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The Illinois cross country club is headed to Rock Island, Ill. this weekend to compete at the 34th Annual Brissman-Lundeen Cross Country Invitational. After a successful showing on a hot day at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open three weeks ago, IXC will toe the line at Augustana against an enormous field of premiere competition from around the Midwest.

Last year, the men placed eighth of 39 teams and the women placed ninth of 35. The Saukie Golf Course was the stage for David Choi”s breakout race. He was the team”s fourth finisher in 26:29. At EIU, Choi was the team”s second finisher and he”ll try to continue that success on Augustana”s fast course.

It will be the men”s first 8K race of the season after the Walt Crawford was shortened to 4 miles due to the heat.  Michael Frintner was the seventh man at Augustana last year and has put together a promising string of workouts. Sophomore  Quinn Todzo will look to build on a strong race at EIU. The freshmen will be racing their first collegiate 8Ks, and Coach Krauklis said to look out for Leonel Rodriguez and Arturo Woodward-Montes, running his first race with IXC.

This is the first 6K of the season for the women”s team. Megan Mocogni is the top returner from last year at Augustana and Lexy Rudofski, who rounded out the women”s scoring five last year, will run her first race of the season.Lauren Choi put on a show at EIU with a top-7 finish and she”ll look to continue her hot streak. Krauk also said Hannah Behle, making her season debut, is poised for a good race.

Augustana is a haven for PRs, with a fast course and a deep field of great competition. The Saukie Golf Course is flat with a few rolling hills, conducive to fast times. The women race at 5:30 and the men are scheduled to go off at 6:00.

The Illinois Cross Country Club kicked off its 2015 season on a sweltering night last Friday at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open. By unofficial count, the men and women both took home fourth-place finishes in the first meet of the season. The women put on a strong performance, and every single male runner PR’d in the four-mile run, as the race was shortened due to the heat.

The women raced first on Friday. Fearless leader Megan Mocogni, the women’s captain, led the charge with a seventh-place overall finish. There was another familiar name atop the results for the ladies in Beth McGreal. Beth kicked off her #thereturn tour with IXC pretty much where she left off, running with Mocogni at the front of the pack. She ran 35 seconds faster since her last race at EIU in 2012. Emma Burkhardt was also in a familiar place in the results, finishing as the team’s No. 4 runner after solidifying herself as a consistent top-5 contributor last season.

After Erin McKee made a splash last year by finishing as the women’s No.1 runner at this meet, her high school teammate, freshman Jillian Monier turned some heads as the No. 3 finisher. Emma and Mocogni’s roommate, Lauren “LoCho” Choi really impressed on Friday, smashing her 5K PR by 33 seconds and rounding out the ladies’ scoring five. She’s coming off a fantastic second-place finish at NIRCA Nationals last fall and the momentum looks to have carried over. Allison Gibson, coming off a big summer, and Erin, were No. 6 and 7 for the team.

The men’s race was full of PR’s and new marks on the club leaderboard- because the club has never run a 4-mile cross country race before. Top dog Jared Ripoli covered the Panther Trail in 20:54, good for 10^th place overall. Congratulations to Jared, the inaugural club record holder in the 4-mile run. LINK. The second-fastest 4-mile time in club history now belongs to David Oskar “Cliff” Choi. David showed some big flashes of potential last season, and it looks like he might be able to fully capitalize on them this year.

Brad “The Teacher” Coyle finished as the men’s No. 3 finisher in his first time on the cross country course since the 2008 NIRCA Cross Country Nationals. My calculations may be off, but I believe some of this year’s freshmen were not even born the last time Brad ran in a cross country race. Michael “One-Speed” Frintner and young Josh Feldman finished as the final men’s scorers. Jack Morrissey continued his success at EIU with another top-7 finish and Willy Wolf had a strong club debut in the No. 7 spot.

Ken Sprague put together the strongest race of his IXC career and Quinn “The Dancellor” Todzo had an impressive race after a big summer of training and bolstered nutrition thanks to the home-cooking of Edwin Zen.

