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This is it.

Today, the Men and Women of the Illinois Cross Country Club head out to the biggest meet of the season: the NIRCA National Championships in North Carolina.

Both the Men and the Women are looking to win it all. Both the Men and the Women have been thinking about this race for months. Both the Men and the Women have put in all the work that they could muster so they would have the best race on the day that mattered the most in the season. On Saturday, when the Illinois Cross Country club line up on their respective starting lines, they”ll know.

They”ll know that they can be the best Men”s and Women”s Club Cross Country Team in the nation.

Good luck, ladies.

Good luck, gentlemen.

Let”s come back champions.

Last weekend, the IXC Men and Women headed out to Iowa for the NIRCA Great Plains Regional hosted by the Mizzou Running Club. Both races went off fairly early, with the Men”s race at 9 am and the Women”s race at 10 am. Although only a finishing team was required to make it to the National meet on November 12th, both the Men and Women were looking to win the Regional meet before heading off to North Carolina.

Sadly, the Men fell short by a mere 4 points to the Iowa State Running Club. Mike Frigo (Sr.) took the individual Regional title, but it wasn”t quite enough for the IXC men to pull off the win. Brendan McDonnell (So.), Aaron Silver (Sr.), Ron Revord (Sr.), and Brett Lustgarten (Sr.) all had good races, but it just was not enough for the IXC men to take the title away from a strong Iowa State pack. There were a lot of great races by some of the other runners on the squad, though. Henry Wolf (So.) gets the big shout out of the week, though, with his stunning drop in time from his other races this past season. Henry finished 38th overall with a time of 28:19 over the 8 km course, running well out of his shoes to get there. The men look to pull a ‘”Henry Wolf'” in North Carolina when they hope to take down a tough Iowa State Club at Nationals. All or nothing; that is the nature of the championship season. And the IXC Men are hungry to get on the starting line.

The IXC Women ran an incredible race in Missouri, placing 1st overall as a team. The lead women”s pack held together almost all of the way through the finish line, destroying the rest of the competition in the process. Amanda Zamora (So.), Grace Hucek (So.), Kerry Devitt (Grad.), and Jo Dibuz (So.) went 3, 4, 5, 7, respectively, as a pack. Jessie Balagtas (So.) rounded out the top 5 with an 11th place finish, securing the win by over 40 points. A regional title was an awesome way to start off the Championship Season, but the ladies look to continue dominating over a much tougher field at Nationals.

Keep looking up, Men and Women. The real race is fast approaching.

On Saturday, October 15 the IXC men and women competed at the Jim Drews/Tori Neubauer Invitational at the Maple Grove Golf Course hosted by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. A whopping 437 people competed in the Men”s 8 km race spread over 25 full teams, and 387 people competed in the Women”s 6 km race spread over 23 full teams.

The IXC Men placed 7th overall as a team, and in the process had a solid scoring 5 on the day. The team was led in by Mike Frigo (Sr.) and Brendan McDonnell (So.), both of whom placed within the top 30. Aaron Silver (Sr.), Mike Spillone (Alum), and Ron Revord (Sr.) rounded out the top 5 on the day for the men. The team did well, although not as well as they had envisioned. The pack was not quite as tight as was meant to be, but a lot of that had to do with how slow everyone on the team got out. Some people did well off of the slow early pace, and some fell off. Altogether, though, it was a good day. Only 14 men were able to make the trip, so everyone looked good but didn”t have the usual backing up they were used to. The IXC Men looked ahead to Regionals where they would be able to compete side by side with the entire team as a whole.

The IXC Women placed 12th overall as a team with a score of 322, just behind St. Olaf College. Amanda Zamora (So.) led the IXC Women in, placing 58th with a time of 23:59.7. Kerry Devitt (Grad.), a new addition to the top ladies group, ran awesome, placing 64th overall with a time of 24:05.7. Jo Dibuz (So.), Grace Hucek (So.), and Megan Mocogni (Fr.) rounded out the top 5 on the day for the ladies. The IXC Women also were only able to bring a small part of their team with them, but they performed well despite their lack of usual support. Overall, the Ladies ran a good race, and a smart race, which allowed them to do as well as they did on the day.

