The Illinois Cross Country Club is headed north this weekend for UW-Parkside”s Lucian Rosa Invite. The club is fielding a split squad again this Saturday after sending some runners to SIU-Edwardsville last week.
Parkside”s Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course is a challenging one. Runners start off with a big hill for roughly the first 800 meters. It”s a true cross country course, winding through forest trails and across rolling hills.
The meet will feature teams from Division 1 through Division 3, as well as the club”s first NIRCA action of the season against clubs from Marquette and UW-Madison. Most athletes have had two weeks of training after Augustana to get ready for Parkside.
The men will race first on Saturday at 10. The top returners for the men from this meet last year are Jared Ripoli and Eric de Guevara. Jared had his strongest race of the season so far at Augustana, look for him to build on that success running on a course he”s familiar with. Eric”s due for a good race this season and his small stature may aid him in darting though competitors on the course”s narrow wooded trails. We”ll also see what David Choi has in store next after a head-turning performance at Augustana. Joe ‘”Zany'” Zeller will make his return on Parkside”s hills. Two of the club”s top performers this season, Evan White and Nick Bushelle, won”t be racing this weekend, so guys will have to step up and grind it out on a very tough course.
However, the women should have all their frontrunners when they race at 11. Women”s captain Megan Mocogni had a strong performance here last year and so did Emma Grimes. This meet last year was Emma”s first time as the team”s No. 1 runner, and she has never looked back. They”ll be joined for the second time this year by a few freshman phenoms in Erin McKee and Lexy Rudofsky. Monica O”Connor could have a big day running under her own name for the first time and continuing to come off of injury. She also has the added bonus of spending Friday night in the comfort of her own home.
The team is traveling to the northern suburbs tonight and will travel to Kenosha tomorrow morning. It”s a short drive from Chicago, so we hope to see you there. Men race at 10 and women at 11.
