Welcome back ITFC to another meet writeup! Last Saturday, we returned back to familiar territory to take on the Olivet Nazarene University Tigers! Our second home turf at this point, we gave the Tigers a run for their money, got some new events under our belts, and set some crazy fast times on the tour to club relays! Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
Our friends on the field led off our day of track and field with some big jumps. Nick Hartmann took to the skies to show off his vertical. Nick started his year with a jump of 1.82m to land a top 8 finish! Welcome back to the high jump, Nick!
This meet also featured three of our toughest throwers, including Head Coach Beau Barber! Joining him were our standout freshmen Quinn Rivara and Frank Chavez! The men got their throwing arms readjusted to the weights, with Beau throwing 7.17m, Quinn with 8.44m, and Frank going 9.49m! Forms are sharpening, muscles are growing, and the throwers will be ready for some big throws by Club Relays!
For now, we say goodbye to our field event performers and go back to the track. As always, Tyler Klein shot out of the blocks like a rocket to start off the meet, advancing to the finals and placing second overall with a time of 6.97! Our boy Kevin Saju got up on time today and got out of the blocks early, running a nice indoor PR of 7.28! Adam Adil finished off our men’s 60m squad with a consistent 7.46 run for himself to get the day started!
Now it’s time for our hurdlers to throw down on the track, starting with Ben Cooper in his first ITFC race. Ben ran a great starting time of 9.37 to take third in the meet! Jumpman himself Derrick Stokes finished with a fifth place finish himself in 10.54, getting a little better week by week. Nice work, gentlemen!
This meet featured a rare Distance Medley Relay, so our standout distance freshmen took a stab at the relay. Mikey Smart, Braden Cardamone, Thomas Harmon, and Aidan Markiewicz made a great run individually and as a team. Unfortunately, the timers for the meet stopped the clock incorrectly, so the time was not properly recorded. However, the boys ran great, many of them starting their ITFC careers and warming up for a second run later in the day. We are proud of our future distance leaders!
The mile runners took to the track next, and John Wiser continued his dominance in the distance, especially with conservative tactics. Similar to last week, the race went out in a pedestrian pace in about 2:18 through the first 809m (for them anyway – I wouldn’t last that long at halfway), with John starting in the middle of the pack. Once again, similar to last week, Wiser had enough and took off, closing hard to take the win by nearly four seconds, running 4:29.30. I’d be scared if I were ahead by only a second halfway through with Wiser on the hunt. I should also worry about John Burns’ furious kick, dropping a 64 in the last 400m, coming in fourth for a 4:34.56 finish! Following close behind was Simon Hildy, dropping a nice five seconds from the last meet, running 4:39.43. President Cade Baker continued his mile streak with a 4:40.53, fighting through some soreness and closing hard. Alex Kogen also improved from last week’s performance with a strong 4:48.64 finish for him! In the next heat, freshman James Stanley and veteran Arthur Mazzeo ran a quick 4:50.93 and 4:51.37 respectively. Not too far behind was Mid D Coach Norb Nieves, with a respectable 4:54.63 start, an improvement from the previous ONU meet! The last Illini for this heat was Philip Hu, running a 5:02.46. Philip’s season debuts have gotten closer and closer to the sub-5 mark, so just a bit of patience and practice will lead him to the promised land in no time! Next up were Ryan Fredericks, Adam Lupatkin and Antony Rizk running very well together. All three worked with each other in sight, ultimately coming down to the final lap for placements between the three. Ryan’s kick led him to a 5:05.95 finish, with Adam right behind in 5:06.65, and Antony’s final surge led him to a 5:10.78 mark, which was run much more controlled and tactical than the week prior. All men had great races and improvements from prior races! John-3, aka John Bledsoe, also improved his previous mark with a 5:16.92 finish, which he ended with the fierce kick he possessed as well. Note to self: don’t count out any of the John’s in the final meters of a race. Nathaniel Lenning made his way through a more tactical and physical mile than most, still completing the distance in a respectable 5:25.60. Tristan Taylor is back in action as well, with Aidan Markiewicz hot on the trail, running 5:26.23 and 5:26.60 respectively. A very good run for Aidan, as this was his second mile of the day with not much rest time! Our boys Gabe Benson and Ryan McClowry brought us home once again, with a MASSIVE PR of 5:43.31 for Gabe and a great run of 5:48.87. Always a great showing by the milers of ITFC!
The women also toughed out the mile distance, with many running without a teammate to show their mettle. Diane Makovic shot out of the start like a cannon, dragging many behind her into a painful reminder that they simply could not hang. She ran with grit and a toughness not seen in many others, running a time of 5:25.91 for a third place finish! Evelyn Rowan led her heat following, with a dominant win in her heat, going under 5:40 with a 5:38.63 time! Awesome running by our starting women. Claire Casiello had herself the run of a lifetime, with a blistering PR of 5:49.19 already in the indoor season! Claire’s strength from XC is clearly carrying over and translating well on the track! The next heat, while a bit bumpy, had some great racing as well. Alyson Ficca, Maddy Feehan, and Anna Zlatic started out well, but had to deal with a fall and pileup of ONU runners within the first 50m. The women, instead of rushing ahead, took their time to recover from the blockade in the opening stages, with all three leading their heat in 5:57.83 from Alyson (with a stellar final kick), 5:58.14 for Maddy, and 6:01.53 for Anna. Smart racing from veterans and underclassmen alike! Lauren Bartels followed close behind, running well in 6:50.11. Lauren knows she has more in the tank, so with the proper heat, be prepared for those numbers to go down dramatically. Allison Kokal rounds us out with an again fast closing kick, running 6:51.82 for her finish! The women ran some tough miles, both race-wise and competition wise, which will definitely give them a competitive edge come Club Relays.