EIU also gave several runners their first taste of collegiate cross country. On the men’s side, Hinsdale Central alumni Josh and Nick Tandle, Leonel “El León” Rodriguez, Monsieur Tristan “Most Fun Name to Say”Sarton Du Jonchay, and Jordan “The Flying J” Vear all made their IXC debuts in the heat on Friday. For the ladies, Jillian, Becky Haight, Kaitlin Sumler, and IXC Scavenger Hunt Champion Noel Brindise kicked-off their IXC careers. Congratulations to all the newcomers for competing in their first race with the club.

The team returns to action on September 25 at Augustana’s Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. It’s a big meet with a lot of quality competition, and IXC will spend the next three weeks grinding it out and getting ready to toe the line again.

The new season gets underway tonight for the Illinois Cross Country Club in Charleston, Ill. for the EIU Walt Crawford Open. Several freshmen will make their collegiate running debut while some grad students will make their return to the cross country course. It’ll be a hot one in Charleston, but it’s a great place for IXC to start the season.

Last year, both the men’s and women’s team ran to third-place finishes against Division I-III competition despite suffocating heat.  Three of the men’s top-7 from last year return to the “Panther Trail,” including Eric De Guevara and Jack Morrissey. Head coach Steven Krauklis said to keep an eye on Morrissey, as he could be poised for a strong race and a breakout season. Morrissey has finished in the team’s top-7 in both of his previous trips to EIU, so he knows how to handle the heat, even with a luscious beard. It was also at this meet last year when a young Michael Frintner made a name for himself by finishing as the team’s third runner.

Friday night will mark the debut of several promising freshmen prospects that will have a chance to shine. Willy Wolf will join his brother, grad student Henry Wolf, in the Illini pack. West Suburban Silver trio Josh Feldman, Nick Tandle, and Jordan Vear will toe the line for the first time with the Illini.  While the freshmen will experience their first college race, Brad Coyle will hit the course in an Illini singlet for the first time. After an impressive track season, where he PR’d nearly every race, the grad student looks to be near the front of the Illini pack on Friday and throughout the season.

Last year at this meet, freshman Erin McKee made an early-season statement, finishing as the women’s No. 1 runner. Now a sophomore, Erin should once again help lead the charge for the Illini. Current social coordinator Emily Foley also had a strong debut at EIU last year as the team’s seventh finisher. Freshmen ladies made a lot of noise at this meet last year, so there’s plenty of potential for any of the several newcomers to have a big premiere with the club.

The trip to Charleston is also the start of stalwart women’s captain Megan Mocogni final cross country season with the team. After a string of strong workouts, she’s ready to start the season with a bang. The women also have a new grad student joining the ranks, except it’s a very familiar face in Beth McGreal. Beth was the team’s top finisher at Nationals in 2013, her senior year, and now she’s back and ready to tear it up once again in her return to IXC.

The Panther Trail course is flat and favorable, but the heat consistently makes this meet a challenge. It’s a good introduction to collegiate cross country for newcomers, who will try to run strategically in the heat. The women start at 4:45 and the men go off at 5:30 to start another exciting season of IXC.”,2015-09-04 11:22:39+00,XC

It’s a new season and a new dawn for the Illinois Cross Country Club. After one of the team’s most successful performances ever at NIRCA Nationals last fall, the club will look to soar to new heights in its 2015 campaign. Both the men’s and women’s teams are reloaded with talent and will look to build upon a fantastic end of 2014.

The women’s team is stacked on paper going into the 2015 season. The ladies of IXC bring back a whopping five of their top seven from last year’s second place finish at Nationals. The lone non-returnee is last year’s individual runner-up, Emma Grimes. However, the talent coming back should far outweigh the team’s losses. Returning to IXC after a year away is Beth McGreal, who was consistently at the front of the Illini pack two years ago, finishing as a NIRCA All-American and women’s No. 1 runner at Nationals in 2013. Women’s captain Megan Mocogni is back as the fearless leader for the ladies and has had a big summer of training in preparation for her final year with the team. Perhaps most exciting was the performance behind Mocogni at last year’s Nationals. There was a tight, tenacious pack of 3-4-5 runners all returning for IXC in junior Emma Burkhardt, sophomore Erin McKee, and sophomore Lexy Rudofski.  This pack should once again be close in races, but higher up in places. The women also bring back senior Heather Guetterman, who’s on her senior farewell tour this season. Heather just returned stateside after a semester trapzing around Europe, and she’s back as a savvy veteran racer. Heather always seems to peak at the right time, and she’ll be an important presence all season.

