Springtime is here which means outdoor season is among us. The Illinois Track and Field Club opened its 2019 outdoor season at the WashU Distance Carnival in St. Louis on Friday, March 29th and Augustana’s Viking Olympics in Rock Island on Saturday, March 30th.
We competed unattached at WashU and saw some great 5k performances. Starting with the ladies, Emma Burkhardt ran a huge PR in 18:14.49. Her best 5k before this was 19:01! If she can push a bit more during the middle mile, I fully believe she can break 18 this season. Anneliese Schulz came in at 18:31.75 which is a 9 second improvement on her PR which was run at WashU last year!
Next in came freshman stud Grace Gudwien who finished in 18:40.14. This is over 90 seconds faster than her 5k from the cross country season! Mia Bertaud raced 19:38.63 which is almost 45 seconds faster than her performance from nationals in Shelbyville last spring! Emily Condic came in next in 20:45.59, with Riley Maloney running 21:45.89 after dealing with a long and agonizing injury. Great to see you back out there, Riley!
We also saw some solid performances out of the guys at WashU. Josh Mollway ran a tactical race and came across in a PR of 15:26.84. Ryan Somerfield raced well and finished in 15:55.71, a great time for not having too much strength left in the last mile. I predict something closer to a 15:20 coming out of him by the end of this season. Matthew Beckerman had a great season opener to finish in 16:18.84 for his race. Leonel Rodriguez could’ve felt stronger but still ran a respectable 16:29.30 despite feeling hazy.
Alex Kogen worked hard in his race to come out with a 17:14.20. In addition to taking some nice photos, Bryan Himmel ran 17:31.69. All of these runners supported their teammates and cheered everyone on which was really cool to see. The distance crew stopped at Chipotle for a team dinner before starting on the drive back home.
The next day, we sent 16 athletes to Augustana College for the first time not in blistering heat in awhile. In the 100m dash, Becky Haight ran 12.69 to get second place! In the 200m, Haight came in 3rd place with her 26.10! Katherine Miles went 30.92 in her 200m race for a half a second PR! Haight and Miles also ran the 400m in 1:01.90 and 1:11.96, respectively.
Sarah High ran her first outdoor race with the club in the 1500, which she ran in 6:34.99.
Competing in the 100m hurdles was Desarae Echevarria who came through in 17.72. In the 400m hurdles, Echevarria raced 1:15.73! She also long jumped 4.68m (15” 4¼'”)!
Becky Haight also competed in the triple jump and hit a mark of 10.10m (33” 1¾'”).
On the men’s side, Andy Marszewski had a strong outdoor start in the 100m running 11.25, a personal best of .23 seconds! Michael Jang also raced the 100m and came away with 11.44. John Brandenburg ran 11.79, and Eli Decker finished in 12.36. Brandenburg also ran 23.78 in the 200m.
Marszewski ran 51.75 in his 400m, with Andre Ells coming across the line in 57.35.
John Kellum opened his outdoor season strong with a 2:00.71 800m race. Also in the 800 was Evan Patel who just recently completed the MCAT. His time was 2:08.28. Then there was good ol’ Beau Barber who finished in 2:12.32 then probably went back to cheering on all of his teammates.
Racing the 1500m was Andrew Rhode who finished in 4:20.21. Behind him was Evan Patel in 4:23.06 and Zack Fishman in 4:25.14.
Michael Jang hopped some hurdles for 110m in a time of 16.31. This was a new PR for Jang, with his previous best time being 17.12! Just a hair behind our travel coordinator was Yousuf Ahmad in 16.32 which is an incredible mark for this freshman! Eli Decker finished his 110H race in 18.11. All of these guys also ran the 400m hurdles in some fast times. Jang ran 58.4, Ahmad finished in 1:03.18, and Decker ran 1:03.71!
Justin Ostrem ran a strong debut 3k steeplechase to finish in 9:56.46, which is 3rd on our top 10 list! Josh Feldman finished in 10:00.93, and Tim Green ran 11:13.96 in his first steeple race.
Congrats to all athletes on their performances!
Full results of the WashU distance carnival can be found here.
Full results of the Augustana Viking Olympics can be found here.
We compete next at the Millikin Alumni Meet in Decatur on April 6th.