Brissman-Lundeen Invite: Eldon Brings the Rodeo to Rock Island

The big dogs emerged from the jungle of Olivet hungry for a fast race and tough competition, and were treated to a delightful meet in Rock Island. The Brissman-Lundeen Invitational is a very high level Division 3 meet with some quality teams such as the University of Chicago, North Central, Augustana, and a few others. This meet was by far the most competitive field we have seen so far, and the fastest course as well. For many of our athletes, a lot of good training and hard racing finally came together to produce some very fast times and good results. Looking forward to our final two NIRCA meets, there’s plenty to be excited about, as our athletes are really coming around and hitting their stride at the right time. Let’s get into the recap!

 I’m not sure who Brissman and Lundeen are, but I am appalled by their lack of manners. They did not follow the usual tradition of ladies first at the meet, so the men got out there first to set the tone for the day. As the race was beginning, a friendly cloud decided to help us out and shield us from the sun on an 85ºF day, cooling temperatures down immediately to much more comfortable levels. Debuting for the club was rodeo clown Eldon Warner, who exclaimed “YEE-HAW” in excitement to be racing at around 1k in. He’s kinda good at running, and ran a lifetime PR of 24:45 for 2nd place overall. I’ll let his time speak for him, but Eldon may be making some club history during his time here. Up next was the man who is going to beat Zach Levet in Chicago, Will Gravelle, who is super fit leading into the marathon, running 25:48, securing a T-shirt and bringing some more hype to our grad-student entourage. Coming in as the team’s 3rd runner for the second meet in a row was once again me, Jeffrey Hesselbein, running a 35 second PR in 26:27, finally securing the time I was hoping for. After pointing out which building is not his apartment, John Wiser had a breakout race, running 26:38 for a big time improvement from Aurora. Closing out the scorers for the Illini was busy bee Justin Ostrem, who didn’t quite get the result he wanted off the back of an exhausting, very busy week. 26:48 is still nothing to scoff at, and he’ll be performing at his best come postseason. As said earlier, this meet was much more competitive than the previous meets, but these guys held up to the higher level and secured a 4th place finish as a team, beating a few high-caliber programs. This was accomplished without two of our top runners who scored in the first two meets, so I’d say things are looking pretty good.

Cadyn Grafton rumbled in next, running 27:03 for a huge PR as he begins to hit his stride, nearly surpassing his season goal of sub-27. Head Coach Spencer Nelson is building confidence, running 27:16, just a bit off of his PR and closing out the top 7. The only club junior varsity runner in history Cade Baker continued the season of his life, running another PR of 27:20. If he keeps improving like this, he will NOT be promoted to varsity, but he will be a really good JV runner. Kyle Kenmotsu may not know Butch, but his consistency would make the legend himself proud. Kyle’s hard work was rewarded with a PR of 28:13. Following a questionable pre-race routine this week, Quinn Born had his best race of the season so far, running a PR of 28:27. Jordan Meyer’s mustache may prevent him from going within 100ft of schools, but he can run, and he did well, running 28:57, finishing his first race of the season. Former troop Vignesh Ravibaskar used his military expertise to edge out Nolan Enright, who’s tough upbringing in O-Block was no match for Vig’s marksmanship. They ran 29:14 and 29:15 respectively. Urbana local Aaron Lyubansky had a big breakthrough, running 29:31, as he looks forward to running on the home course at regionals. Dipping under 30 was boomer Jacob Fleck in his first race this season, running 29:58 and with some good consistency, that time is going to come down. John Burns is having some trouble navigating the 8k distance, he ran 30:45 and should have a huge breakthrough soon with the way he’s been training. Grad student Seth Westfall continued his campaign on the club with a very successful time of 32:22, before cheering on his wife in the women’s race. So cute. Mid-D specialist Benjamin Baltz successfully dipped his toes (figuratively, not literally Nathan Zachar) into the longer distances, running 32:30. Tristan Taylor upgraded from spectating to racing this meet, debuting for the season and running 33:49. Also running a really strong debut was good Newman boy Griffin Rhode, running 34:00. John Feeley ran a huge improvement from the last meet, hitting a time of 34:42, while discussing his nefarious agenda with other runners the whole way. Charley Hoppis and Isaac Shifferer finished right in a row, running 35:20 and 35:41 respectively. Charley deserves a special shoutout for running a PR by 3(!) whole minutes, as his consistent practicing and racing is paying off. Gabe Benson also knocked off a huge amount of time, running 37:15 to PR by over 2(!) minutes. Closing out the day was James Meadows who ran 39:00 for a PR and is really proud of how he raced. We are proud of you as well, James. Quick shoutout to Arthur Mazzeo as well, who raced the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon this weekend and ran 2:48 in his first ever marathon! That was an awesome turnout and a crazy amount of PRs, well done out there boys!

