Though it came down to just three points on the guy’s side, the club was able to leave the Armory on Saturday having once again won Club Relays for both men and women, for the eleventh year in a row! We had over 700 athletes compete this year which is the most in the meet’s history!
It was a long day for everyone, and this recap might be just as long. So sit back, grab some pizza rolls, and enjoy:
Perhaps in contention for MVP of the day, Michael Jang competed in 6 total events on Saturday. In the 60m dash, he came through in 7.25 (a PR of .08 seconds) and placed 4th overall! Andy Marszewski also had a big race in the 60 going 7.31 for 6th place, also coming away with a PR of .09 seconds! Mason Rosenberg unfortunately suffered a pulled hamstring but still got 8th place with a time of 7.39 which is his best performance in two years!
Also in the 60m was Brend Hieserote who timed 7.56. John Brandenburg (7.60), Jad Karajeh (7.61), and Thomas Harris (7.62) came next. Ben Junkroski finished in 7.71, Nicolas Perez ran 7.78, and PJ Coleman had a big PR of .31 seconds for 8.81!
Becky Haight once again had tremendous performances to lead the woman to their eleventh title. Haight claimed victory in the 60m with her 8.01 performance, her best mark all season. With that win, she finished her perfect streak of four straight first place finishes in the 60m dash at Club Relays!
Kaleigh Evans grabbed a PR with her time of 8.69. Lauren Goodsnyder also had a great race with her 8.94, just a tenth of a second off her PR!
The mile race took over two hours to complete, with there being 14 heats of the men. In the first heat, Josh Mollway didn’t have the race he wanted, finishing in a time of 4:25.73. John Kellum was able to PR by a second with his 4:32.09! Alex Hanskat had a strong race after coming back from the 4×8 to run 4:36.31. Colin Kirkham raced 4:37.95 in his first track race for the club. Ryan Somerfield doubled back after running the 3k to run 4:38.23. Evan Patel closed with some amazing speed to run 4:39.49, winning his heat and claiming his best mile time in 3 years! Josh Feldman ran 4:41.24. Andrew Rhode had a strong 4:44.08 performance after having many inconsistencies with his training over the last year.
Matthew Beckerman PR’d by 8 seconds in the mile with his 4:50.79. Right behind him was Patrick Willhalm in 4:50.93, also a PR of 7 seconds. Jordan Meyer raced 4:52.14 in his first collegiate mile. Jeffrey Hesselbein came in at 4:53.32. Jarod Meyer finished in 4:54.04. Nathan Ehrenhofer was our last sub 5 runner with his time of 4:56.94. We had 14 men race under 5 minutes in the mile!
Tim Green finished in 5:01.48. Daniel Engel hit 5:02.00. Javier Frausto raced well to finish in 5:03.65. Robbie Sieczkowski is somebody we briefly saw in cross country, he raced the mile on Saturday in 5:04.35. Muneeb Ansari raced 5:05.12 and is rightfully proud of his race after combatting injuries and inconsistent training. Jake Winter improved over 10 seconds from his mile race earlier this season, hitting 5:06.55! Olan Bruyere had a collegiate mile PR with his 5:09.83, and Bryan Himmel had his own great race with 5:09.84.
Robert Chun ran a strong 5:17.76. Matt Dickinson ran 5:24.61. John Feeley came away with a 5:31.29. Sean Frintner ran 5:36.79, but there is more to say about him than that. We all owe Sean a big thank you for all of his hard work and coordination. He put in many hours behind the scenes to make Saturday a success and the meet would not nearly have run as smoothly if it weren’t for him. David Young closed out our men’s mile performances with a 5:40.24.
The women’s mile featured some strong ladies who packed up and pushed each other in the race. Clare Oehler finished hard once again with a great mile performance. Her time was 5:33.22 which is a 6 second improvement from just two weeks ago! Anneliese Schulz came in next at 5:33.23, Emma Burkhardt ran 5:33.95, and Grace Gudwien PR’d with a time of 5:34.12. All three of those women also ran the 3k, which makes their times even more impressive! Katie Sledz ran strong to finish in 5:36.71, and Noel Brindise broke 5:40 like she knew she could with her 5:38.77!
Emily Condic almost matched her time from Indy, running 5:58.34. Lindsey Schmidt crossed the line at 6:02.71, and Brianna Legner dropped a second on her PR, running 6:15.54. Natalie Maguire ran 7:01.92, and Sarah High crossed the line in 7:35.72.