And that’s not even mentioning the new talent on the women’s team plus those who have been grinding all summer to improve. There’s a promising freshmen class of runners who will have a chance to prove themselves over the course of the season, starting today at Eastern Illinois.

The men’s team also brings back a boatload of talent from last year’s team. Only two return from last year’s third place team: junior Jared Ripoli and senior Eric de Guevara. However, the men’s team absolutely dominated the B-race last year, placing 7 in the top-15. Last year was a devastatingly deep group, and that depth should translate to more success as all of those runners have progressed over the course of a full track season and summer. Ryan Somerfield led the charge for the men in the B-race, claiming the individual title. Now sporting the title of assistant coach, Somerfield is back and ready to make some noise in the A-race. The other returners from the B-race will keep the Illini competitive all season long. Sophomore Jack O’Neil, sophomore secretary Michael “One-Speed” Frintner, grad student Henry Wolf, junior Jack Morrissey, junior David “Cliff” Choi, and senior Mike “Kid Brother” Schaible.

Mr. Bradford Coyle has some lessons to teach NIRCA during his first season running cross country with the club. After a highly successful track season, where he ran PR after PR, and scored key points at NIRCA Nats to propel the men to a second-place finish, he’s ready to take his talents to the grass.

There’s also an intriguing class of new talent, some who even took unofficial visits with the team to practice. Willy Wolf (brother of Henry), Josh Feldman and Nick Tandle have been turning some heads in early-season workouts. Add in a hungry group of athletes from group 5 and beyond who have been grinding all summer, like the Dancellor himself, Quinn Todzo, and the men’s team is poised to reach new heights.

Head coach Steven Krauklis returns for his second year at the reigns, this time with Somerfield joining the staff. He has a talent-rich squad that is packed with potential. Expectations are sky-high, but Krauk’s mantra is that if everyone is running their best, the trophies will come.

The club will compete in five meets this season. The season kicks off in Charleston today at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open. That’s followed by mid-season meets at the quick-moving Saukie Golf Course for Augustana’s Brismann-Lundeen Invite and a true cross country challenge at UW-Parkside’s Lucian Rosa Invite. The club will host the NIRCA Great Plains Regional for the third consecutive year, where the team put on a stellar performance last November.  In mid-November, the team will travel to the NIRCA National Championships, held in Lexington, Kentucky, for the first time.

The start of a season is a magical time when anything can happen. The sky is the limit for IXC this year. Everyone’s excited to toe the line at the start of a season overflowing with potential. Could this be, as one exuberant sophomore declared, a “golden age” for the club? Time will tell, and we’re ready for the starter’s pistol.

This past Thursday, a large group of ITC went to Naperville, IL for the North Central Dr. Keeler ready to race fast for possibly the last time this season. That was the plan, but mother nature had her own plan. It started raining hard on Naperville, IL, the 5k”ers were able to finish their race and moments after Senior Greg Netols finished his 1500m run, a rain delay was put on the track. A delay was inopportune for many of our runners, as finals week was creeping just around the corner, and many runners traveled back to Champaign before their races started. Only Senior Steven Decker, who was looking to extend his 800m record, remained.

Overall, the inclement weather made it tough for our runners to race their goal times. Graduate Student Brad Coyle led ITC in the 5000m, finishing at 15:30.61, a little slower than he had raced at the national meet. The whole meet went kind of like this, as Greg Netols ran his 1500m at 4:03.56, and Steven Decker ran his 800m in 1:55.19. These guys have really had phenomenal seasons, so you can imagine the conditions that would lead to all of them having less than phenomenal races.

The following Saturday, THE Relay team (Szostak, Ayers, Murphy, Jonen if you haven”t been following) traveled to Dekalb to compete at the NIU Huskie Open. For the past two weeks, they had been hundredths of seconds away from breaking the 4 minute barrier in the 4x400m relay. Junior Lauren Jonen (Head Coach elect) tried her darndest, splitting a 57.024 (56.99 according to Coach Jack Skelton), but the team hit another heartbreaking miss of 4:00.63. It is doubtful that they race again this season to give it another try.

Upcoming:

As many students take their finals, a small group of distance runners return to Naperville to finish their seasons at the North Central College Gregory Invite.