The Titan Invite took place on Friday, October 7th. It was hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University in the flat but windy Maxwell Park located in Normal, Illinois. The men competed in an 8 km race, while the women competed in a 5 km race. Not all of the IXC men and women were able to compete, but both teams were still looking to do their best at the meet.

The IXC Women placed second overall as a team behind a tough Illinois Wesleyan pack. The IXC ladies scored 49 to Illinois Wesleyans 21, and ran a great race in the process. Natalie Todd (Jr.) led the ladies in with a time of 20:54.67 over the 5k course, placing 6th overall in the process. Despite going out a bit slower than was meant, Jess Mulcrone (Sr.) and Monica O”Connor (Fr.) were 8th and 9th overall, bringing in the top 3 women before the 10th place finisher, which is always a good sign. To round out the scoring 5, Michelle Turner (Fr.) and Paige Newman (Sr.) finished 11th and 15th, respectively. Although some of the times were not what the ladies were looking for, the way the ladies attacked the race and competed throughout was spectacular. Many of the women finished looking as if they had given it there all, and that”s all you can ask for from a cross country team. Way to get after it, ladies.

The IXC Men went off second, and they immediately packed up after the gun in hopes of taking down the wind and the individuals who chose to brave the wind alone throughout the race. Vigneshwar Karthikeyen (Jr.) and Adam Snyder (So.) led the team in together, taking 4th and 5th respectively overall. Evan White (So.), Andrew Gazdziak (Jr.), and Thomas Galpin (Grad.) rounded out the scoring 5 on the day. The times across the board were a bit less than spectacular, but that didn”t matter much. What mattered was that the Men won the overall team race with a score of 35 over Lincoln College”s 43! Great job, guys! But, looking at bit deeper into the results, another fantastic performance other than the winning of the team title took place. Brandon Finn (So.), a transfer student from South Africa, ran an awesome race and locked up a pretty big PR on a less than ideal day. More importantly, he raced throughout and had a huge kick to come in 55th place with a time of 31:48.33. In his first year of competitive running EVER, what he did was really impressive. Way to go, Brandon!

On Saturday, October 1st the Illinois XC Club Men and Women headed out to downtown Chicago to race in the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola. With 48 teams entered on the men”s side and 45 teams entered on the women side, the IXC Club knew there was going to be great competition. And, so it was.

The men started off the day at 11:15 AM in the Men”s Collegiate 8k race. Most of the team got out nicely, and were able to tackle the infamous Hill 5 times without issue. Mike Frigo (Sr.) came through in first for the IXC Men, placing 28th overall in a time of 25:45. Paul Vandervelde (Grad.) was the second man on the day for the IXC men, running 26:06, which was good enough for 49th overall. Mike DeRenzo (So.) , Matt Birkel (So.) , and Blake Flood (So.) rounded out the top 5 for the Men, with Mike Spillone (IXC Club Alum) getting thrown into the mix of the scoring 5, making a cameo appearance after very little training.

Further down the lineup, there were some really big performances. One of the most incredible of these was Thomas Galpin (Graduate), our fastest Frenchman, running an incredible 28:25, placing 271st. Thomas PRed by 35 seconds from his time at EIU, which is a huge drop considering the difference in difficulties of the course (EIU being much flatter/quicker than Loyola). Great job Thomas!

On the team side of the race, the IXC Men finished 2nd out of the NIRCA teams within the race, losing to Iowa State Running Club by a mere 18 points. It was a fierce battle, but in the end the Men were unable to hold off Iowa State after a few minor hiccups within the usual top 5. Although the IXC Men were slightly disappointed by their finish, Coach Jake Englander looks to rebound the men in the upcoming meets.

As for the IXC Club Women, the race went off at 12:00 PM. The race started off just as crazily as the Men”s race, with 49 women”s teams competing and 538 total women in the race. The Ladies kept their wits about themselves and went out smart. Jo Dibuz (So.) came in first for the IXC Women, placing 129th overall with a time of 19:35. Amanda Zamora (So.) followed closely in 19:43 placing 144th overall. Grace Hucek (So.), Jessie Balagtas (So.), and Beth McGreal rounded out the top 5 for the IXC Women on the day.

