Saturday marked the 8th annual Club Relays, and it was quite the spectacle. With the team finally coming fully together, fans were finally able to witness what the Illinois Track Club looks like in its fully fledged form. With 25 other clubs at the meet, there were a lot of close races. In fact, the men’s team scores came down to the last event, the 4×4. That being said, both the men and women remained the champions at the end of the day for the 8th year in a row! With the impressive team finishes came a lot of great individual and relay performances, so lets get into it.
Starting with the men’s distance, although it there were 5 heats of the 3k and 11 of the mile, making the field very tough, yet the group of young runners were able to post some very excellent times and PRs. Michael Frintner and William Wolf led the men in the 3k posting times of 9:00 and 9:11 respectively. Arturo Woodward-Montes, Tyler Dixon, and Anthony Morgan posted big PRs as well with times of 9:23, 9:34, and 9:37. Coach Steve Krauklis, who also posted his best 3k in two years with a time of 9:46, said that Quinn Todzo “Killed It!” as well with a time of 9:14. Although the mile proved tough for many, Jack O’Neil and Alex Notton were able to lead to crew by both posting times of 4:34. William Wolf gutted out a tough 4:37, and Ryan Somerfield rounded out the scoring four with a time of 4:38. The afore mentioned Woodward-Montes and Morgan, as well as Brian Griffin and Jacob Tellez all came through around the same time in their heat with times of 4:43, 4:44, 4:43, and 4:44 respectively.
The men’s sprinting and relay events were very exciting and successful overall. The day kicked off with the 60m hurdles Hameed Odunew ran a 9.48, good for 3rd overall in the meet. Distance runner/steeple chaser Dan Johnson, on short notice, competed in the 60m hurdles as well to help us get 3rd overall in the event! The day started out with the 60 m dash, highlighting Joe Haight with his 7.11s time, which tied the meet record. In the 4×8 the relay team of Tyler Splitt, George Gunter, Keith Lee, and Jacob Tellez ran a solid time of 8:03, while the team of Brian Griffin, Jared Ripoli, Matt Dini, and Sean McCarty ran a solid time as well of 8:19. The highlight of the day for the men’s hurdles and sprinting events was in the 4x4s. The top 4×4 consisting of Splitt, Lee, Haight, and Mateusz Lopez ran an incredible meet and club record shattering time of 3:26.05 to win the meet for the men! The 4×4 team of Jerome Davis, Matt Dini, Sean McCarty, and George Gunter also ran very well coming through in a time of 3:32.37.
The men’s field events were very good and crucial to the victory. In the shot put, it was many athlete’s first meet of the year. Even so, the throwers were able to win their event being led by Geoff Segal and Sean O’Connor who threw 12.49 and 11.75 meters respectively. A special shout out goes to Andy Briggs who competed in his first ever track meet and threw a nice 8.52 meters. In the high jump, Hameed Odunewu tied for first with his 1.80 meter leap. In the long jump Mateusz Lopez fought through coming off a recent injury with a 6.01m jump. In the triple jump, both Lopez and Sebastian Alvis did very well with distances of 12.13 meters and 11.56 meters respectively.
The women’s meet was also very competitive as a whole with many great performances. The distance women had a similar story to the men with the fierce competition and tough double, but many as well were able to do very well. The 3k was led by Megan Mocogni and Anneliese Schultz who came through in times of 10:14 and 11:08 respectively. Abby Madden, Sara Folliard, and Audrey Vandercar all ran very well posting PRs with times of 11:17, 11:36, and 12:03. In the mile Mocogni led the team with her 3rd overall finish with a time of 5:16. Mid D runners Sam Lapp and Emily Foley were numbers 2 and 3 for us with very good times of 5:24 and 5:47 respectively. Abby Madden, Megan Frintner, and Mariela Marquez also ran very solid races with times of 5:49, 6:20, and 6:25. A special shout out goes to Adriana Miltko, who prior to the season had never broken 7:00 in the mile, crushed it with a huge PR of 6:47!
The women’s sprinting and relay events contained many outstanding performances definitely worth noting. Starting with the 60m dash, Becky Haight, Lauren Jonen, and Jessica Ayers went 1, 2 and 3 in the meet with times of 8.15, 8.23, and 8.25 respectively. Becky’s performance ties the club record as well! The 60 meter hurdles also saw great performances with club PRs from Abby Ralph, Ali Djokic, and Jenny Na with times of 9.77, 10.75, and 10.83 respectively. Abby’s time was also good for a new club record! The women’s SMR relay team of Lauren Jonen, Becky Haight, Jess Ayers, and Katie Escobar crushed the field with a first place finish, meet record, and club record time of 4:21.01! The 4×2 and 4×4 teams of Jonen, Haight, Ayers, and Ralph got it done as well placing first in the heats with times of 1:50.00 and 4:11.77.
The women’s fields events were very solid and looked very promising looking towards the future. In the shot put, Tare Emuze and Ali Djokic went 1 and 2 overall in the meet throwing 8.74 and 7.00 meters respectively. In the long jump Becky Haight and Jenny Na had very good performances with leaps of 4.79 and 4.45 meters respectively. In the triple jump, Abby Ralph and Emily Chmelik placed 2nd and 4th with marks of 9.63 and 8.78.
With so many great performances this weekend, There were two separate ITC official interviews. For their crucial performances in the sprinting events, twins Becky and Joe Haight were given the first interview!
For the second interview, Lauren Jonen was interviewed not only for her very good performances, but also to get some insight into the next steps for the 2016 Illinois Track Club team!
With that, the team will take a few weeks off for training before they return to action in Terre Haute at Rose-Hulman for the first outdoor meet. For more information on future meets, check out the updated meet schedule under the tab titled “Race Schedule”. With that make sure to stay tuned!