West Lafayette, IN- This Saturday marked the peak meet for the Sprinters/jumpers of our club, and what better place to do it than a B1G varsity meet. Without further ado…

Women Highlights

There was a great atmosphere for competition for our women sprinters, who performed exceptionally well. Every performance was either a season PR, or a club top 10 performance, including 2 new club records. Junior Caroline Szostak continues to improve this season as she went under the 13s barrier in the 100m dash with her 12.96 (5th all-time). Junior Lauren Jonen OBLITERATED her old club record by .77s in her 9th place effort in the 200m dash (25.41). Sophomore Jess Ayers is inching towards Jonen”s record in the 400m dash with her 58.77s effort (3rd all-time). THE relay team consisting of Szostak, Jonen, Ayers, and Graduate Student Erin Murphy broke their 4x100m record by .70 seconds with their 49.65 effort, and barely missed braking 4 minutes in the 4×400 by .41.

Men Highlights

This past weekend, Senior Steven Decker did Decker things when he extended his club record in the 800m with his 1st place effort of 1:53.33. Senior Jayme Roberts, Senior Stav Caplan, and Junior Sebastian Alvis placed 1st (11.10, 5th all-time), 2nd (11.57), and 3rd (11.75), respectively, out of 4 competitors in the 100m dash. The 200m dash almost got a heat to fill the track as Roberts, Caplan, and Freshman Jacob Baier placed 4th (22.72), 6th (23.73), and 8th (23.89), respectively. Baier continued to improve in the 400m dash, as his 4th lifetime attempt in the race gave him a PR of 54.17s. The 4x400m relay team consisting of Roberts, Freshman George Gunter, Caplan, and Decker gave a solid attempt to break the club record, but came up just shy with their 2nd place effort of 3:23.97.

What do you think of when you hear the phrase peak meet? Do you think of a warm sun gradually warming up the rubber of the track for perfect running conditions? Or maybe you think of races full of people of all talent ranges, causing everybody to run their fastest, most competitive heats. The Illinois Track and Field Club hoped for these conditions in Jacksonville as they competed in the Illinois College True Blue Open, but good ol’ Illinois weather came to knock those hopes out of the air, sending an overcast, slightly blustery, 50 degree day to make imperfect running conditions. On top of that, the field was reduced from years past, so our runners had to use more intelligence and experience in order to race their best times. These were tough conditions, indeed, but when doesn’t ITC step up to fight the good fight?

Women Highlights

Of the 12 competitions the ITC women were listed in, they scored in all 12, including 3 first place finishes (Junior Lauren Jonen’s 60.26s 400m dash and THE relay team in the 4×100 and the 4×400). There were 2 new club records, as Abby Ralph surpassed her old 100m hurdle time, finishing with a 16.68s, and THE 4×400 team (Murphy, Szostak, Ayers, and Jonen if you couldn”t guess) almost surpassed the 4 minute barrier for the first time, but will have to settle for the club”s fastest time of 4:00.01. Speaking of .01 off, Sophomore Jess Ayers ran a 12.75 100m dash, a hundredth of a second away from her club record, and Sophomore Selena Wallace clocked in her 800m at  2:30.00, an open 800m PR, but a very frustrating time. All these close timing calls makes me wonder WHO”s RUNNING THESE CLOCKS? Altogether, the women scored 75 points in those 12 events, good for 5th in the meet.

Men Highlights

The Men were not as efficient as the women, never winning an event, but they did have 3 second place finishes and 5 third place finishes. Senior Jayme Roberts came in 3rd in the 200m dash with his time of 22.74 (.04 away from 10th on the ITC all-time list). Senior Steven Decker cruised in his 400m in 50.97 (3rd), and anchored the 3rd all-time fastest 4x400m team consisting of Roberts, Freshmen Tyler Splitt, George Gunter, and Decker (3:26.33). Tied for third in the triple jump all-time list is Junior Sebastian Alvis with his flight of 12.45 meters, a PR by over a foot. As of now, Alvis would be my most improved athlete this year, as he has improved by 1.36 meters in the triple jump and was ITC”s second finisher in the 200m dash with his 23.38, an improvement of 1.84 seconds from the beginning of the year.

