ITFC! Where are we going this time? Back to the Windy City itself, Chicago, IL! We took a stop back home for many of our club athletes at the University of Chicago’s Windy City Rumble meet! One of the few meets that features the indoor 5k, we’ll see some fast and new races that our crew in orange and blue take on inside the field house? Ready? Here we go!
How about a strong start to the meet with a broken club record already? Distance superstar Diane Makovic took to the rarely run indoor 5000m and crushed it, dominantly winning with a time of 18:24.36, which was a new club record by over 15 seconds! What a start to the meet! Gabriel Inojosa was our men’s 5k runner for the day, and he started his meet with a strong PR of 17:38.81! The 5k athletes certainly set the bar high for the rest of the meet to follow!
Let’s move on to the 60m dash, where Adam Adil continues his consistency streak by running a time of 7.45, leading off the Illini to a hot start! Emmanuel Lokango followed closely with a quick time of 7.60! Sanyu Kumaran started off his day with a 7.81 start, but Nana Osei-Tutu was close behind with a run of 7.87 as well! Alex Unes and David Welte-Hart were next up for the ITFC crew, both of which debuted their ITFC careers with runs of 8.00 and 8.06 respectively! Rounding off our 60m dash crew was our guy Sandin Cuturic, getting back into the swing of things with an 8.21 start. He’s coming back from a bit of injury, so don’t think that’s the last you’ll see of Sandin at all!
Onto the women’s 60m dash, our first two women across the line ran the same exact time in different heats! Ninawa Odicho and Da’Miyah Morgan both sprinted their way to an 8.27 finish! Those two were quite in sync despite not being in the same heat! Next up for our Illini was Isabella Brunke with her first time in an Illini singlet as well, dashing across the line for a time of 8.75! Arianna Kopecky and Jazmin Jackson weren’t far behind each other with runs of 9.26 and 9.38, both of which are getting their start to the track season as well! Lots of great starts to our 60m runners with the club, and more are to come! Awesome job to the short sprints squad!
The hurdles squad followed with some big performances of their own! Once again, the stellar freshman Ben Cooper made it to the finals, with a very quick 8.98 finish to nab a top 8 finish! Ben is getting back into full swing very fast! Jumpman Derrick Stokes competed hard and is steadily improving with a 10.44 finish for himself! Those boys are mastering the hurdles quick!
Why don’t we change gears for a bit and check on the 3000m this time instead? Lake Spradling looked as smooth as a river in his debut for the ITFC, taking 4th overall with a time of 9:07.93! The rest of ITFC ran together as a strong cohesive unit, with James Stanley completing his double for the day in 9:51.03, with Philip Hu close behind in 9:54.42! Adam Lupatkin was closing fast to complete his run in 10:04.01! Aidan Markiewicz completed the men’s 3k group in a time of 10:54.92!
The women showed their strength on the near-two mile distance as well, with Brisa McGrath starting her season off with a strong showing of 10:57.86! Maddy Feehan was next as she stepped the distance up from the mile, completing her race in 12:17.02 to finish in the top 8 as well! Suhani Peramanu continued her streak of strong runs to finish the 3k in 12:53.53! Her consistency is showing some great results! Congrats on some tough runs and great times for our distance group!
Let’s take another jump down in distance to the 400m! For our men, we had three men in the two-lap distance, with Trevor Glancy stepping back on the track after his unfortunate soccer injury (that’s why track is better than soccer – sorry not sorry). Trevor led the men in a time of 57.55. All groups were represented in the 400m, with our distance representative Aidan Markiewicz next up in a time of 59.18, and sprinter Marcus Scott close behind in 59.78! Some good representation for our quarter milers showing the importance of good 400m speed!
As per usual Ninawa led the 400m women off in blazing fashion, clocking a time of 61.27 to get 2nd overall at the meet! Ninawa and the 400m race is a scary combo! Suhani Peramanu once again doubled up today with a sprint and distance event, as her 400m time clocked to a 71.47. Suhani is showing her strength and range to take on multiple tough events! Awesome running to our 400m runners as always!
The 200m was a sight to behold at UChicago, as our sprinters continued to show their stuff on the track! Adam Adil led off the 200m squad with a top 8 finish, closing hard to finish in 23.75 to win his heat! Awesome day for you, coach! Next up was Emmanuel Lokango running 24.34 for a good finish to his day! Sanyu Kumaran brought his speed to the track as well, winning his heat in a time of 25.42! The big man of mid d, Henry Hornbrook, also chose to step down and test his footspeed with a smooth 25.73 finish! Nana Osei-Tutu followed not far behind in 26.50, with Norb Nieves also stepping down after the 800m for a 26.86 run! Our armory man Sandin Cuturic rounded our squad off with a nice 27.74 finish around the track. Not too shabby, everyone!
At this point, it’s safe to say that Ninawa will be a complete force to be reckoned with across multiple events. Her strength has been building up meet by meet, and today is no exception. Ninawa secured another top 8 finish in the 200m, running a blazing 26.67 around the track. Following up that performance was another strong run by our sprints squad women with Arianna Kopecky, making quick work of the 200m in 31.81!
Stepping it on up to the 800m, we had some new contenders in the half mile this week! Starting off, our dynamic duo of Bridget Brokaw and Anna Jablonski took on a tough race, running together in one of the fastest heats of the meet. Anna crossed the line in 2:28.53, with Bridget close behind in 2:29.98! Both women broke the 2:30 barrier and are shaping up for some killer races in later meets!