The PRs and success did not stop there as the women took to the course. That friendly cloud that kept the temperature comfortable lingered throughout the meet, and the conditions were mighty fine for the ladies. The big meet atmosphere and fierce competition was at the same high level, and the course was fast once again. Setting the pace and leading the way for the women was Brisa McGrath, who ran a long overdue PR of 23:38 as she looks to make some NIRCA noise late in the season. Brisa showed her talent her freshman year, and has really taken it to the next level since that debut season. The author of fantastic poetic writeup comments Grace Gudwin fought through residual sickness and taking a tumble with 600m to go to run a time of 24:59. She’s hungry for more and definitely looks to be right up working with Brisa when she’s feeling better. Mid-D coach and overall superwoman Katherine Vande Pol ran her first 6k for the club and was very successful in an uncomfortable distance for a 400/800m runner, hitting a time of 25:31. Mikeelie Jensen displayed a lot of leadership and composure as she helped several women pace their race, and had plenty of success herself running 25:40. The final scorer for the women was grad student Kim Westfall, who ran her first 6k in 5 years and crushed it with a time of 26:25. I’m sure Seth’s cheering and support helped too; we love a supportive relationship. These women gave it their all, and fought some super tough competition to finish 17th as a team, which was an impressive feat against a field of this quality and depth. Looking forward to regionals at our home course, the ladies will be ready to rumble and hungry for success to defend our turf, and I’m sure we will see some impressive progress once we get to that meet. 

Maggie Abbs was our next finisher, running a PR of 26:43 as she continues to establish herself as a staple and valuable member of our club. It was déjà vu out there for Brianna Legner as she ran a 1 second PR on the same course as her old PR 2 years ago, for a time of 26:45. Brianna surprised herself, as she wasn’t sure she was in PR shape, but it’s certainly a welcome surprise. Marybeth Feeley had an awesome day, running a PR of 27:22. Rumor has it she was discussing her wholesome agenda with runners the entire way, much to the chagrin of her nefarious brother. Natalie Maguire has earned herself the title (declared by me) of athlete of the meet. She ran a PR of 27:54. Natalie has seen the ups and downs of running over the past couple years, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever see the same level of fitness that she saw freshman year, but here she is, setting PRs. That’s what we are all about here. Claire Casiello followed up her first meet at Olivet with a debut in the 6k, running 28:00. She’s looking forward to getting more racing experience and we are excited to see how she improves. Running an IXC debut race today was Staci Strader, finishing in 28:33. A really strong start and automatic PR! It’s been a challenging, stressful week for Lauren Bartels, and after being uncertain about racing at all, she got out there and enjoyed herself, running 30:04. That sub-30 race is going to come soon! Once again, we had an awesome turnout this week and so many PRs for the ladies, soaking up the experience of a fast course and competitive atmosphere.

As the weekend has gone by, I’ve had a few conversations with Spencer about the trajectory of this team, especially in a competitive sense. We are both in awe of the progression of the men’s and women’s teams, and super excited about this group. We have rare levels of talent on the men’s side, and great leadership and inspiration on the women’s side. As the regular season comes to a close, I encourage everyone who has raced to take pride in what they’ve accomplished, and to stay excited about the postseason. Set some goals, and talk to a teammate about them. Most importantly, focus on building each other up. A positive atmosphere is one where people can thrive, and if we all pay attention to doing our part to uphold that, these positive trends and results will continue. We have a couple weeks now to grind out some more solid, consistent training before we are back at home in the NIRCA Great Plains Regional on October 23rd! Until then, see you at practice!

With love,

Jeffrey <3