This past Saturday, the Illinois Track and Field Club attended Illinois Wesleyan University”s Top Times Titan Open.
On the women”s side, the Top 10 charts changed yet again. You can thank Becky Haight”s 8.07 60m time and her 61.65 400m split. She now holds the best 60m time in club history and her 4×4 squad with Emily Foley (65.01), Julia Schultz (62.25), and Lauren Grant (62.73) now hold the third best indoor time ever. I can”t wait for Club Relays. This women”s team is so strong in every respect they”re going to be very hard to stop. Haight also split under 60 in the DMR.
Speaking of the DMR, Julia Schultz ran her 1600m leg in 5:20 which gives her a shot at a top 10 time in the mile. Erin McKee ran a 2:46 split in the 800m leg and came back to run a 6:18 mile. Her senior year club relays will be special, no doubt about it.
Maggie Madden ran the 800m in 2:58, over 10 seconds faster than last week. With 4 more weeks of consistent training and workouts, she”s going to throw down at Club Relays. Mia Bertaud had her club debut with a mile time of 6:05.26. The question isn”t if she”ll go under 6:00, it”s when.
Adeline Shillington also made her club debut running the 200m (32.14) and 400m (1:11.67). She”s got her legs under her now and it”s going to be exciting to see what this massive group of sprinters will pull out at Club Relays. Last year we had 197 races, jumps, and throws by Illinois athletes. Bring ear plugs for the 4×4, it”s going to be rowdy.
Anneliese Schulz also surprised herself with an 11:02 3k, taking 3rd overall. A week and a half ago she ran 11:35 so she”s on her way to a phenomenal Club Relays performance.
The gentlemen had quite a day, fielding two DMR”s. The 1200 leg was run by John Kellum (3:18.82) and Jarod Meyer (3:30). Meyer came back to run 9:42 in the 3k, a very solid performance that is a testament to his consistency and grit. He is a model on how to balance academics and extra-curricular activities. He”s also really good looking and could be a model. The 400m leg of Tyler Splitt (52) moved the B squad up a place while Beau Barber (56.16) held the lead Kellum had built. The 800m leg of the B team was run by Josh Mollway. This guy ran a 60 second quarter to finish of a 3k time trial two weeks ago. His 1:59 split not only put his quartet into the lead, but it established him as a force to be reckoned with on the national stage. Evan Patel split a 2:11.54 for the A squad.
The coaches put these two DMR”s together to race each other. And race they did. Keith Lee and Alex Hanskat battled it out in the 1600m leg. Eventually the dogfight ended with Keith taking the W with a 4:37 split and Hanskat taking second with a 4:36 split.
Thomas Harris ran a season”s best in the 60m (7.32) and the 200m (23.57). Steven Bellefontaine made his club debut in 7.34 seconds. He”s running with the top dogs. Other 60m runners include Mason Rosenberg (7.54), Tyler Muckian (7.75), John Brandenburg (7.76), Evan Sacks (8.22), and Shan Amin (10.03).
Alex went on to run his best 200m time on a 200m track (23.58). His PR comes from GVSU”s 300m oval. Alex went on to run 53.15 in the 400 ahead of Justin Nebel”s 53.75. Justin”s time is impressive by itself. But this is the man”s FIRST time running a 400m for us.
The man who can do anything, Connor Murphy, ran 24.41 for an indoor 200m PR.
In the 3k, Josh Feldman led the group to 5th place in 9:13. He got out fast and settled into a pack of Washington University runners. In an online log, he said ‘”Of course I regret going out that fast, but I didn”t have any regrets in the sense of ‘”I wish I pushed myself more.'”
Connor Farrell ran a solid 9:27 and is on his way to some great performances. He was the 6th runner at xc nationals and is a staple of the men”s squad.
Matt Dickinson made his track debut with a 5:10 mile. He got his racing strategy under control and is ready to break 5:00. 10 seconds might seem like a lot but remember this is the same Matt Dickinson that dropped from 32:31 to 30:27 over three weeks.
In the jumps, Hameed Odunewu jumped 1.68m. Last year at Club Relays he hit 1.85m so I guess you could say… things are going up from here.
Justin Nebel leaped a phenomenal 6.54m and Tyler Muckian put up a solid 11.38m triple jump.
In the 4×400 relay, Keith Lee established a solid lead but Zack Fishman was tripped up in the final 60m of his leg and fell to the floor. Like a trooper, he finished his leg and eventually the 4×4 squad was able to pull through with a win thanks to a strong 54.7 split from John Kellum and a 52.59 leg from Tyler Splitt. Never give up on your dreams, kids.
ITFC will be at ONU next. Less than 4 weeks until Club Relays.