Moving to the men, Freshman Simon Hildy got us going quickly, stepping down from the usual mile distance and running a 2:05.53 for the 800m! Nice going, Simon! Battling injury, Michael Rizk stepped back onto the track to show off for his hometown, running 2:08.79 to win the heat! Following close behind was long sprinter AND birthday boy Patrick Sarad, returning to his mid-distance roots with a strong 2:10.70! Only a second behind was Gerardo Porras in 2:11.70! The long sprints crew is stepping up and showing out well! Returning to the 800m was Norb Nieves, shaking the rust off in 2:13.50, with Antony Rizk on his tail in 2:14.47! The Mid D boys work together well during these races! Despite getting tripped up in the start, Jose Ocegueda Zuniga fought hard and took the win in his heat with a 2:15.28 run! Cade Baker took up the tough mile/800m double once again, finishing a tough day in 2:15.86. A bit of hard strength building, Cade will be ready to throw down soon! John Bledsoe (J3) also took to the 800m, getting ever so close to his PR, finished in a time of 2:17.26! The distance boys seem to be getting some wheels on them! Yuki Mizuno also completed a double in the day with a 2:24.15 run! Our final group of double-runners were Andrew Stevenson, Charley Hoppis, and Gabe Benson, finishing in 2:28.27, 2:29.45 and 2:38.86. Doubling up is no joke, so kudos to the distance crew, and amazing runs to all of our half milers!
Let’s move onto the most packed event per meet – the mile. We start off on the women’s side with another strong sub 5:40 performance from Evelyn Rowan. Evelyn powered home with that quick kick she finishes with time after time again in a 5:38.01 finish! She’s dangerous come those final turns! Maddy Feehan followed up next with another fast, and this time clean, race with no pileups of runners in the first 50m. Maddy finished in a time of 5:51.46, with racing partner Anna Zlatic hot on her heels once again with her own time of 5:52.94! A big performance for Anna! Maaike Niekerk starts her ITFC career out as well with us, completing with a time of 6:35.69! Welcome to the club, Maaike! Lauren Bartels finished our set with a 6:47.91 finish in a nostalgic setting at UChicago, making new memories in the Henry Crown Field House just as we used to race back in high school. Great work, everyone!
The men followed suit, always inspired by the efforts of their teammates from all events. Our first men’s heat was quite the dynamic race, as Spencer Nelson, Percy Moser, and John Burns took to the track together. Leading for nearly all of the race, Spencer kept an honest pace, with Percy latching on, seemingly heading for the win in the last stages – only if it weren’t for the fabled 400m kick of John Burns! Burns closed in a 60-high 400m split to barely take the heat in 4:30.84! Percy followed in 4:31.35, with Spencer finishing strong in 4:33.49! What a race for the men! Pres Cade Baker followed suit with a consistent 4:40.44! Freshman James Stanley is returning to form nicely, with a solo 4:45.07 to win his heat! Alex Kogen is catching his stride, running a 4:46.29, which is showing some sharp improvements in just a few weeks! Henry Hornbrook’s consistent improvement in the mile is showing no signs of stopping, running a huge PR of 4:50.43! The last heat we’ll cover featured seven super distance runners. Trading the leads back and forth, Andrew Stevenson ultimately came out on top in 5:18.15 over teammates Yuki Mizuno with a 5:20.55, Tristan Taylor in 5:24.36, and Thomas Tran 5:25.18! All four worked well together throughout the race! Following close behind was Charlie Hoppis in 5:30.57, Gabe Benson in 5:51.79, and James Meadows making his return on home turf in 6:31.37! Lots of great teamwork was shown in the mile distance, and we couldn’t be more proud!
We saw some field event action as well! Khalia Mullin made her return back to the runway in the triple jump! She jumped her way to a top 6 finish, with a jump of 32’ 1.5” in her first competition back! Glad to see her back on the jumps squad! Nick Hartmann got up there in the high jump, bettering his previous mark from prior meets with a 1.90m (6’ 2.75”) finish for 4th place in the meet! Derrick also came back from the hurdles to take on the triple jump again with a jump of 33’ 9.25”! The jumps squad all were top 6 or better – what a confidence booster going into Club Relays!
Frank Chavez from the throws squad also came out to the ring to show his strength for the shot put! Frank threw a 9.08m throw, which may not equal his best, but that will give him the experience needed to improve for Relays! Dionne Edwards also joined the throws squad in Chicago, with a throw of 9.31m! These throwers are looking to make a big impact for our home meet – you haven’t seen anything yet!
Finally, we get onto the 4x400m relays! The women’s team, formed of Anna Jablonski, Bridget Brokaw, Lauren Bartels, and Lucca Bibbey, ran a time of 4:40.00 to score in the meet! All showed great strength in the middle and long distance events!
The men had three teams, all of them filled with some superb runners. Team A – Simon Hildy, John Burns, Patrick Sarad and Gerardo Porras. Team B – Jose Ocegueda Zuniga, Sanyu Kumaran, Antony Rizk, and Lake Spradling. Finally, Team C – John Bledsoe, Derrick Stokes, Marcus Scott, and Emmanuel Lokango. What a lineup of teams! With all of them on tired legs, all the men ran fantastically. Team A finished in 3:43.29, Team B followed in a time of 3:50.75, and Team C brought us home with a 3:55.20. A great end to a great meet, our 4×4 teams ran some speedy times with soreness and determination. As always, we couldn’t be more happy with them.
All in all, it was a fun and fast trip back home for many of our runners from the city and surrounding suburbs! Shoutout to all of the parents that came out to watch us run and continuing to support our runners and their progression as athletes and students! You’re the real MVP’s! Tune in next time as we take on the Titans of Illinois Wesleyan! I-L-L!
Take care,
Norb 🙂