7.55. Finishing the 5 second spread, Grant Brown finished at 7.60. Coming in at a strong tie we saw Anthony Lu and Ben Junkroski both finish with a 7.78. Matthew Steele ran a solid 7.91. PJ Coleman finished at an 8.80 and our very own social coordinator Shantanu Amin crossed the line at 9.78. Great races gentlemen!
The next set of races we saw our Illini compete in was the 300 Meter Dashes. Starting with the women, Tatiana Montanez ran a solid 47.60. Natasha Ferrero close behind at 47.84, our 9th All-Time Best for women’s 300-meter! Another record setting performance by Ciara Ward, she topped it off at 48.40, our 10th All-Time Best for women’s 300-meter!
Onto the men’s 300 Meter Dash, Justin Davis ran an impressive 37.29. Andre Ells finished at 39.52. PJ Coleman continues to make enormous gains and finished the Illini off at 46.44, excited to see where this man will go.
Moving onto the mile, we saw a preview of some of our distance runners fresh off cross-country nationals, the rest we’ll have to wait for. Starting with the women’s, we saw Lauren Gapinske finish at an impressive 5:30.50, winning the women’s mile! Margo van Loon was next at a 6:07.24, which apparently was faster than she ran in high school already! She has her sights on sub 6. Close behind was the daughter of legendary Marty Calkins, Audrey Calkins at 6:09.73.
For the men’s mile, we had one sole competitor, Mr. John Kellum. John had a terrific cross-country season and carried that over to run a 4:30.80. Looking forward to his upcoming track season!
For the men’s 3000 Meter Run, we saw a battle of the elderly. Leading the charge for the Illini at a solid 9:37.72 was Ryan Somerfield. If you’ve been on this club for a while, you know that Ryan has put in a ton of work not only for himself as an athlete, but also for the team. He’s had an incredible 6 years on this club and will be deeply missed. Wassim Elhouar ran his first ever 3K and crossed the line at 10:10.63, not bad for a first-timer!
We had quite the showing of Illini in the men’s 600 Meter Run. Starting us off was Patrick Willhalm at a solid performance, setting the 8th All-Time Best for men’s 600 meter at 1:26.12, probably from all that cross-country racing in the fall. Following up close behind was distance runner Nikita Smyrnov also setting an All-Time Best for the club, 10th to be exact, at 1:27.29. Third for the Illini was Drake Heisterkamp close behind Smyrnov at 1:28.77. Henry Hornbrook won his heat and finished at a solid 1:31.08. And topping it off was 20 year grad student, Beau Barber with a time of 1:34.76. Excellent job boys!
The women’s 600 Meter Run saw Katherine Vande Pol run a speedy 1:43.64, setting the 2nd All-Time Best for women’s 600 meter run! Margo van Loon crossed the line at a 2:05.92. Impressive job ladies!
Leading the way for the women’s 200 Meter Dash, we had Zoe Tsokolas run a blistering 28.12, a club All-Time Best for the women’s 200 meter dash! Desarae Echevarria followed up with a 28.46, setting the 9th All-Time Best time! A great reason to be proud of those performances! Maria Becerra was able to break 30 seconds and finished in a 29.96. Ciara Ward ran a solid 30.35 and Melissa Suarez finished off for the Illini at 34.83. Very strong showing by the women in the 200 meter! Excited to watch their season unfold!
On the men’s side, we had Adam Adil start us off strong at a 24.00. Very impressive. Shawn Rosofsky ran a 25.14 with Ben Junkroski close behind at 25.22. Anthony Lu finished at a 25.31 and Grant Brown was also close at a 25.58. Elias Decker ran a 25.86 and Matthew Steele finished close by with a 25.91. Lots of Illini in this race, and PJ Coleman finished it off at a sub 30, 29.66.
Last race event of the day was, of course, the 4×400 Meter Relay. Starting with the women’s, our first team comprised of Katherine Vande Pol, Desarae Echevarria, team player Audrey Calkins, and Lauren Gapinske ran a cumulative 4:24.50. Our second team contained Zoe Tsokolas, Natasha Ferrero, Maria Becerra, and Margo van Loon. Together, they ran a speedy 4:49.45.
For the men’s 4×4, our A team, Andre Ells, the soon-to-be-alumni Ben Junkroski, Justin Davis, and Elias Decker, ran a solid 3:45.03. Team B, Adam Adil, Nikita Smyrnov, Drake Heisterkamp, and Beau Barber, was not far behind at 3:47.70.
Onto the field events.
In Women’s High Jump, we saw Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jump an impressive 1.45 meters, which ties the 3rd All-Time Best for women’s high jump! Women’s Long Jump had Melissa Suarez jump 3.48 meters.
For our Men’s Long Jump competitors, starting us off was Ben Junkroski at 5.86 meters, a 9th All-Time-Best for the club and a PR! An incredible performance for his last meet with the club. Shantanu Amin unfortunately fouled out but will come back stronger at the next one.
Yuliya Ilnitzkaya lead us in the Women’s Triple Jump with an impressive 9.55-meter jump, a 6th All-Time Best performance! On the men’s side, Jad Karajeh jumped 12.72 meters.
Congrats to all our athletes that competed this past weekend. We saw a ton of All-Time Bests and it’s only December! Excited to see where all of our athletes end up as the season progresses! Whether you’re happy or upset with your performance, we have a long way to go until nationals in April, plenty of time for training and more chances to compete. Will ITFC be able to recoup after losing one of their most valuable athletes, Becky Haight? Will Evan Patel be able to complete this season injury free? Will Julia Hughes finally say yes and go to the 7th grade dance with Alex Bienduga? Tune in next time to find out!
Official Results:
https://www.iwusports.com/documents/2019/12/7/final_results_iwu_12072019.pdf