Being on a club team is always interesting. When telling people that I run on a club team, some responses may include: “Oh that’s cool, so like 10-20 of you get together and run?” or “That’s awesome! Do you guys still go to meets?” or “What’s your mile time?”. Then after I flex my mediocre mile time from high school, I mention that our club team has athletes that can stack up against, and win against competitive D2 and D3 athletes; their whole perspective changes. We are an entirely student-run track team with the same firing power as some impressive varsity teams, and that was the case this past weekend at the University of Chicago. Countless PR’s sprinkled in with some All-Time Bests, and topped off with just an overall great time. The Illini took a huge step forward in the week leading up to Club Relays, let’s take a look at the individual results to see just how well they performed.
At 11am, bright and early for a college student, the Women’s 5k stepped onto the track. Our very own Margo van Loon represented us, running a staggering 21:53.64! What a time!
Next up was the women’s 60 meter hurdles. First up was Desarae Echevarria running a speedy 10.22s! Had we been allowed to qualify for the finals, Des would have made it for the women. Following up right behind her was Maria Becerra finishing in 11.79s! Nicely done ladies!
Next up, the gentlemen 60 meter hurdles. Our top 3 sprinters would have qualified for the finals, and placed very well, just an FYI cough UChicago cough. First up, Garret Barch at an impressive 8.76s! That’s a third All-Time Best! Following behind was Josh James at 8.84s, and Yousuf Ahmad at 9.14s! Nicely done men! Continuing the Illini barrage was Elias Decker at a blistering 9.96s! Finishing it off for the Illini was PJ Coleman with a 12.61s finish! Great job all around guys!
We’re going to interrupt this running and move our gaze to the field events, where athletes have just started to compete. First up, women’s high jump.
Our solo star, Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jumped an impressive 1.43m! Well done Yuliya!
Opening next, was the women’s long jump. First was Jessica Zhang with an impressive 4.41m! That’s pretty far folks! Unfortunately, Melissa Suarez fouled out, but will be back stronger than ever at Club Relays, mark my words.
We’ll come back to the field events after some more running events take place. Women’s 60 meter dash seems to be next!
Barely making it to the race after competing in long jump was Melissa Suarez who ran an impressive 10.15s! Our only showing but a fast one nonetheless! Great job Melissa!
The men’s squad came to play. First up for the Illini was Adam Adil with a quick 7.40s! Following up at exactly the same time was Shawn Rosofsky, also a 7.40s! Nice job men! Andre Ells was next up with a 7.54s finish, followed up by Turner Hastings at 7.61s! Pretty freaking fast! Matthew Steele came out with a solid 7.82s finish! Bienduga meme enthusiast, Shantanu Amin topped it off at a solid 9.77s 60! Well done gentlemen! Excited to see what you all can do at Club Relays next week!
Unfortunately, none of our men were up for the men’s 5k, so we look back to the field events where another round of events have opened.
Starting with the men’s long jump, Andy Marszewski pulled off an impressive 6.00m! Like last week for the weak-minded imperial users, that’s like 18ft! Insane! Jad Karajeh followed up suitably at 5.88m! Shantanu Amin unfortunately fouled out but will be back at Club Relays without a doubt hungry for a second chance. Great job men!
Back to the track! Women’s mile was the next race. A time that would have gotten her a top 5 finish was Brisa McGrath with an impressive 5:30.29 finish! Nice job Brisa! Not too far behind was Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan at 5:52.82! Packed up almost right next to each other were Lauren Bartels and Mahum Chaudhary at 6:24.04 and 6:32.17 respectively! Maggie Kosterman finished it off at a solid 6:43.34! Nice job ladies!
On the men’s side, we had quite the showing of Illini as well! A very impressive race by Nikita Smyrnov with a huge comeback in the second half got him a very fast time of 4:28.57! Following up right behind was Josh Mollway at another fast time of 4:31.59! Great race to watch men! Next up was ex-cross country treasurer and future con-man Alex Kogen at a steady 4:50.55! Close behind was Lucas Carrillo at an impressive sub 5 time of 4:54.08! Tim Green and Liam Bots were even closer and both managed sub 5 minute miles at 4:55.71 and 4:56.18 respectively! Liam and Lucas both won their respective heats and rumor has it the three of them want to fight it out at Club Relays to see who comes out on top! Stay tuned for some spicy distance action! Norb Nieves managed to break the 5 minute barrier at an edgy 4:59.60! Thomas Tran was next up at a solid 5:13.24! Finishing it off for the Illini was a solid group of three. Justin Baysore at 5:20.99, Isaac Schifferer at 5:22.48, 14 seconds faster than just one week ago! John Feeley came in strong at 5:24.98! Nice job all around gentlemen!
Before we move onto the remaining running events, it’s time to close out the field events.
Representing the Illini in the men’s triple jump was Jad Karajeh at an astounding 13.91m! Not only was this over a meter PR for Jad, but he also demolished the previous club record of 13.07m. No doubt he’ll be doing much better outdoors. Not to mention all of that and a third place overall in the triple jump!
Next up was the women’s shot put. Drew Hong threw a solid 7.46m. Nice job Drew! On our men’s side, we had Shantanu Amin throw a whopping 6.32m! A pretty solid PR! Excellent performance throwers and to our entire field events crew!