In the 60m hurdles, Michael Jang was 4th overall with his 8.71 performance, a PR by .17 seconds! Yousuf Ahmad is a young guy with a lot of talent. He went 9.08 for 7th place on Saturday. Eli Decker is also a promising newcomer. He went 9.95, tying his PR.
We also had three women compete in the 60m hurdles. Desarae Echevarria was second overall with her 10.14. Taylor Millsap raced 11.69, and Tatiana Montanez PR’d with 11.76!
In the 4×200 relay, our boys Andy Marszewski, Alex Bienduga, Michael Jang, and Justin Nebel won the event with their 1:33.21! Our B relay, consisting of Brend Hieserote, Yousef Ahmad, Ben Junkroski, and John Brandenburg, finished in 1:37.68. Also, Andre Ells, Eli Decker, PJ Coleman, and Nicolas Perez ran 1:51.36.
Our women’s 4×2 of Becky Haight, Desarae Echevarria, Kaleigh Evans, and Lauren Grant showed the other teams they mean business. These ladies won with a time of 1:50.64! Tatiana Montanez, Ciara Ward, Lauren Goodsnyder, and Katherine Miles also ran strong and finished in 1:59.35.
Lots of men ran PRs in the 3k. William Wolf raced 8:56 after having a strong finish. Ryan Somerfield crossed the line in 9:03.6. Eli Walker set a PR with his 9:04.39. Behind Eli were Josh Feldman (9:04.96) and Connor Farrell (9:05.72) each with season best performances! Justin Ostrem ran a PR with his 9:12.98. Leonel Rodriguez ran 9:24.4 for a 20 second improvement, Cody Lund ran 9:27.76, and Jarod Meyer set a new PR in 9:30.79!
Alex Kogen ran 9:46.87, improving almost 10 seconds from his previous best. Liam Bots also PR’d with his 9:52.7 Nathan Saltzman bested his 10:14 from earlier in the season, dropping a 10:05.85, and Matt Dickinson ran a new best in 10:17.95! Nick Schuster ran 11:03.67 in his 3k debut.
Julia Schultz grabbed a new PR with her second place finish of 10:20.46! Emma Burkhardt also PR’d with her 10:44.12. Anneliese Schulz (10:46.41) and Grace Gudwien (10:52.17) had solid races, as well. Mia Bertaud raced her best 3k yet with a time of 11:24.9, and Natalie Maguire PR’d by a second in 13:42.4!
In the 4×800, Alex Hanskat, John Kellum, Nikita Smyrnov, and Keith Lee ran 8:16.58 for 5th place. Beau Barber, Zack Fishman, Patrick Willhalm, and Jeffrey Hesselbein ran 8:34.6. We even hard a third 4×8 team in Rohit Kumar, Blake Duncan, Nick Lohan, and Nathan Ehrenhofer who ran 9:22.54.
The women of Clare Oehler, Katie Sledz, Emily Condic, and Lauren Grant placed third with their 4×800 time of 10:05.36! Another team of Tiffany Yathaputanon, Brianna Legner, Lindsey Schmidt, and Katelyn Howley finished in a time of 11:30.21.
The sprint medley relay consists of two 200s, a 400, and an 800. Andy Marszewski, Alex Bienduga, Michael Jang, and Keith Lee had a great performance of 3:38.4 to get 2nd place! John Brandenburg, Yousef Ahmad, Andre Ells, and Calvin McIntyre made up another relay team which finished in 4:08.08.
Our women’s SMR of Becky Haight, Kaleigh Evans, Lauren Grant, and Julia Schultz ran 4:20.01, easily winning the event! Another team featuring Ciara Ward, Katherine Miles, Malorie Moore, and Maia Haworth raced strong in a time of 4:49.39.
Our throwers put in WORK on Saturday. Chris Rydberg has had a monstrous first season on the club and continued his dominance by winning the 16lb shot put with a throw of 13.33m, giving him a personal best and the second spot on our best all time list! He’s within half a meter of being our best indoor shot putter! Also throwing big was Liam Nassib with his toss of 11.1m. Zach Sawickis threw 9.41m, and Kevlin Cross hit a mark of 8.17m.
Throws coach Inga Augustaitis injured her ankle this indoor season, but still had a great showing at Club Relays. She threw 9.27m in the shot and got second place! Behind her in third was Nayeli Lara with 7.95m, and Ali Djokic pleased the devil with a throw of 6.66m.
