What a weekend! NIRCA nationals definitely deserved all the hype it got, and both the men and the women’s team scores came down to the wire. The men finished with 69 points good for third place overall. The women, for the 5th year were crowned national champions with a total of 168 points. Besides just those who earned points, there were many other great performances across the board that were very much worthy of recognition.
The men’s distance began on Friday with the 5k, went into the 1500 on Saturday, and was capped off by the 3k steeplechase. The 5k, for Illinois, was led by Auburn Jimenez, who came through in a 15:26.90. William Wolf, Michael Frintner, and David Choi were not too far behind and all ran PRs with times of 15:34, 15:37, and 15:45 respectively. Also running very well in the 5k were Arturo Woodward-Montes, Adam Bills, and Tyler Dixon coming through in 16:23, 16:48, and 16:53 respectively. In the 1500, Ryan Somerfield and David Choi both had hard fought races coming through in 4:15 and 4:23 respectively. Freshmen Justin Shim and Muneeb Ansari both ran very good 1500s as well coming through in 4:25 and 4:39. In the Steeplechase, it was Quinn Todzo and Ryan Kelch who led the charge placing 8th and 9th overall with times of 10:12 and 10:13. Josh Feldman and Anthony Morgan, running 10:21 and 11:09 respectively, also set PRs.
The men’s Mid D and sprints team also had some great performances throughout the day on Saturday. Keith Lee, Sean McCarty, and Cody Hansen all ran solid legs in their 4×8 and open 8s highlighted by their open 800s with times of 2:01.34, 2:02.23, and 2:08 respectively. Tyler Splitt along with Lee and Luke Meyer ran very well in their 4×4 legs running 49s, 52s, and 54s for their splits. Beau Barber and Kevin Lapp ran good 400s with times of 55.63 and 55.79 respectively. For the sprints, Mateusz Lopez, Jake Baier, and Bill Frezentas ran good 200s running 22.75, 23.85, and 27.62 respectively.
The field events were the men’s highlight of the weekend in terms of points, and saw some very solid performances. In the shot put, Geoff Segal and Nitin Tangellamudi performed very well placing 2nd and 5th respectively with throws of 12.23 and 11.35. In the discus, Tangellamudi who placed 4th, Morris Wang who placed 7th, and Zach Sawackis threw well with marks of 33.67m, 30.58m, and 27.12m. In the jumps Mateusz Lopez again placed first overall, and again set a new club record in the triple jump with a leap of 13.49m. Sebastien Alvis had a solid long jump as well with a make of 5.64 meters.
The women’s team put on quite the show, and it was all started off in the distance events. In the 5k, Megan Mocogni placed first and got the club record with a time of 17:44! Also running well in the 5k, and setting PRs, were Anneliese Schultz, Sara Folliard, and Megan Frintner with times of 18:45, 19:11, and 21:14. The 1500 looked very similar to 5k, with Megan Mocogni in the front. Mocogni again placed first with a time of 4:49. Also running well in the 1500 were Sam Lapp, Anneliese Schultz, Emma Burhardt, also ran very well with times of 5:03, 5:17, and 5:22. Megan Frintner and Adriana Miltko fought hard in their races and ran times of 5:48, and 5:55. To cap it all off for the distance squad Emily Foley ran a great steeplechase placing 8th in the race and 2nd of all time for the club with a time of 12:30.
Becky Haight, Abby Ralph, Jess Ayers, and Lauren Jonen all had spectacular days leading the women’s charge. Becky Haight is first up, having great individual performances in the 100, 200, and long jump. In these events she went 12.67, 26.52, and 4.95m good for 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively in the events. Next up is Abby Ralph who competed in the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, the long jump, and triple jump going 16.03 (for the club record), 1:10.70, 4.91m, and 9.94m good for 3rd, 5th, 4th, and 5th overall. Jess Ayers ran individually in the 100 and 400m dashes going 5th and 1st overall in those events with times of 12.80 and 60.37. Senior head coach Lauren Jonen capped off her 4th and final NIRCA nationals with individual performances in the 100, 200, and 400 with times of 12.59 (a club record), 26.11, and 60.65 placing 1st, 1st, and 2nd overall respectively. These women also competed in the 4x100m dash, and 4x400m dash placing 1st and 2nd overall with times of 50.90, and 4:09.04 respectively. They scored a total of 106 points between the four of them!
