ITFC! Only an hour away, in Bloomington, IL, our next challenge awaits! The Titan Invite at Illinois Wesleyan University is one of our classic meets that we frequent, so you know the competition is going to be good! We’ll see some dirty doubles, tough triples, far jumps and throws, quick starts, and all around great running! This will be our final tune-up until Club Relays, so the great people of ITFC put our best foot forward to toe the line at this meet! Without further ado, let’s get this show on the track!
As per usual, we’re going to jump out of the blocks right into the 60m! Our three sprinters for the men, Tyler Klein, Emmanuel Lokango and Sandin Cuturic, put out some great runs! Tyler won his preliminary, and placed second in the meet overall, both with blistering times of 6.95! Tyler has been putting together some insane races with consistent time drops! Emmanuel also ran strong, running a consistent 7.60! Our man Sandin finished his run in a time of 9.05 – but fear not, as Sandin continues to recover, watch a whole second+ in time drop down in no time!
Our duo in the women’s 60m were treasurer Ninawa Odicho and hurdles coach Maria Becerra got the hurdles out of the way to test their speed. Ninawa ran away with a 6th place finish in the finals with a time of 8.24, with Maria shooting out of the blocks to finish in 8.75.That speed will definitely translate nicely to drop that hurdle time for Maria!
Keeping up with the sprints, in the 200m, Ninawa led the women with a third place finish overall with a crazy fast 26.48. Maria also doubled back in the sprints, with a fast time of her own in 28.31. When these two get on the track, you know that speed is on the track (sorry). Moving on to the men, Tyler once again led the charge with another very close 2nd place finish, with a tie from first place, both running 22.05! A very impressive performance by Tyler! Emmanuel also doubled up in the 200m, getting out a quick 24.69! Gerardo Porras took the time to test his one-lap speed with a nice 25.60 after all those great 800’s he’s been running! Finally, Brandon Perruquet, our guy, got to step on the track for his first meet! Brandon ran a great opening 28.44 to welcome him to the track season!
Let’s keep up the fast times with the 400m, where Gerardo held down the fort to focus on the long sprints for this meet! Gerardo ran a strong 56.14 in a tight finish for his heat! For the women, Ninawa continued her sprints dominance, with her best time of the season in 60.44 to take second in the meet! What a feat of strength! Kat Vande Pol, running wide, came across the line in a quick 61.53 to take 6th and score, with definitely more in the tank! Bridget Brokaw, our mid distance tank, took to the track in a 65.00 for the 400m! This will be one of two quarter-miles she runs this meet, which isn’t easy on the legs and lungs! Finally, freshman Lucca Bibbey, also with double duty on the 400m today, ran her first in 67.47!
We’ll take a break from the speed and step up to the mile. With the men, John Wiser, Lake Spradling, and Percy Moser led the charge in heat one, with a surprise visit from ITFC Alum Jeffrey Hesselbein, who was given a warm welcome back on the track from our guys still in the club. Lake, with a very impressive late surge, overtook most of the field to take 2nd overall with a time of 4:26.64! John Wiser, per usual, used his strength to run a strong and even third place finish of 4:27.81. Percy, not far behind, finished out in 4:32.55! Heat two featured our freshman 800m phenom Thomas Harmon, with a strong performance of 4:30.29! President Cade Baker, on the upswing, ran another great 4:37.69 for the mile distance! IXC President Cadyn Grafton opened up his track season with a 4:48.93! Big things are coming from him! In the following heat, Arthur Mazzeo and Norb Nieves worked together after a slow start to finish in 4:48.33 and 4:52.28 respectively! Isaac Schifferer, with his blazing kick, set a new PR with a time of 5:00.47! Some tweaking with his pacing and the 5-minute barrier will be shattered! Antony Rizk also continued improvements in his racing strategy and times, dropping to a 5:05.92! Our last heat had senior Thomas Tran leading the Illini in 5:21.20, with Charley Hoppis in 5:22.53 very close behind! Rounding out the heat were Nathaniel Lenning in a time of 5:26.62, and Gabe Benson continuing his tear on the mile distance with a 5:36.54 finish!
