IXC-Webmaster

What a season!

Our season was capped off with a trip to Hershey, PA for the NIRCA Nationals race. As a team our men placed 4th and our women placed 7th.

We would like to give a big thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout the year, but especially to the parents! Parents donated time, money, and baked goods to our club throughout the year. At every meet, from Chicago to Hershey, we had you guys supporting us. Thank you! We could not have done it without you.

Welcome to the season! We will have our first practice of the year at 4:15 tomorrow afternoon. We will then have a short track meeting following XC practice at 5:30. Both meetings will take place at the west entrance of the Armory. We hope to see everyone there!

Welcome all past, present, and future members of the Illinois track club! If you are interested in competing with us in the fall, please contact our new president Zach Boehmke at boehmke1@gmail.com. Men generally run an 8km, while women run 4km, 5km, and 6km races.

Don”t know what mileage level you should be at? Just shoot our cross country coach Mark Hayes an email and he will get you set up.

Are you a track athlete? We meet and train in the fall and winter as well! Please contact Zach Boehmke and let him know what events you would like to participate in. He will put you in contact with the appropriate event coach.

The race schedule is still to be determined, please check back later in the summer.

Have a great summer!

Both the men and women took first place this past weekend at the NCTFA Nationals. Congratulations! There were many outstanding performances.

Also a big thanks goes out to the parents who supported us by being at the meet, taking photos for us, and those who helped us fund raise for the trip. We could not have done it without you!

Two weekends ago, the middle-distance and sprints core traveled out to Oxford, Ohio to find some stellar competition at the Miami Invitational. They certainly got what they were looking for and more as several of our ITC athletes had stellar days of competition.

Starting with the sprints crew, Lizzie Gauen had a good day of racing, doubling a 28.49 200 with a 1:04.20 400. Both are solid efforts from the young sprinter. On the men”s side, both Matt Halberthal and Fuad Akinbiyi did the same double, Matt running 11.23/23.28 and Fuad 11.52/23.50. Those are some good middle of the season times for the younger members of our sprint crew and we are very excited to see how they progress heading into Nationals. The time from Matt is a seasonal best and also heads the NCTFA 100 meters list. In the 400, Jack Skelton broke 50 yet again, going 49.88, which is another solid effort from our sprints coach.

Moving up the distances, our middle-distance team ran well in another marquee meet. Megan McGreal doubled the 800/1500 in 2:24.33/5:09.01. While neither time was a PR for Megan, it was still a good race effort in both events for the sophomore. Meanwhile Ryan Jorgenson reset his own club record in the 800, running 1:55.07, though he is hungry to cut more time off of that come championship season. Mike Brothers ran 1:59.65, and Alex Manaois sped to a 2:02.47 to round out our athletes in that event. In the 1500, Zach Boehmke ran 4:17.33, with Arthur Eng right behind him in 4:18.99, both credible times from the underclassmen.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Vignesh Karthikeyan moved up in distance to the 5,000 meters and ran an excellent race, running 15:43.93. That time places him high atop the NCTFA lists for that event and well within the top 10 all-time for the club. I think Mr. Karthikeyan just found himself entered in a new event at Nationals.

That was all the action from two weekends ago at Miami of Ohio, check back soon for the recap of this past weekend when the Illinois Track Club had a split-squad at Benedictine and Wheaton!

Every year now since the Illinois Track Club got serious about having a track season, the team has gone to Washington University in Saint Louis to kick off their outdoor season. All of the upperclassmen are excited to return to the magical Bushyhead track to race under the lights, and by the time spring rolls around, the whole team is excited to get on the big outdoor tracks. With the big heats, great competition for the whole team, and the excitement of the lights, everyone ran well this past weekend in Saint Louis.

Starting with the sprint folks, Coach Jack Skelton”s crew had a banner day, setting new club records in the women”s 100, 200 and 400, 4×1, 4×4, 100HH and 400H on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. Sarah Sheehan, a freshman from Huntley, set the 100 and 200 records with times of 13.70 and 27.63 seconds respectively. Meanwhile, fellow freshman Lizzie Gauen set the club record in the 400 with a blazing time of 62.71 seconds. These races speak well for their future exploits with the club if they both are setting records so early in their club careers. Another highlight was that the girls” sprint squad finally was able to field a full 4×1 comprised solely of sprinters, rather than mid-d fill-ins, with the team of Nishio, Evans, Murphy and Sheehan setting a new record of 52.78 seconds. They also, according to Coach Skelton, had some very successful handoffs, so that is a positive heading forward into championship season. The 4×4 of Gauen, Evans, Henderson and Cudnowski set a new record of 4:23.67 as well. To round out the record setting day, Nao Nishio set the 110 hurdles record of 18.64 and Cassie Arenz set the 400 hurdles record with 1:19.67. The guys sprint squad did not disappoint either, as Jack Skelton set a new record in the 400 with a 49.21, and he also helped bring the 4×4 across the line with another new record of 3:23.71. Other members of that record-setting effort were Ryan Jorgenson, Mike Brothers, and James Leigh.