I”d be remiss if I didn”t mention Senior Jon Hootman”s fast start to the steeplechase, followed by a stumble out of the water pit, which led to a somersault and his toes breaking free from his duct-taped spikes. Sophomore Ryan Somerfield, Junior Ryan Kelch, and Freshman Quinn Todzo finished that race in 2nd (10:25), 3rd (10:33), and 5th (10:52), respectively, but Hootman would drop out and compete in the 5k. He PR’ed by 5 seconds (16:45, 5th) with the help of Kelch’s spikes, finishing behind Sophomore David Choi (16:17, 2nd) and Michael Schaible (16:26, 4th).

Up Next:

ITC travels to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue University Rankin Invitational.

Although just three members of the Illinois Track Club competed in the Illinois Twilight hosted by our own university,  2 club records went down. The first race of the day for ITC was the 110m hurdles, where Allen Terry held his own in his heat and recorded a zooming time of 15.17, a new club record by over half a second. Senior Jayme Roberts looked to build off a 400m PR last weekend in Bloomington (51.36s), but came up just short with his still fast 51.69s.

Last time Senior Steven Decker competed in an open 800m during a meet hosted by UIUC, it was indoors and he missed club legend Ryan Jorgensen”s time by .09s. Saturday was different, as he broke Jorgensen”s more impressive outdoor record by .02s, running his 800m in 1:53.91, good for 10th in the meet.

A special thanks go to all the club members who volunteered at the meet. We cannot stress enough the importance of helping out the varsity program because they do so much for us.

This Saturday marked the best competition both ITC Men and Women have faced in a NIRCA national championship to date.

Women Highlights:

The women’s 4x800m relay started the scoring events strong as Senior Thea Cudnowski, Sophomore Selena Wallace, Sophomore Hannah Behle, and Freshman Lexy Rudofski broke the outdoor club record with their 4^th place effort of 9:54.27. During that race, Wallace PR’d by 5 seconds, running her split in 2:25.9. Right before that race, Abby Ralph set a new 100m hurdle record with her 7^th place performance of 17.12s.

However, after 10 events ITC was down 99-63 to Penn State. With such a large deficit, our sprinters kicked it into gear. Junior Lauren Jonen won the 200m (26.23s) and the 400m (58.40, club record). Graduate Student Erin Murphy won the Long Jump (5.03m), Triple Jump (10.94), placed 2^nd in the High Jump (1.52m), and 2^nd in the 400m hurdles (1:09.46). The relay team consisting of Junior Caroline Szostak, Sophomore Jess Ayers, Murphy, and Jonen placed 2^nd in the 4x100m (50.35s, club record) and won the 4x400m (4:04.57, best time in our current database). 2 people that could also qualify as late heroines are Junior Lauren Choi and Freshman Anna Piazza, as they had EXTREME PR’s in the 3000m steeplechase. Choi PR’d by 23 seconds to finish 3^rd (12:17.68, club record), and Piazza PR’d by 30 seconds to finish 5^th (12:49.17). All these efforts led to a final score of 147-145.5, ITC’s closest margin of victory in a national competition.

Men Highlights:

The men, although not victorious, placed 2^nd with some very good performances. Thrower Ross Romane took home 1^st place in the shot put (12.84m, club record) and the discus (39.58m, club record). Altogether, throwing events secured 42 points for ITC. The other major source of the men’s points came through Freshman Matt Lopez’ winning flight in the triple jump (12.96m, club record), Senior Tyler Blum’s 4^th place high jump (1.88m, 2^nd best in club history) and Graduate Student Jonathan Hoff’s winning long jump (6.51m, club record) and 3^rd place effort in the 110m high hurdles (15.81, club record). Jumps secured another 27 points.

On the track, Senior Steven Decker placed 3^rd in the 400m (50.26), while Senior Jayme Roberts placed 6^th in the following heat (51.36s). Their 4x400m team with the addition of Freshmen Tyler Splitt (a surprise replacement following his 52.98s 400m earlier) and George Gunter also placed 3^rd in the meet (3:27.63). Senior Adam Cobert and Graduate Student Brad Coyle duked it out and both PR’d by around 10 seconds in their close heat of the 5k, finishing 6^th (15:23) and 7^th (15:24) overall, respectively. Senior Evan White followed suit with the rest of his season, finishing 5^th in the 1500m (4:02) after splitting a 1:58.9 in his leg of the 4x800m. Cobert was our second finisher in the 1500m (4:06), but returning members Sophomore Mike Mayer (4:12), Freshman Jack O’Neil (4:15), and Freshman Brian Griffin (4:18) were our third to fifth best. The men scored 124 points, 18 shy of the distance powerhouse Indiana.