In the high jump, Jad Karajeh jumped an impressive 1.75m (5 ft 8 ¾ in for you imperialists). Andy Marszewski cleared 1.65m (5 ft 4 ¾ in). Ben Junkroski jumped 1.6m (5 ft 2 ¾ in). John Brandenburg cleared 1.55m (5 ft 1 in), while Michael Jang finished with 1.5m (4 ft 11 in).
Becky Haight can do more than sprint, in case you were wondering. Haight and Taylor Calcagno both cleared the high jump bar at 1.4m (4 ft 7 in), while Malorie Moore jumped 1.35m (4 ft 5 in).
In the horizontal jumps, Justin Nebel and Andy Marszewski had strong jumps in the long jump with 6.3m and 6.08m, respectively. Jad Karajeh leaped 5.89m. Ben Junkroski grabbed a PR with his jump of 5.57m, and Brend Hieserote marked 5.27m.
In the triple jump, Jad Karajeh had a solid jump of 12.66m while Ben Junkroski jumped 10.48m.
Becky Haight won the long jump with a jump of 4.86m. Desarae Echevarria hit a mark of 4.41m. Taylor Millsap jumped 3.64m. In the triple jump, Haight”s mark of 10.21m got her second place. Millsap excitedly made it into the sand with a jump of 8.74m!
Then came the fun part. Participation in a 4×400 is a fun tradition and requirement on the Illinois Track Club. Our men’s A team consisted of Andy Marszewski, Alex Bienduga, Keith Lee, and Justin Nebel. This event is always the most exciting of the day and this year was no different. We had a lead for much of the race but barely lost to an out-lean from Michigan. These men still ran 3:28.62 and put on an amazing performance! They were also the ones who closed out our winning score over Michigan! The next team consisted of John Kellum, Olan Bruyere, Patrick Willhalm, and Josh Mollway. These guys ran 3:47.61. Right behind them was John Brandenburg, Eli Decker, Ben Junkroski, and Michael Jang who ran 3:48.16. The team of Sean Frintner, Daniel Engel, Cody Lund, and Alex Hanskat came in at 3:55.11. Behind them were Bryan Himmel, Colin Kirkham, Jordan Meyer, and Andrew Rhode in 3:58.1, and Beau Barber, Zack Fishman, Calvin McIntyre, and Jake Winter in 3:58.36.
Yousuf Ahmad, Blake Duncan, Robert Chun, and Muneeb Ansari finished next in 4:02.38. Then there were Nick Lohan, David Young, Javier Frausto, and Jeffrey Hesselbein in 4:04.05. Lastly, we had Leonel Rodriguez, Josh Feldman, Nick Schuster, and Matt Dickinson in 4:05.2, and Evan Patel, Jarod Meyer, Connor Farrell, and Eli Walker in 4:05.59. Eli suffered a strained hamstring during his anchor leg and had to hobble to the finish. He refused to step off the track. Though we don’t always recommend this, it was an act of honor and was a selfless tribute for his team. In his honor, we take a moment of silence…
Someone who also deserves a moment of silence is Beau Barber. This is Beau’s 7th year being apart of the club, and in honor of his dedication and commitment to the club, Saturday held the inaugural Beau Barber 4x400m Relay. Beau is the teammate all of us strive to be. His enthusiasm and support is unmatched, while his loyalty and hard work has shown for all of his time here on the club. We love you, Beau!
Our women were able to take home a W in the 4×400 in the likes of Becky Haight, Julia Schultz, Malorie Moore, and Lauren Grant in a time of 4:12.38! We also saw Tiffany Yathaputanon, Maia Haworth, alumni Emily Foley, and Emily Condic run 4:30.09. Not far behind them were Desarae Echevarria, Ciara Ward, Taylor Calcagno, and Tatiana Montanez in 4:33.12. Then there were Noel Brindise, Sara Folliard, Emma Burkhardt, and Anneliese Schulz who ran 4:47.14. The team of Gabby Aguilar, Grace Gudwien, Katie Sledz, and Anna Winnieki finished at 4:59.23. Finishing on the track for our club was the team of Mariam Husain, Lindsey Schmidt, Natalie Maguire, and Brianna Legner who ran 5:25.61.
We send a huge thank you to all the parents, alumni, officials, athletes, and volunteers who made Club Relays 2019 the success that it was. Congrats to all that competed, and we hope to see even more back next year!
Results from Saturday can be found here.
The Illinois Track Club now has a short break before the start of the outdoor season at WashU on March 24th.
Until next time.