A week out from Thanksgiving, ITFC had a lot to be thankful for. The distance runners sat gratefully for a fast and fun Nationals performance. Sprinters, jumpers, and throwers were eagerly counting down the days until their first competition in December.
But this Thursday was about remembering one of ITFC’s greats: Sean Berbert. Some cultures remember the passed with prayer. Some with charity or songs or stories. We remember our own with 400 meters of running. The perfect nexus between sprinters and distance runners, almost all of ITFC ran 400m that night.
Sprinters lead by Coach Becky Haight took the race seriously with a coordinated warm up and four-point starts. The distance runners, well, most are still enjoying their time off.
The night started out with the combined 1600 meter run. Josh Mollway and Alex Hanskat battled it out in the final lap. Mollway pulled ahead to run 4:33 after a slow 72-second start. Hanskat was 2 seconds behind in 4:35 to run a PR. On the women’s side, Emily Foley ran a club PR of 5:38. Look out for this Mid-D senior to take our women’s team to new heights in the 800 and 1500/mile. After a breakout cross country season, Noel Brindise dropped 9 seconds to a new PR of 5:45.
The distance 400s were like stuffing in a turkey: ugly and clunky but the night wouldn’t be the same without it. Daniel Engel ran a 61.05 PR. Catch him at his local turkey trot 5k running hard after a long climb from injury. The male sprinters were lead by the President of the Illinois Track and Field Club (POTITFC) Mateusz Lopez (52.01). Close behind him were returners Alex Bienduga (52.05), Head Coach Tyler Splitt (52.08), and Garrett Barch (52.81). Lopez took 9th in the 200 last year at NIRCA Track Nationals, Barch took 11th in the 100, Bienduga was 11th in the 400, and Splitt was 12th in the 400. These heavy hitting sprinters are coming in hot this season, don’t blink or you’ll miss them. Another promising sprinter is Andy Marszewski (52.92). From Downers Grove North, he boasts PRs of 49.79, 23.50, and 10.98. He also ran 18:59 in the 3 mile but this cross-country president is not holding his breath for him.
The women sprinters are a young group. Most are new to the group and Coach Haight says “there is a lot of promise beyond just the performances last week and we are looking forward to a strong season starting with Early Bird next month.”. ITFC will be competing at the Titan First Chance Meet on December 2nd. Big things coming, stay tuned.
Sprinter results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DdIdyk0nBp4i-7aHf34zwc4JLgYf2DOHQ1b8MOGv3IM/edit#gid=162292564
Distance results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OYE3I_vfBbwjed3w3bLjMPUnBFCQf2Y0DTT3p_ipBDA/edit#gid=2077653293