During the last two weekends, the Illinois Track and Field Club competed in three meets: the Rose-Hulman Early Bird, the Washington University Invite, and the Knox College Outdoor Open.

Rose-Hulman

At Rose-Hulman, Junior Lauren Choi started Spring Break with her club record in video views with her 3k steeple chase. Although she fell, she was still within 10 seconds of her PR in the event, finishing 2nd in the meet with a 12:49.26. Behind her in 3rd was Freshman Anna Piazza (13:19.87). Sophomore Ryan Somerfield and Senior Jon Hootman also got their seed times needed for the NIRCA nats in two weeks with their times of 10:33.22 (6th) and 10:37.74 (7th), respectively. Sophomore Chris Kennedy was the only non-steepler sent from ITC as he finished 12th in the 5k.

Washington University

Due to construction at Washington University”s Athletic fields, ITC could not send it”s full squad to the Wash U invite. Only Friday competitors were invited for this year, but the team should be back next year for both Friday and Saturday. This limited the team to the 5k, 10k, and Greg Netols individually went unattached.

Graduate Student Brad Coyle was ITC”s top performer in the 5k, cruising in his last 400m in 63s on his way to a 15:33 to be 2nd in his heat. Senior Adam Cobert took 3rd in the previous heat, running an impressive 15:39, almost a minute faster than Cobert”s Sophomore year race at WashU. Coach Krauklis commented that Cobert ran that fast ”out of spite” for being seeded at 16:10. Senior Joe Zeller was within 3 seconds of a PR with his 15:43, and Sophomore Jack Morrissey set an 11 second PR with his 16:21. If you have been following the girls from the 30 (Junior Abby Madden, Senior Monica O”Connor and Senior Paige Oboikovitz), then you know that big PRs are just around the corner. Madden was ITC”s top finisher in the 5k with her 19:05, while O”Connor posted a 16 second PR (19:24) and Oboikovitz posted a 6 second PR (19:30).

Sophomore David Choi and Freshman Michael Frintner both ran their first 10k with the club, placing 6th (33:22) and 7th (33:52), respectively. Senior Greg Netols placed 6th in the 1500m with his 4:02. This time was 4 seconds faster than his last time at WashU.

Knox College

Knox college was the replacement meet for all that were expecting to run WashU on Saturday. Although there were some inherent flaws with how the meet was run, it gave good competition for many of our athletes. The women scored 40 points to take 8th in the meet, while the men took 11th (without distance).

In Junior Caroline Szostak”s first 100m dash with the club, she moved to number 7 on the all-time list with her 7th place performance of 13.19. Junior Lauren Jonen ran within .8 of the club record in her 200m performance (26.98, 3rd), followed closely by Sophomore Jess Ayers (27.35, 4th) and Szostak (28.49, 8th). Jonen and Ayers would also rock their 400m, with Jonen placing 1st in 59.14 and Ayers placing 4th in 61.40. Sophomores Hannah Behle and Selena Wallace placed 3rd (2:31.38) and 4th (2:32.78), respectively, in their 800m.

In a race where the barriers were being properly placed while steeplers were already going over them, Junior Ryan Kelch placed 4th (10:44.93). Freshman Brian Griffin started his outdoor career with a 5th place effort in the 1500m (4:23.02), followed closely by Senior Jon Hootman (4:28.32). Junior Rashaun Warner practically ran a 3:08 in the 1200m by finishing his 400m, stopping, and then jogging straight to the check-in table for his 800m. Other notable races had Senior Jayme Roberts and Adam Goldsher place 6th (23.46) and 7th (23.68), respectively, in the 200m dash, and Senior Steven Decker and Roberts place 7th (52.12) and 9th (53.22), respectively, in the 400m dash. Ross Romane placed 10th in both the shot put (11.87m) and discus (36.81m). Romane now has the 6th best discus throw in club history.