Moving up to the mid-distance folks, the 1500 was a positive for the women, as Jo Dibuz ran 5:02.52, and fellow sophomore Megan McGreal won her heat with a time of 5:01.71 seconds. Megan ran out in front the whole race, pulling away steadily from the field and winning handily. In the men”s 1500, Maz Silva had a banner day, running 4:19.81 in the 1500 and coming back in the 800 to run a 2:09.37. It was certainly a good day for the freshman from Lane Tech. Mike Frigo and Brendan McDonnell moved down to do the 1500/800 meter double, and Frigo won the 1500 with a time of 3:54.11, and came back to place 8th in the 800 with a 1:56.57, while McDonnell ran 4:10.02 and 2:05.39, which is not too shabby for a long distance runner.

Continuing up the distances, the long distance team did very well on Friday night under the lights. In what might be a very impressive first (and showing Coach Jake Englander”s excellent prognosticating abilities), Jess Mulcrone was within .36 of her seed time in the 5000, running a superb 19:39.64. Meanwhile, Jess Ang set a PR by almost two minutes in the 10,000 with a 44:56, and Vicky Ngo-Lam ran a good race in hitting 22:16.62. On the guy”s side, Chris Valicka had an impressive outdoor 5k debut, and Andrew Gazdziak moved into the top 10 all-time with a 15:57.59. Lastly, in the 10k, Matt Birkel became #4 all-time with a 33:05.34, and Mark Hayes ran faster than double his 5k PR in hitting a 33:07.14.

In the field events, Katharina Rains set a new club record in the high jump with a leap of 1.50 meters. The throws had a great weekend, as records were smashed in both the shot and hammer. Chad Bobbit heaved the shot 12.84 meters for that record, and Matt Kmet launched the hammer 45.12 meters to break his own record.

The whole team is beginning to get into the swing of things as outdoors kicked off with a bang in Missouri. Now, its back to the grindstone with only a few weeks left before the all-important NCTFA Nationals meet at the end of April. We”re back to training hard, with parts of the team racing each of the next two weekends at Miami of Ohio and Benedictine. It was a great opening to outdoors, and we are looking forward to getting back on the track soon!

This past weekend at the University of Illinois Armory, the Illinois Track Club hosted 18 other club teams from around the Midwest in the largest club-only meet to date. For the first time all season, the entire Illinois team was able to compete in the presence of all their teammates, as previous to this the team had several split squads going to different meets.

As the Armory filled in with all of the competing teams, the races began with the slow heats of the women”s 3,000 meters. In the first section, Kathryn Krueger did an excellent job of pulling her teammates Kelsey Wiora and Emily McGowan through to great times of 12:42.25 and 12:41.74 respectively. While Kathryn herself fell off slightly to a 12:52.63, her self-sacrifice in pacing her teammate provided a perfect guideline for other Illini athletes. In this heat, Lainey Ortiz and Vicky Ngo-Lam ran credible times of 13:51.13 and 13:06.53 respectively. Kelly Kramsey (Illinois Elite) and Jess Ang both ran well together in the second heat, with times of 12:11.97 and 12:17.67, while Catherine Hajduk was one of the surprises of the day, posting a superb time of 11:55.10.

Moving on to the slow heats of the men”s 3,000 meters, while we had no men in the slowest heat, in the second of five heats there were Greg Chavez, Sam Ricker, Minray Yang, and Steve Kleine (Illinois Elite) representing the ITC. In this race, Sam Ricker ran a phenomenal PR of 10:08, 12 seconds faster than his seed time, while Minray and Steve still ran decent races, going 11 flat and 10:20 respectively. In the next heat, Henry Wolf had himself a banner day, running 9:24, and Chris Valicka, Dan Herber (Illinois Elite) and Chris Hazel also acquitted themselves well. Out of the next heat, and last of the slow heats, Al Snyder made a splash in his first Club Relays, running a PR of 9:16. The rest of the 6 Illinois men in the heat all gave a good showing of themselves and the club as well.

In the 4×800 meter relays, both Illinois A-teams won, with the women winning handily in 9:56 and the men eking out a victory on a last lap kick by Ryan Jorgenson, 8:02.1 to 8:03.96 over Indiana. In the women”s 60, Erin Murphy was 2nd overall in 8.55 and Nao Nishio finished right behind her in 8.66 to lead the Illinois women to a first place showing in that relay event. On the men”s side, Fuad Akinbiyi (7.27) and Matt Halberthal (7.28) went 4-5, putting the Illini second in that event. In a rare slip-up for the sprints squad, all three (1 men”s, 2 women”s) 4×200 meter relay teams were DQ”ed for poor handoffs. It was a disappointing result for the sprinters, and something they are striving to improve in practices.

