School is back in session, it’s September, so you know what that means: It’s time for Cross Country! And after months of anticipation from everyone around the world, the Illinois Cross Country Club season has begun with faces new and old. Our itinerary this fall started at the Purdue Boiler Up Invite, hosted by the Boilermakers at their home course. The team fought through some sneaky hills and long bathroom lines to complete their season openers. No matter if it was a rust buster or a PR, everyone deserves recognition for their hard work, which we’ll do here now!
Let’s start off with the women, who fought through tough competition for a third place finish. Leading the way was freshman phenom Joy Dudley who took third overall with a time of 24:03.8! Coming in behind her was Claire Caisello, running a time of 25:15.5 to bag eighth overall and a start to what could be some “shock the world” performances in her future! Following Claire was another “C” name but this time another freshman, Carlin Hass! Carlin was shooting to run between 26 and 27 minutes, but smashed through that goal running a 25:46.7! Next up was Suhani Peramanu who fought through the hills for a PR of 26:27.3! Following Suhani was our stupendous Social Coordinator, Bridget Brokaw! Bridget ran a hard race, but had fun getting to know everyone better! Coming closely behind was Sophia Stierwalt, rocking the swaggy sunglasses and running her 6k debut in 28:26.6! Annika Luthe was across the line next, running a 29:32.8! Following was Erin Minor, dropping a sub-30 performance of 29:50.8! Behind Erin was Moria McKee, running a 30:31.4 for her first 6k! After that was Jennifer Ruiz, who got through her first 6k in 32:51.4! Wrapping it up for the women’s team was Kathleen Keough, running a time of 34:05.7! The team is looking good, and will be fun to watch progress as the season goes on.
After the women’s race came the men, who faced a dominant Purdue team with home course advantage and taking 9 of the top 10 positions. Despite this, our men were able to rally to a decisive second place team finish. Leading the way for our men was yet another freshman phenom, Chinmay Naveen, running a time of 27:31.4 and finishing juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust outside of the Top 10 with an eleventh place finish. Coming in just behind Chinmay was the handsome transfer student Easton Rosen, running a strong 27:34.3 for his season opener. After that, we had John Wiser, Ethan Forsell, Thomas Harmon, Simon Hildy and James Stanley coming in as a squad, running a great team race. Coach John Wiser ran 27:42.8 and is hoping for a quicker time next week at Madison to secure him a Top 7 spot on a rapidly improving team. Ethan Forsell, charismatic as ever, ran a 27:47.8 on a hurting hip whilst chit-chatting the whole way. Thomas Harmon makes his first racing debut after being hospitalized due to his kidneys being haters back in May, running the 8 kilometer distance in 27:50.9. Simon Hildy, reportedly being lured in by Ethan Forsell’s charm, ran a 27:51.7! James Stanley ran the same 27:51.7 as Simon but is listed as a place below him on the results sheet, which is sure to make him fume but he can’t fume too much because his previous PR was in the 31:XX range! Following this group was former IXC Coach Spencer (aka Sponk) Nelson, who let a couple guys slip by but still ran a 27:57.7! Next across the line was Nolan Enright, running a 28:09.4 and who will surely get sub 28 next time around. Following behind Nolan was Adam Lupatkin and Jacob Duzan, two quiet but fierce competitors who ran together to get 28:33.9 and 28:47.3 respectively. Behind them was Gaberiel Inojosa, having a breakout performance and smashing the 30 minute barrier and almost the 29 minute barrier running a 29:11.1! Next up was Newman Hall legend Liam Hoeferlin running a time of 29:17.3! Wrapping up our sub 30 performances was John Burns who ran 29:46.7, not his goal but he’ll rally back and is sure to run faster in the future! Just outside of 30 minutes was Braden Cardamone, who after saying all summer how he will never run a cross race was tricked into making his IXC grass debut running a 30:07.1! Maybe if he had worn the nice crocs he would’ve gotten those last 8 seconds. Behind Braden was Antony Rizk, historically a Mid-D specialist but after getting a taste of GLR decided that he wanted to do cross, and he ran his first 8k in 30:34.5! Next up was Cadyn Grafton, our beloved President running a time of 30:51.9! Following behind him was our terrific Treasurer Quinn Born, who has one more semester before heading down unda’; he ran a time of 31:43.5. Trailing Quinn was the big John, John Bledsoe fighting over the hills for a time of 32:38.7. Following behind John was your wondrous Webmaster Nathaniel Lenning who had a tough race to finish in 34:11.4. Dipping under 35:00 and getting his goal of sub-7 pace was Aidan Farrel, who ran a time of 34:43.9! Behind Aidan was Andrew Stevenson, who ran a “gutsy” finish to get 35:38.4! Coming up next were Denver Soekawan and Ryan Sponzilli, who ran times of 36:24.9 and 36:49.5 respectively. And wrapping it up for the men was Akshay Belapurkar, running his first race in the US and first race EVER in a time of 38:01.3!
While we might’ve been hoping for more, this team is still rapidly improving and great performances were had despite it being a rust buster and a sneakily difficult course. Folks, we’re just getting started, and there will be some fireworks ahead, so stay tuned in because IXC is heating up!
Results Link!
https://clubrunning.org/races/race_results.php?race=1111
Photos Link!