Let’s hop on over to the 800m. Thomas Harmon led one of the gutsiest will-power fueled 800m runs I’ve ever seen, closing with a strong 1:59.99 for second place, with a successful lean to edge out third place, who finished in 2:00.00 exactly. The Tower of Power, Henry Hornbrook, led next with a very nice indoor PR of 2:06.33. Henry’s consistency is improving this season, causing times to drop like flies! Cade Baker once again completed the tough mile/800m double, running a good split difference to finish in 2:08.35. Seeing the long sprinter Gerardo Porras back on the 800m start line is becoming a familiar sight, and he’s getting better each time around the distance. Gerardo finished in a time of 2:12.16 with a very even split race! Adam Lupatkin also took to the mile/800m double, with a good 2:24.00 finish on tired legs. Our last double runner of the night was Ryan McClowry once again, running 2:30.63 finish!
Enough with the distance – time for the 200m. Ninawa Odicho once again secures a top-8 finish in yet another meet, completing the one-lap distance in 27.16. You can really see the smoke behind her from the heat she’s putting down on the track. Never an easy act to follow when Ninawa puts down some speedy sprint times. For the men, Tyler Klein finally had enough waiting, and smashed the 200m club record with a dominant win in 22.01! Things are starting to click with Tyler now, so be afraid when he steps on the track. Ben Cooper got it going quick with a nice 24.63 run to complement his hurdling abilities! Something we’re starting to see a trend in now is distance and mid-distance runners in the sprints! Braden Cardamone took to the 200m with a quick 25.28 finish, and Ryan Fredericks getting it done in 25.99 as well! Keep working on that footspeed, guys!
Stepping back up to the 400m, we saw our guy Nic Soto take the stage once more, taking a top 8 finish in a time of 53.77! Braden Cardamone also took to the 400m, running a time of 55.12! Nice performance in the sprints for Braden! Next up come the women, with Ninawa taking the track in her star event once more. Ninawa crossed the line in a strong 62.65, as she shaves off time with each time she steps up to the line. Mid D star Bridget Brokaw ran a very impressive time in the quarter-mile, running 63.96! Looks like our women are shaping up for a near-unbeatable 4x400m team in club relays! Mikeelie Jensen rounded out our 400m runners, getting stronger with each run she makes with a time of 74.01! Great job showing off that strength to our long sprinters!
Our penultimate distance in the meet was the 3000m run. For the men, we started with Yuki Mizuno and Leyang Zhang in the first heat. Leyang found his stride quickly, taking the lead after the first couple laps and never looking back, with a time of 10:05.62! Yuki followed not far behind with a time of 10:54.72 in his ITFC debut! The next heat featured a jump in distance for the Mid D coach. Norb Nieves finished his run in a new indoor PR of 9:52.58. Last but not least, our resident marathoner, Will Gravelle, ran a gutsy 9:10.78 for a very strong start to the track season, taking 4th overall in the meet! These guys went the distance and came out with great races in the near-two mile distance!
It’s time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for – the 4x400m teams! Once again, our women set the bar high, starting us off with a great run of 4:34.32 for our A team of Kat, Bridget, Anna and Alyson! They won their heat with no question. Our B team of Claire, Allison, Mikeelie and Lauren Bartels ran a time of 5:04.63 for a great finish to their day and got some good speed work after those miles, with Mikeelie getting in a second 400m to build up that strength. Awesome runs by our women!
Onto the men, our B team won their heat dominantly as well, with a great time of 3:45.21, ran by John Bledsoe, Ryan, Antony, and Henry for a great anchor leg! Our A team also put on quite the show, winning the meet in a time of 3:30.67 this early in the season! Nic led the A team off, followed by Gerardo, into John Burns, and Tyler TK Klein himself for the anchor. All of the men ran amazing times, but the come-from-behind win and split of 48.7 by Tyler deserves a special shoutout. The 400m team is looking sharp as ever for both the men and the women!
Overall, I’d say we took a leap into the tiger’s den and came out stronger than ever. It’s always a pleasure to witness greatness and a supportive team that feels like a family in every sense of the word. Killer performances and stepping outside of the comfort zone for a few of our athletes shows our fitness heading into our peak meet. Thanks for coming along on our journey to Bourbonnais against ONU! It’s always a pleasure being back there. Tune in next week for our trip to the Windy City as we take on some strong D3 competition at UChicago! See you all soon!
Norb 🙂