The women placed 23rd out of 49 teams. In the process, the women were the 2nd Club Team, losing to the Michigan Running Club. The women look to keep their heads up and their eyes on the prize, as nationals is only a month away. Keep on doing what your doing, ladies.

Look for the Men and Women to be at the Parkside Invitational hosted by IWU on Friday, October 7th, and at the UW La Crosse Invitational on Saturday, October 15th.

On Friday, September 9, 2011 the IXC Club headed out to the EIU Walt Crawford Open in Charleston, Illinois. Conditions were perfect, with overcast skies and temperatures in the mid 60s. With such perfect conditions came some blazing fast times.

The IXC Women started off the day with a 5 kilometer race. The ladies did a fantastic job competing, putting 2 women under 20:00 and 10 women under 21:00. Amanda Zamora (So.) led the team with an incredible time of 19:12.82, breaking the former IXC Club EIU 5k record. Jessie Balagtas (So.) followed closely behind with a time of 19:16.05, en route breaking the old IXC Club EIU 5k record, too. Kerry Devitt, Victoria Knauf, Jess Mulcrone (Sr.), Ryoh Shinohara (Jr.), and Megan Mocogni rounded out the top 7 for the women on the day, all coming in under 20:40. All the hard work that the women have put in thus far is beginning to show. Nice job ladies!

The men, fueled by the stunning performances the women put up, set out to run some fast times for themselves in the 8 kilometer race. Led by Aaron Silver (Sr.), Mike Frigo (Sr.) and Paul Vandervelde (Law School Phenom), the team put on a spectacular display of early season strength, getting 3rd out of 11 teams in the race. Aaron Silver finished first for the IXC, getting 8th overall with a new EIU 8k club record of 25:29.68. Mike Frigo followed, running 25:32.81 and getting 11th overall. Paul Vandervelde and Brendan McDonnell (So.) were also able to dip underneath the 26:00 barrier. Matt Birkel (So.), Blake Flood (So.), and Brett Lustgarten (Sr.) rounded out the top 7 for the Men. Some awesome statistics from the day include:

– 4 men under 26:00

-10 men under 27:00

-All but 4 IXC Men running at or under their 8k PR

Some big performances that deserve some attention include Alex Harrison (Jr.), Evan White (So.), Mark Hayes (So.), and Zach Boehmke (So.) running at or over 90 second 8k PR”s. Top freshman on the day was Arthur Eng, who ended up finishing 12th for the IXCC Men and 64th overall.

In all honesty, one could not write enough on here to display how incredibly the IXC Men and Women ran at EIU this year. Everybody showed up to race, and conditions permitted them all to race fast. It was a great day all around.

The Illinois XC Club opened up their 2011 cross country season on Friday, September 2nd with the Illini Challenge. Coach Jake Englander entered 16 on the women”s side and 24 on the men”s side. Both teams placed well, with the women finishing in 4th out of 6 teams and the men finishing in 4th out of 7 teams.

The Women, competing in a 4 kilometer race, had many great performances. Because of the intense heat, the women went out conservatively and moved up well, while still being competitive throughout the race. Some notably outstanding performances included Jo Dibuz (So.) finishing first for the IXC Women and 23rd overall in a time of 16:09 and Amanda Zamora (So.) finishing 26th overall with a time of 16:22. Amanda was closely followed by Jess Mulcrone (Sr.), who finished 27th overall in a time of 16:43. Grace Hucek (So.), Megan McGreal (So.), Michelle Turner (Fr.) and Nikki Razik (So.) rounded out the Top 7 for the IXC Women. The rest of the women finished in their respective packs, sticking to the Illinois XC Club pack mentality well. What a great start to the season!

