The Illinois Cross Country Club started the post-season with success at the NIRCA Great Plains Regional Championships in Ames, Iowa. The women won their sixth-straight regional championship and the men finished in second, two points out of first place. Seven athletes earned all-Regional honors as the club ran its final race before Nationals.
The women went off first at Iowa State. The women were once again led by the triumvirate of Anneliese Schulz, Emily Condic and Emma Burkhardt. After missing the team’s last outing at UW-Parkside, Anneliese and Emma were right back at full strength for a solid showing. All three women garnered all-Regional honors- Anneliese led the charge in sixth place, clocking a 24:21. Emily and Emma were within five seconds behind, taking seventh and eighth.
Senior Allison Gibson has progressed into a top-seven stalwart through of her club running career, and she narrowly missed top-ten all-Regional honors in Ames by just three tenths of a second. Coming off a strong race at UW-Parkside, sophomore Sara Folliard had another great performance to round out the team’s scoring five. High school teammates Erin McKee and Jill Monier finished sixth and seventh for the team. Senior Mariela Marquez also demonstrated a marked improvement from last year, improving nearly twenty places from last year’s Regional meet.
Once again, no other Great Plains team could match the women’s depth. The women have won the Regional Championship every time it has been contested. They won convincingly in Ames, taking down second place Wisconsin by a score of 46-64.
The men also put on a strong performance in their runner-up finish. The top four finishers for IXC went 5-6-7-8 to all garner all-Regional honors with just a 15 second split. Auburn Jimenez was first for the men in his second race of the season. Sophomore Willy Wolf was next through the chute for IXC. He’s finished first or second for the team in every meet this season. Senior Jared Ripoli came in third for the team, earning his third career all-Regional medal in his best-ever finish at Regionals, and sophomore Josh Feldman finished fourth. Head coach Ryan Somerfield and senior David Choi were fifth and sixth.
Freshman Mackenzie Bach ran his strongest race of the season to finish as the team’s seventh man. Mackenzie has steadily improved all season and had a breakthrough race at Iowa State’s challenging course. He’s the second freshman to finish in the men’s top seven this season.
Saturday also marked a remarkable club debut for a senior running his first race. Grayson Stout joined the club late this fall but he had a stellar race toeing the line for the first time since 2013. Grayson tore his ACL in 2015 and came out in Ames with a quick 28:04 #thereturn. Another senior also made his season debut at Regionals, Jack Morrissey ran a respectable 28:54 to start his season, despite forgetting his trainers in Champaign.
For the past three years, IXC hosted the Great Plains Regional. This year marked the first time since 2012 that Iowa State has hosted the meet on their home course. It was a challenging course divided between an Iowa-flat start and finish and brutal hills criss-crossing through the ISU Arboretum.
Regionals is the club’s final meet before the NIRCA National Championships on November 12. The team will travel to Hershey, PA to compete against clubs from all over the country for the grand finale of the club cross country season.
