The Illinois Cross Country Men and Women”s teams opened the season at the Illini Challenge on August 30. The men were led to a second place team finish by Brendan McDonnell, who finished 3rd over in a time of 19:22. The women finished 2nd with a total team score of 50 points.
Men’s Results
Women’s Results
Now that we”ve survived the initial rush of new members, it”s time to start figuring out the logistics of the season! First things first, FORMS!!! (This includes returning members as well.)
For ANYONE who plans on traveling with the team this season, you must fill out the IXC: Emergency Contact and Medical Info Form.
If you plan on racing at the EIU Panther Open on Friday, September 6th, you must fill out the EIU Travel Form ASAP!! Make sure that you have confirmed with Mark whether or not you will be racing. Women race at 4:45 and men race at 5:30. We will probably be leaving around 2:15 so take care of any class conflicts NOW. (NOTE: In the future, you will have to check your email or the Race Schedule tab to find the travel forms).
Finally, if you have a vehicle on campus that you are willing to drive to meets please fill out the Driver Survey Form. Even if you have filled out the form for past seasons please fill it out again to update/confirm your availability. Not everyone runs at every meet so travel to each is unique. By filling out this form you are not committing to anything specific, you are simply adding your name to the pool of available drivers and vehicles. Each subsequent travel form will ask you to verify you can drive to that particular meet.
Updates:
Be sure to check the Race Schedule. It”s never too early to look for potential conflicts with labs, exams, etc. Also, the forms posted here and other seasonal forms can be found there. Finally, keep an eye out for club social events! They will be posted under the club Calendar!
In case you missed us at Quad Day, or were unable to get a flyer from us, here is the information you need to know. Also, to anyone interested in Track and Field, there will be a informational meeting at 5:15pm tomorrow, Monday the 26th, at the west entrance of the Armory.
The summer is almost over, and almost time for Welcome Week! That means Quad Day is almost here!
To incoming freshman, new members, or those interested in learning more about the Illinois Cross Country and Track Club:
Quad Day is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about our organization by talking to coaches/board members, meet club members, and to sign-up for our mailing list. We will be out all day, manning separate tables for both the Cross Country club and the Track and Field club. We look forward to seeing you there!
To existing members:
As always, we need people to help out on Quad Day, so be on the look out for emails regarding volunteer duties!
The 2013 cross country schedule has been posted and will be updated with the necessary travel forms once the season is under way. Only 2 week until official practices begin!
The Illinois Track Club competed at the 2013 NIRCA Track and Field Nationals in Bloomington, Indiana on April 6th. The men”s team finished 2nd in the team championship with a total team score of 139 points and the women”s team finished 1st with 241 points.
Last weekend, the Illinois Track Club traveled to St. Louis, Missouri to participate in the two day Washington University Invitational outdoor track meet.
Friday night featured both men’s and women’s distance races under the lights. Greg Netols led a strong 5000m squad, finishing in 15:13.95, while Brendan McDonnell set the first club record of the weekend, taking 6th place (31:19.01) in the 10000m. Turning to the women’s 5000m, Michelle Turner ran 19:28.61, a 34 second personel record, while in the 10000m, Kerry Devitt ran 38:48.75 as the sole ITC entrant in the event.
Despite inclement weather on Saturday, a number of club records were set. In the steeplechase, Monica O’Connor, Lauren Choi and Heather Guetterman all surpassed the previous club record in the event, with Monica leading the way in a time of 12:42.34. The 4x100m team annihilated the previous club record by over a second, finishing in 9th with a time of 51.32. Katharina Rains just missed her own club record, jumping 1.53m in the high jump, while the 4x400m team was only 0.02 seconds off the club record, running 4:11.04 to take 5th place.
On the men’s side, Chris DeSilva finished 6th in the steeplechase in a new club record of 9:49.29, while the men’s 4x100m team ran a club record of 43.01 to finish 9th. Jack Skelton ran 0:48.90 to finish in 3rd place in the 400m, while Andrew Cholewa ran 0:58.38 to finish in 7th place in the 400m hurdles, both less then a half-a-second off club records. Ryan Jorgensen ran the top time for the team in the 1500m taking 3rd place (4:02.89).
In summary, it was a great weekend for races, with many more strong performances by the Illinois Track Club!
Help support the Illinois Track Club on Monday February 25th! We will be working with silver mine subs. A portion of every purchase will be donated to our club! All you have to do is give them one of these tickets.
Thanks for your help!
It was an evening filled with record setting performances this past Friday night, as the Illinois Track Club traveled to Eastern Illinois for the EIU Friday Night Special meet. A total of 6 club records were set: 4 for the women, 2 for the men.