Diane Makovic led the Illini women, with a time of 5:27.35 after a hot start to take third overall in a deep field! IXC Secretary Alyson Ficca had a great race of her own, running a quick time of 5:46.80 for a new season record! Anna Zlatic also runs a great time in this race, breaking the 5:50 barrier to run 5:49.58! Next up were Suhani Peramanu and Lauren Brunk, the duo who has been racing together all year long! Suhani had a late charge to challenge Lauren, with Suhani running a great 6:15.77, and Lauren close behind in 6:18.37! Allison Kokal finished off the women’s mile by winning her heat in 6:44.46! Her strong kick always serves her well!
Lots of our milers also doubled into the 800m, which is a tough double for all to do. John Burns led us off strong with a 2:01.06 for the 800m result he’s been looking for. Henry Hornbrook, with a massive indoor PR, overtook in the second heat to run 2:03.41! John Wiser, fresh off of his mile double, ran a very impressive 2:04.07, with Spencer Nelson close behind in 2:04.18 in the next heat! Another pair of doubles from the mile, Norb Nieves set an indoor best, winning the heat with 2:11.53, and Antony Rizk close behind in 2:14.70! Charley Hoppis, also a part of that double group, ran a great 2:21.47, as well as Gabe Benson and Nathaniel Lenning in 2:34.22 and 2:39.26 respectively! The 800m after the mile is rough on the legs, so congrats to all of you who ran and a special nice job to those who doubled!
The women set a strong precedent, with Evelyn Rowan winning the meet in a quick 2:25.92 from wire to wire! Anna Jablonski continued her strong series of 800m runs next in 2:28.81 in the same heat to take fourth overall! Mikeelie Jensen also competed and took a step up from the 400m, with a nice return to form in 2:51.84! Mikeelie is getting stronger bit by bit, and that 400m training is helping her improve well! Awesome job to those in the half mile run!
Returning to distance events, even after a tough mile performance, Lake Spradling still broke 9-minutes in the 3000m, running a tough 8:59.18! What a performance! Leyang “Hawk” Zhang also found a good stride in a heat that matched his pacing, running a new PR of 9:47.07! Finding a good pace has helped Hawk tremendously!
With the women, they put on a show as many of them worked together very well throughout the race. Diane doubled back from the mile to run 10:46.09, an impressive run, good for second place! The next string of the usual trio, Claire Cassielo, Alyson Ficca, and Maddy Feehan, continued their train of strong performances working together. The three distance women ran times of 11:32.86, 11:42.57, and 11:44.94, working together the whole way. These three are some tough training and racing partners that continue to bring out the best in each other! Don’t forget about Anna Zlatic, not far behind in 12:00.44, again after a fast mile earlier in the day! Anna hung on to the pack for a majority of the race, displaying some tough racing strategy that is not easy to teach! The distance women especially exemplified some grit and toughness, so kudos to all of you!
Before we get to the 4×4’s, let’s jump on over to the throws pit and the jumps runway! Tyler Klein returned to the long jump, with an impressive new best of 6.45m to take third in the meet! Tyler scores no matter the event, no matter the meet!
Frank Chavez was our solo thrower for the men this meet, throwing for a distance of 9.35m! Frank has been our most consistent thrower, and his dedication is showing! Dionne Edwards stepped back into the ring and threw down (or up, and then down) the shot with a 9.52 throw to take 9th overall! To those who took to the field, amazing work!
Now for the biggest event of the meet, the 4x400m relay! Our A relay consisted of big men Nic Soto, Henry Hornbrook, Isaac Schifferer and John Burns for a combined time of 3:38.22, all of which were on tired legs from quick races! Impressive running, boys!
On the women’s side, we had two super teams of (A) – Ninawa, Bridget, Anna Jablonski and Lucca, and (B) – Kat, Suhani, Allison, and Maria! The A team had a tight race and finished in a close second, with a 4:17.92 finish! Our second team made a great team and ran well, despite some injury maintenance, with a time of 5:06.50. Our teams got to run and run well, which is all we could ask for. With some recovery from our hard working women, times are sure to drop like flies!
With IWU under our belts, we now look to gear up to the pinnacle of indoor running! Our final meet of the indoor season, our very own Club Relays, is up next! We hope to see all of you there! Amazing job to all that ran at IWU and took a step out of their comfort zone to run a tough double or unfamiliar event, you all did amazing! As always, until next time! See you all soon! I-L-L!
Take care,
Norb 🙂