On the Men”s side, there were also some great performances. The blistering heat didn”t stop the new Law School phenom, Paul Vandervelde, from finishing 13th overall with a time of 19:33. Mike Frigo (Sr.) and Aaron Silver (Sr.) both clocked some new PR”s at the Arboretum by finishing in 17th and 19th place overall (respectively). Mike DeRenzo (So.), Brendan McDonnell (So.), Brett Lustgarten (Sr.) and Ryan Jorgensen (So.) rounded out the Top 7 for the IXC Men. With a 49 second split for 1-5, the men are going to be hard to beat this year. One other fantastic performance included the top Freshman of the day, Joe Zeller, finishing in 20:48, which was good enough for 36th overall. But, probably the biggest news of all was an IXC pack taking places 39-47, showing the Illinois XC Club Men at their absolute finest! Keep up the good work, guys!

On Saturday, April 16, the ITC competed in the first ever NCCTF Nationals.  The men and women both won the meet. The men won with 234 points over Bowling Green State University (117) and University of Michigan (96). The women won with 158 points over University of Wisconsin (106) and Northeastern University (104).  The day was full of spectacular performances. For the men’s 100, Matt Halberthal finished second and was followed by Jack Skelton in forth. In the 200, both came back to score with Jack Skelton placing second and Matt Halberthal placing fifth. Jack Skelton then came back to win the 400m Dash and was followed by Michael Brothers in third and Michael Krueger in fifth. In the women’s 100, Erin Murphy placed second and Jo Dibuz finished seventh. Erin Murphy came back to win the 200. Grace Hucek followed finishing fifth. In the 400m Dash, Jessie Balagtas finished third and Amanda Zamora followed in fourth. In the women’s 800m Run, Jo Dibuz won the event and was followed by Grace Hucek in seventh. In the 1500, Amanda Zamora finished fourth. In the men’s 800, Ryan Jorgenson finished second and was followed by Aaron Silver in fourth and Blake Flood, who scored out of the slow heat, in fifth. In the 1500, Aaron Silver won with Ghandi Pathik finishing in third and Alec Nickolls in sixth. In the 110m hurdles, Scott Luedtke finished second and came back in the 400m hurdles to finish second. In the 400m hurdles, Ben Kanevsky and Dan Herber followed in third and sixth. In the women’s 400m hurdles, Maureen Foley and Emily McGowan finished third and fourth. In the 3000 steeplechase, Kathryn Krueger led the Illinois squad to a second through fourth finish with Emily McGowan and Maureen Foley. On the men’s side Blake Flood finished second and was followed by Sean Berbert in fifth, Dan Herber in sixth, and Kevin Happ in seventh. In the men’s 5000m run, Mike Frigo ran away with the race to win and was followed by Brendan McDonnell in fifth. The 10,000m run featured a pack of Illinois runners finishing second through fifth. Brett Lustgarten led the pack and was followed by Alex Harrison, Steve Kliene, and Matt Birkel. For the women’s 5000m run, Tennie Renkens ran away with the race to win. Lauren Frisbie and Jess Mulcrone followed in third and fourth. In the 10,000m run, Ryoh Shinohara placed second and Mary Looby placed fifth. In the relays, the women’s team placed second in both the 4x100m and 4x400m and third in the 4×800. On the men’s side, the teams placed first in the 4x100m and the 4x800m and placed second in the 4×400. In the Men’s Triple Jump, Manny Del Rio finished second and Steve Kelder finished fourth. In the Long Jump, Steve Kelder finished seventh. In the Shot Put, Matt Kmet finished second. In the Discus Matt Kmet finished second and Andy Becker finished seventh. For the Javelin, Ben Kanevsky placed second, John McCown placed sixth, and Aaron Silver placed seventh. In the women’s Triple Jump, Jess Mucrone placed fourth. In the Long Jump, Erin Murphy placed first and Grace Hucek placed fourth. In the Shot Put, Ryoh Shinohara placed eighth. The ICT will next race at Illinois College and Hillsdale on April 29^th and 30^th.