Next on the track were the fast heat of both the men”s and women”s 3,000 meters. On the women”s side, Jess Mulcrone led her group with excellent teamwork and pacing to bring our top three women to under 11:30 finishes, all the while finishing with an outstanding 11:25 herself. Mike Frigo kicked off his standout day by winning the 3,000 comfortably in a 8:49.56, winning by over 6 seconds over second place. Brendan McDonnell, still dealing with the ill effects of a cold, ran a gutsy 8:57.97.

The sprinters came roaring back from their disappointing 4×200”s in the Sprint Medley Relays and set new records on both the men”s (3:44.00) and women”s (4:46.16) sides. That is definitely the sort of resiliency and heart that will be needed in the hunt for a NCTFA title. In the 4 by mile relays, the Illini women”s team won by over a minute over the next closest competitor Michigan, while Mike Frigo came back with an amazing anchor leg to bury Indiana 18:07 to 18:11. He took the stick several seconds down and turned that into a several second lead in the last 200 meters. In the last track event, Illinois won both the men”s and women”s 4×400 meter relays, both in new meet records. Thus concluded a phenomenal day on the track for the Illinois Track Club.

In the field events, success was no less harder to find for our Illini athletes. In the high jump relay, Erin Murphy and Emily McGown led the team to victory. Erin continued her streak of good performances in the long jump, setting a new club record of 4.87 meters, helping the team score a second place win there. Lizzie Gauen competed in an off event, and with Katharina Rains, earned first place in the shot put relay. On the men”s side, Tyler Blum and Steve Kelder garnered a second place in the high jump relay, and Steve went on to place 5th in the long jump relay (alongside Ben Kanevsky) and third in the triple jump relay (also with Ben). Chad Bobbitt won the shot put, and with Matt Kmet, won first place in the shot put relay.

After the last gun had gone off and the last jumper left the pit, the team scores were tabulated. The Illinois Track Club won going away on both the men”s and women”s sides, winning 82-51 over northern rival Wisconsin on the women”s side, and 86-69 over a quickly improving Northern Illinois squad on the men”s side. Thus, the cow was retained for another year, and the Illinois Track Club swept the team titles for yet another year.

With these great results in the bag, indoor season has now concluded, and the Illini are back to training hard in the search for fast times and team titles in outdoors.

Club relays was a great success this weekend! Photos, videos, and a meet summary will be available shortly.

This weekend the Illinois Track Club split between two races – the EIU Friday Night Special in Charleston, Il and Kent State Tune-Up in Kent, Ohio.

Down in Charleston the Illini had some great performances. Chadd Bobbit had two throws at 13.15m, . Lizzie Gauen had a good 400, running an indoor PR of 64.9. Matt ran a 23.2 in the 200, also setting an indoor PR for the season. On the distance side of things Henry Wolf and Joe Zeller both showed some great teamwork, working together to run 9:35 and 9:39, respectively. Alex lyons had a great race as well, running 4:24 for the mile.

Over in Kent, Ohio Mike Frigo smashed the club 3k record, running 8:23:59. Ryan Jorgensen had the race of the weekend, running 1:56.1 for 800m. On the womens side Thea Cudnowski ran a nice 2:28 for 800m.

Overall a good weekend for the Illini. Everyone will be running at Club Relays this upcoming weekend. Come to the Armory at 12pm on 12/25!

This past weekend, the Men and Women of the Illinois Cross Country Club competed at the NIRCA National Championships in North Carolina. After a long and arduous season, the Men and Women were able to bring their best race on the day that mattered. And, it paid off beyond belief. On Saturday, November 12th, the Men and Women became the newly crowned NIRCA National Champions.

For the men, the main competition was Iowa State”s Running Club. With Mike Frigo (Sr.) leading the charge with a 3rd place overall finish, the IXC Men were able to take home the title by a margin of almost 30 points over Iowa State. Aaron Silver (Sr.) and Brendan McDonnell (So.) were able to sneak in to the First Team All American spots with a 5th place and 13th place finish respectively. Ron Revord (Sr.), the IXCC”s 4th man, was able to get the last Second Team All American slot at the NIRCA championships. Rounding out the scoring five was Matt Birkel (So.), who stepped up big time to help the men bring home the title. But, perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the IXCC”s 6th man. Vigneshwar Karthikeyan (Jr.) came almost out of nowhere to be in the top 7 for the team, running a fantastic race in the process.

The Illinois Women had a bit of a tougher road going into the competition. The women of the University of Virginia”s running club looked to be the clear favorites after the first 4k of race.

But, the race didn”t end at 4k.

Two kilometers later, the IXC Women showed that they had the best finish of any club team in NIRCA. Amanda Zamora (So.), Grace Hucek (So.), Kerry Devitt (Grad.), Jo Dibuz (So.), and Mary Looby (Grad.) (pushed along by the women”s coach, Jess Mulcrone, who finished one place behind Mary…) ran their hearts out, and it was just enough to get the women”s title by only 2 points. All of the Women seemed to be running with an incredible amount of heart, and it was simply amazing to watch them come from relative obscurity to being NIRCA National Champions.

It was a fantastic experience for all who were involved.