On the track, women’s 400 meter dash. Natasha Ferrero showed up with an impressive 1.05.44! Close behind was Tatiana Montanez at 1:06.07! Nicely done ladies!
For the men, Jalen Frazier ran an impressive 51.97! Earning second place overall! Close behind was Justin Davis in third at 52.17! Nice job men! Finishing it off was Turner Hastings at a solid 57.28, dropping significant time over the last few weeks! Well done all around!
The mid-distance squad had a chance to compete in the 800 meter run. Starting with the women, Katherine Vande Pol ran a speedy 2:22.17 which earned her third place overall! Well done Katherine! Mikeelie Jensen was next up at 2:36.51 and following right on her heels was Maddy Feehan at a solid 2:37.73! Excellent job! Closing out was MaryBeth Feeley and Mahum Chaudhary with solid sub 3 minute times at 2:56.42 and 2:59.04 respectively! Great performances ladies!
On the men’s side, the Illini went home with the first place AND second place podium finishes! Not bad for a club team! The always-smiling runner John Kellum has just been killing it all season. Finishing in 1:57.14, this man beat second place by almost 2 seconds! Great job John! We’re all excited to see what you can pull off at Club Relays! Distance coach Josh Mollway was able to snag that second place spot right at the end at 1:59.07. Still in the top 10 was mid-distance coach Patrick Willhalm at a fast time of 2:01.42! Getting close to that sub 2 minute milestone aren’t ya Patrick? Next up was Jeffrey Hesselbein at a solid 2:04.47, taking home the W for his heat! Jacob Fleck had an impressive race with a 2:07.89 finish! Close behind was Cade Baker at 2:08.17! Nice job gentlemen! Nathan Zachar finished at 2:11.21, so close to getting under that 2:10 barrier! Norb Nieves ran a respectable 2:15.08 and topping it off was none other than father Beau Barber at an impressive 2:15.47! Great job all around men!
After the 800, some real speedsters were up in the 200 meter dash. Starting with our women, Desarae Echevarria sprinted a solid time of 28.39s! Zoe Tsokolas followed that up with an impressive 29.23s time, and wrapping it up was Maria Becerra with a 29.79s! Nicely done ladies!
On the men’s side of things, Garret Barch ran an impressive 23.25s! Very close behind was Andy Marszewski at 23.35s! President, and meme goldmine, Alex Bienduga was third for the Illini at a solid 23.47s! Nice job gentlemen! But it doesn’t stop there! Adam Adil was creeping up on Alex at a 23.80s finish. Yousuf Ahmad was next at a great time of 24.72s, with Matthew Steele to follow up nicely at 25.58s! Sandin Cuturic closed it out nicely for the Illini at a solid 27.43s! Well done everyone!
The distance squad was up again, this time for the 3000 meter run. The women sent forth Grace Gudwien to run a respectable 10:55.20! Look out for her at Club Relays to do some real damage!
Leading the charge for the men was sophomore out of Wheaton, IL Justin Ostrem with a solid time of 9:14.64, winning his heat! Some serious speed for a man with little speed to no speed work. The debut of Eli Walker’s season was a long awaited return. After pushing himself past the limits last year at Club Relays, he came back strong almost a year later at 9:24.21! Look out for him next week, he’s hungry for a faster time. Matthew Beckerman had an impressive race of 9:25.58! A 20 second PR! Future beans boy Jordan Meyer managed a sub 10 minute time of 9:59.02! Nice job! Wassim Elhouar crossed the line at 10:18.69, but he’s looking to greatly improve in the coming races. Well done all around gentlemen!
The main course, the most hype event, the 4×400 meter relay. Rumor has it ITFC has over 20 TEAMS stacked for club relays next week 0_0. This week however, we had one women’s team and they finished third overall! Comprised of Katherine Vande Pol, Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan, Ciara Ward, and Desarae Echevarria, these ladies were able to crank out a solid time of 4:28.09! Well done!
For the men, the Illini came with 3 4×400 relay teams. Our ‘A’ team was made up of Andre Ells, Josh James, Patrick Willhalm, and John Kellum. Together they pulled off an impressive 3:36.16 and a second place overall finish from a cheeky lean by Kellum! Nicely done! The ‘B’ squad, Elias Decker, Drake Heisterkamp, Beau Barber, and Nikita Smyrnov, crossed the line in 3:42.86! Great job men! The ‘C’ team was made up of Norb Nieves, Tristan Taylor, Malachi Robinson, and Spencer Nelson and together they finished in 3:56.42, winning their heat due to a crazy comeback pulled off by Spencer! Great job all around!
As we wrap up this weekend at the University of Chicago, ITFC sets their gaze on the horizon at Club Relays. This may sound a bit biased, but Club Relays is one of the best indoor meets in the nation for club running. It’s the benchmark meet for the indoor season and is an all around great time. Expect to see some fast times, great competition, and tons of memes. Great job to everyone that competed this past weekend, there is no doubt that a lot of you should be happy with your performances. Now it’s time to prepare for next weekend. Let’s go take our 12th W in a row.
Official Results:
https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/mtrack/2019-20/files/ITF-MB-invite-results.pdf