On April 9, 2011, the Illinois Track Club competed at Western Illinois University. The men placed 14^th with 11 points. In the 400, Jack Skelton scored running 49.60 to place 8^th. He was followed by Ben Kanevsky in 53.18 and Matt Luedtke in 57.47. In the 800, Ryan Jorgenson led the ITC in 1:58.06. He was followed by Michael Schmidt in 1:58.97, Michael DeRenzo in 2:01.26, Alex Manaois in 2:04.17, Zack Boehmke in 2:05.63, and Nathaniel Carter in 2:07.31. In the 1500, two people scored. Aaron Silver finished second in 3:57.38 and Pathik Ghandi finished seventh in 4:01.02. John McCown followed in 4:30.06. In the triple jump, Steven Kelder jumped 11.98m to set the club record and in the Discus Throw, Matt Kmet threw 32.89m to break the club record.

With the sun shining down and the cold brisk of winter fading into the horizon, the warmth feeling of spring is beginning to peek around the corner. Riding the coat tails of spring is that old familiar friend which we”ve all grown to love: Outdoor Track Season. With break behind them, the Illini have returned after a hard indoor season and is now stronger than ever. Wash U is the first official outdoor meet every year, and every year we look forward to opening our strides up on the less-claustrophobic track under the lights. With trust in their coach and training, the Illini packed up this past weekend and headed down to St. Louis, MO for the long awaited 2-day meet.

Day 1. As the Illini began trickling into the meet, there was a strange feeling in the atmosphere. It was as though something, or someone, was trying to tell them that they were about to shock the world of club running that weekend. The day began with a few notables, namely, in the field events. Steven Kelder exceeded expectations when he leaped an astounding 12.3m in the triple jump, which was more than enough to score for the team. Matt Kmet continued to swing the momentum in the hammer throw, launching it 42.21m, also scoring for the team. The women”s team showed excellent performances with Jess Mulcrone running 20:04 in the 5000m after struggling on and off with injuries. Alas, as the sun began to set, the highly anticipated men”s 5000m was about to begin. It was a fight right from the sound of the gun. This was not going to be a tactical race. It was going to be fast. It was going to be a race of guts. Everyone that toed the line and everyone who was watching knew it well. High expectations were riding atop Michael Spillone and Michael Frigo, and they knew it. It”s a good thing that these two thrive under pressure. They were prepared to fight the field. Back and forth, they went… and in a flash, the race was over. Spillone and Frigo has crossed the line taking 2-3 in a blazing 14:37 and 14:39 official time respectively. Setting the standards high for the club, the rest of the day was left to the enduro-beasts known only as the 10,000 meter runners. Brett Lustgarten led the 10k runners in his first 10k ever with at time of 33:25. Freshman Matt Birkel soon followed in 33:37. With The Great Steve, freshmen Adam Snyder and Ben Zeman running 33:56, 34:04 and 35:02 respectively, the team currently stood 2nd overall. The pace was finally set for the following day to come.

Day 2. After a night of rest, the Illini returned to the field, hungrier than ever. Freshman Amanda Zamora kept expectations high for the Illini as she ran a 5:03 in the 1500m. Michael Spillone and Michael Frigo returned and doubled in the 1500m race and took 1-2 with a time of 3:59 and 4:00 respectively. After the previous night”s performance, the word ‘”surprising'” was no longer part of the club”s vocabulary. Pathik Ghandi ran a great time of 4:06. With all these great times, the sprinters felt a need to have their voices heard as well, and day 2 was their time. Jack Skelton was able to add on more points as he ran 50.39 in the 400m dash. Freshman Matt Halberthal gave an excellent performance in the 100m dash as he scored with a time of 11.06. Pathik Ghadi showed an impressive double as he finished his day off with a 1:59.62 in the 800m. The steeplers were also anxious to show what they were capable of. Freshmen Emily McGowan was able to score some more points for the Illini as she ran 13:30 in the women”s 3000m steeplechase. On the men side, Freshmen Blake Flood led the way for the Illini and there were personal records set across the board. Our very own Alex Harrison, a 10k runner, showed a great performance on day 2 as he set a personal record in the 400m race, counter-productive to 10k running, whilst blazing a 60.8.

Overall, this was a great weekend for the club. Records broken, standards set, and expectations high. This is only the beginning. Club Track Nationals is just around the corner, and we”ve only begun to play…