The rest of the women also competed very well, especially in the throwing events. In the long jump Jenny Na had pretty sweet leap of 4.54 meters good for a club PR. Ali Djokic performed well in the 100m hurdles with a time of 18.44. In the shot put, Tare Emuze, Diana Kowalski, and Ali Djokic threw every well with distances of 9.39 (the new club record), 7.92, and 6.80 meters good for 1st, 5th, and 7th place. In the discus it was Kowalski, Djokic, and Emuze again with throws of 27.98 (a new club record), 26,36, and 21.54 meters good for 1st, 2nd, and 6th place overall.
After so many great performances, there were many who were well deserving of an interview, however it was Ali Djokic, who was everywhere from hurdles to throws who got the interview. Check it out!
And with that, ITC moves on to peak season, where athletes will compete in a few more meets to try and set PRs and records, so make sure to stay tuned.”,2016-04-16 15:32:34+00,XC
115,Quinn Todzo,Illinois Twilight and Benedictine Meet Recaps,”The past two weekends have been pretty quiet from most of the Illinois Track Club as many prepare for their peak meets coming up. However, there was still an ITC presence the past two Saturdays (4/16/16 and 4/23/16) at the Benedictine University Relays and Illinois Twilight. Although there were not many entries in either meet, there were still some very strong performances worth note.
At Benedictine, there were only three runners entered, yet all managed to do pretty well. Beau Barber went a little out of his sprinting element, and ran in the 800 with a solid time of 2:13.30. Luke Meyer had a very outstanding 400 breaking his previous PR by two seconds with a time of 54.91! Lauren Jonen highlighted the day running in the 400 as well, breaking her previous club record with a time of 58.16!
Illinois Twilight also saw some very strong performances. Megan Mocogni made club history and ran the club’s first outdoor 3k in a time of 10:09.95. Tyler Splitt set a new PR in the 400m dash with a sweet time of 50.39. The Women’s 4×4 squad of Abby Ralph, Jess Ayers, Lauren Jonen, and Becky Haight all ran very well and finished with a time of 4:04.33. Jonen also broke the club record she set a week before and finally ran under 58 seconds with a time of 57.44!
The larger peak meets are just around the corner with Valparaiso coming up next Saturday (4/30), Purdue on 5/7, and North Central on 5/12 and 5/13. Athletes will be trying to finally crack those times they have been training all season to hit, so make sure to stay tuned!”,2016-04-24 23:08:56+00,XC
116,Quinn Todzo,Valparaiso Crusader Open meet Recap,”This past weekend, ITC saw the first of four “peak” meets at where athletes were trying to finally hit those times and marks they had been striving for the whole season. The Athletes this weekend competed at Vaparaiso’s Crusader Open, and even though conditions were tough, there were still athletes who were able to still have great performances and personal bests.
On the men’s side, there were solid performances across the board. Starting with the sprints, Jake Baier set a club PR in the 200m dash with a time of 23.76. For the mid distance men, Keith Lee was able to pull out a hard earned 2:01.06 good for 4th place in the meet in the 800. For the distance, Tyler Dixon and Adam Bills ran very well in the 5k running times of 16:29 and 16:53 respectively. Dixon’s time was actually a 24 second club PR! In a very tough and wet 3000 meter steeplechase race, Ryan Kelch was still able to pull out a 10:20 good for 4th overall. In the throws, Andy Briggs threw a discus PR by 3 meters with a toss of 23.66 meters!
The women’s side was also able to pull out some great performances as well. Starting with the Mid Distance events, it was Emily Foley who led the Mid D women. She was able to run two PRs in the 800 and 1500 with times of 2:36.41 and 5:21.65 respectively. In the distance events, all three of the women who ran the 5k did very well. Anneliese Schulz, Emma Burkhardt, and Sara Folliard ran times of 18:53, 19:01 (a 32s PR) and 19:26 respectively. In the field, Becky Haight had a nice long jump performance of 4.97 meters. At the end of the day, it was the afore mentioned Emily Foley who was given the ITC interview this week for her 800 and 1500 meter performances. Check it out!
With that, this weekend, ITC is once again striving for those peak times, this time at Purdue, so make sure to stay tuned!