In the women’s 400m both Caitlin Blalock and Lauren Jonen surpassed the club record, recording times of 1:03.38 and 1:03.71 respectively. They then teamed up with Erin Murphy and Lauren Henderson in the 4x400m, bettering the club record by over 6 seconds in a time of 4:16.21. Kaleigh Evans ran 1:43.92 setting a new record in the 600m.
Other performances of note include a 4th place finish in the mile by Megan McGreal (5:25.36) and a 5th place finish in the 800m by Thea Cudnowski (2:28.47). Megan Mocogni, Michelle Turner, and Paige Oboikovitz finished within 3 seconds of each other in the mile, while Monica O’Connor and Beth McGreal raced well in the 3000m.
For the field events, Erin Murphy surpassed the club record in the triple jump with a new personal best of 9.72m. Minyona Mason as well set a new personal best in the shot put, with a throw of 6.77m.
On the men’s side Ryan Jorgensen broke a historic record, surpassing Mark Talbot’s 1000m club record of 2:37.97, with a time of 2:32.77 capturing 1st place. Greg Netols had the top finish for the team in the mile, finishing in 4:30.85, while Brendan McDonnell and Andrew Gazdziak ran 9:04.66, and 9:05.26 respectively in the 3000m. Not too be outdone by his brother, Kevin Jorgensen would run 1:59.79 in the 800m. In the 5000m, Alex Harrison finished in 16:23.27.
For the third time this season the 60m dash record was broken; Fuad Akinbiyi reclaimed the record with a time of 7.11. Andrew Cholewa had the top time for the team in the 400m, running a personal best of 53.60, followed closely by Ryan Brewster in 53.72. Other top sprint times included Matt Halberthal (23.45) and Moobie Salami (23.91) in the 200m and Ben Kanevsky (54.37) and Jeremy Wood (54.92) in the 400m dash.
Illinois Track Club will host the Illinois Club Relays in the U of I Armory this Saturday, their final indoor race of the season.
Indoor track season is in full swing, as the Illinois Track Club recorded a number of strong performances this past weekend at the Illinois Wesleyan University Titan Open. The ITC men’s team finished seventh with 18 points, while the women’s team also captured seventh place, with 9 points.
The day would begin with a dominating performance in the men’s DMR, as the two relay teams entered would finish 1st and 2nd place. The ‘A’ relay team would lead wire to wire, with the ‘B’ team moving into second on a 4:35 1600m anchor leg by Eric De Guevara. Ryan Jorgensen, who was the lead off runner for the ‘A’ DMR team, would return later that day to finish 4th in the 800m, in a time of 1:58.91. Other highlights in the distance events included a personal best of 9:16.14 by Chris Valicka, and a display of pack running in the mile, as Andrew Gazdziak, Henry Wolf, and Joe Zeller would finish within four seconds of each other.
Not to be outdone, the sprinters had an equally impressive showing, having six entrants in the 60m dash (Kyle Sanders, Matt Halberthal, Fuad Akinbiyi, Jayme Roberts, Oluwayemisi Sonoiki, and Max Methling). Kyle Sanders and Matt Halberthal would advance to the finals in the 60m dash, where Halberthal would break the club record by 0.01 seconds, in a time of 7.12. This group would return later to run the 200m, joined by Will Stein. Ben Kanevsky, Andrew Cholewa and Scott Luedtke would add a trio of fast times in the 400m.
Moving to the field events, Manny Del Rio recorded a jump of 5.54 meters in the long jump, while Scott Luedtke jumped 11.27 meters in the triple jump. It was a great day for the Illinois throws squad, as ITC sent the largest throws team in the club’s history. Chad Bobbit threw 13.12 meters (only .03 off the club record) in the shot put, good enough for fourth place. Mark Pszczolkowski, Matt Kmet, and Tyler Kamp also turned in strong marks in the shot put.
Turning to the women, Minyona Mason would throw 6.24m in the shot put, the first event of the day. Grace Hucek ran an inspiring race, in her first running competition in over a year, taking 4th overall in the 800m race from the second heat in a time of 2:29.95. Meanwhile, in her first collegiate indoor track race, Beth McGreal ran a time of 5:39.92 in the mile, finishing sixth.
In the 400m dash, Caitlin Blalock would have the top finish in 1:03.78 (only 0.01 seconds off the club record), good enough for 9th overall. She would return with fellow 400m runners Lauren Jonen, Cassie Arenz, and Lauren Henderson to run the 4x400m relay, finishing 4th in a time of 4:25.02.
Megan Mocogni led the way for the distance squad, finishing in 11:26.00 in the 3000m, with Monica O’Connor only fractions of a second behind, in 11:26.11, out of the second heat.
All in all, it was a great day of indoor track and field, with plenty of other great results from ITC athletes. Full results will be posted in the Results section of the website.