Two more records went down this week as the Illinois Track Club sent split squads to the EIU Friday Night Special, Olivet Last Chance Qualifier, and Illinois Orange and Blue to bring momentum into next weeks Club Relays.
EIU Highlights
We only sent 2 competitors to this year”s Friday Night Special, a smidgen of what we have sent in the past. Senior Joe Zeller took out his 3000m hard in hopes of a breakout race. It cost him in the end as he only took 8th place with a 9:20.57. Although it was his last 3k of his undergraduate career, look for him to post major times in the 5k in outdoor. Senior Michael Giberson also lost his pace in his 1000m, taking 9th with a 2:49.60. Giberson looks to bounce back in the top seeded 4x800m this weekend at Club Relays.
Orange & Blue Highlights
Graduate Student Erin Murphy won the triple jump with the best flight of her life, jumping a club record of 10.96m, which is 1.21 feet further than her outdoor triple jump record. Murphy also ran the clubs 4th fastest time in the 60m dash with her time of 8.33. Look to see Murphy”s name a lot at the top of the club relay”s results.
Senior Jayme Roberts was the first club member to beat 7.2 in the 60m this year, as he placed 6th in the 60m and had a qualifying time of 7.17. Roberts also placed 4th in the 200m (23.10). As of right now, he has the best times for ITC in those event so far.
Senior Steven Decker took second in the 800m with his time of 1:56.18. If he ran 1 tenth of a second faster, he would have taken down Ryan Jorgensen”s indoor record. Decker is the projected anchor for the 4x800m this Saturday. Senior Evan White moved up to third on the records sheet with his 6th place performance in the mile (4:20.04). In head-to-head races with Senior Greg Netols, White now holds a 1-1 record, as they will probably have a ”best 2 out 3” tiebreaker this Saturday at Club Relays.
Graduate Student Yemi Sonoiki also got on the Club”s top ten list with his long jump performance of 5.68m.
A special shoutout to Graduate Student Emma Grimes, who recently moved up to the varsity team. Within a week of varsity training, she has already surpassed her old 3000m time by 25 seconds with her time of 10:08! I don”t know how many races are left in indoor, but she”s right on the brink of breaking two key milestones, breaking 10:00 in the 3k and 5:00 in the mile (her PR is 5:05.21). Grimes was vital to the 2nd place finish (2nd place overall individually too) this year at NIRCA cross nationals, and has a ridiculous amount of club records. We wish her the best of luck in her future races.
Olivet Highlights
Nick Baumgartner. Matt Lopez. Brad Coyle. Caroline Szostak. 4 names that were unknown to the ITC database until late last semester, but these guys/gal can really run. Baumgartner has not even run a minute of races for the club, yet he owns the 60m hurdles record by over half a second, as he took 7th with a time of 8.77! In Lopez”s first 400m dash of his life, he earned a spot on the top seeded 4x400m team with this time of 53.07 which was good for 8th at Olivet. Lopez also had a PR in the 200m with his time of 23.79. Although Graduate Student Coyle has only raced for the club a few times, he is a clear leader and model of consistency. He placed 3rd in the 3000m with his time of 9:08.11. Caroline Szostak (pronounced Schostack?) has run at every opportunity given to her and is .06 seconds away from the club record in the 60m dash with her time of 8.29 (3rd). She also had a PR in the 200m dash with her time of 28.50.
Freshman Maggie Gruben pitted in the triple jump for the first time in her ITC career, as she jumped 8.73m. She is a likely second jumper to complete the triple jump relay at Club Relays. Freshman George Gunter debuted with a 2:03.13 in the 800m. Gunter is the 3rd member of the 4x800m this Saturday.
