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As the sun comes to rest on the evening of March 18th, the majority of students attending the University of Illinois pack their cars anxiously looking to escape into the oasis that is Spring Break. However, within the midst of all the commotion, a small group of dedicated steeple-chasers mentally prepare for their first chance at attacking the dreadful water pit, which quietly waits at the back turn of the Rose Hulman track. The pain of racing 3000 meters with 28 barriers and 7 water jumps has now taken over their thoughts. Spring break is the last thing on their minds. The 2 hour trip to the track seemed to have flashed by in an instant before they began warming up for their first steeple race of the year. The fresh smell of pine filled the air during the warm up and faded during the last couple of striders prior to the race.

Emily McGowan, Blake Flood, Sean Berbert, Kevin Happ and Dan Herber can now feel the uncomfortable butterflies within their stomachs. How strange it is! Taken over by the same feeling before every race hundreds of times prior and yet it still lingers. It is fine though. All part of the routine. All part of the motions. All part of the rituals before the race. Within a blink of an eye. BANG! The gun goes off and, just a quickly as they settled, the butterflies scatter away. A small field on both the men and the women’s side of the race, but it makes no difference. These proud ICCTC runners approach every race as if it were their last. This was Emily McGowan’s first steeple race and she gave ICCTC a great starting momentum by placing 3rd overall and setting a new club record with an impressive 13:53.37.

Not too long after, the men of Illinois followed with a strong performance. With freshmen Blake Flood dominating the previous club record in a time of 10:18.85, taking 2nd place. Senior Sean Berbert soon closed the gap in 10:33.12, taking 3rd place for the Illini. Kevin Happ (11:01.74) and Dan Herber (11:11.20) showed great potential in their first ever steeple races, taking 6th and 8th place respectively. With everyone setting a new personal record, at the end of the day, the steeplers of ICCTC showed great performances at their first outdoor meet of the season.

We hope to see big things from, not only the steeplers but also the rest of ICCTC further down the road this season. The ICCTC is currently preparing for the annual WashU outdoor invitational next weekend in St. Louis. And so beings the outdoor track season.

On Friday, February 18, the ICCTC competed at the Eastern Illinois University Friday Night Special. The night started off with the 5000m where Ryoh Shinohara ran 18:41.05 and Alex Harrison ran 16:17.02. The men’s 3000m run followed where there were a number of spectacular performances. Mike Spillone set the club record in 8:35.48. He was followed by Mike Frigo in 8:39.22 and Aaron Silver in 8:41.32, both breaking the previous club record. Brendan McDonnell also ran a great race in 8:49.81. In the women’s 3000m, Tennie Renkens set the club record in 10:38.37. In the 600m run, Mike Brothers just missed the club record in 1:25.38. In the women’s 800m, Jo Dibuz (2:24.78) and Lexie Wirtas (2:28.5) ran good races.  In the men’s 400m, Jack Skelton set the club record in 51.29. The ICCTC will next compete at the NITCA Midwest Regional in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

On Saturday, February 7, the ICCTC men and women defended their titles at the 3^rd Annual Illinois Club Relays. The men won with 102 points over Michigan (72) and NIRCA Cross Country Champions Wisconsin (69). The women won with 90 points over Wisconsin (78) and Michigan (28). The day held a number of great performances.

In the Women’s 55m dash, Selah Lee won setting the meet and club record in 7.72. In the 3000m Ryoh Shinohara finished second in 11:07.72 and paired with Jess Mulcrone won the Relay event. In the 4x200m Relay, the women’s team of Selah Lee, Anjelica Maranan, Emily Schabinger, and Jo Dibuz won in a club and meet record of 1:57.27. The 4x400m Relay also featured a club record with the team of Amanda Zamora, Lexi Wirtas, Grace Hucek, and Jo Dibuz winning in 4:30.89. In the 4×800 Relay, Lexi Wirtas, Jessie Balagtas, Jo Dibuz, and Danelle Woods won in 9:52.35 in a meet and club record. In the 4×1600, Jessie Balagtas, Amanda Zamora, Emily McGowan, and Danelle Woods finished second in a club record of 22:34.85. In the SMR, the team of Selah Lee, Anjelica Maranan, Emily Schabinger, and Grace Hucek won in a club and meet record of 4:53.16. In the field events, Selah Lee won the triple jump with a jump of 9.12m.

On the men’s side there were a number of great performances. In the 55m Dash, Matt Halberthal set the meet record along with his own club record in 6.67 and along with Ben Schmenk, won the relay event. In the men’s 3k, Mike Frigo won in 8:47.04 followed closely by Mike Spillone in 8:47.92 both breaking the club record and winning the relay event. Brendan McDonnell also ran a great race in 8:54.08, finishing 3^rd overall. In the 4x200m Relay, the team of Matt Halberthal, Jack Skelton, Jason Wandrey, and Mike Kruger won in a meet and club record in 1:35.64. In the 4x400m, Jack Skelton, Ryan Jorgenson, Mike Schmitt, and Mike Brothers won running a meet record of 3:32.32. In the 4x800m, Ryan Jorgenson, Pathik Gandhi, Mike Brothers, and Aaron Silver ran a meet and club record of 7:57.32 winning the event. In the 4x1600m Relay, Blake Flood, Alec Nicholls, Mike Frigo, and Aaron Silver ran a great race to win in a meet and club record of 17:55.62. In the Shot Put, Matt Kmet won the event with a throw of 12.26m. In the triple jump, Manny Del Rio won with a jump of 11.79m and paired with Steve Kelder, won the relay event.

On Saturday, January 29, the ICCTC competed at the Titan Open at Illinois Wesleyan University. Things got started off quickly in the men’s Distance Medley Relay where the women’s team, comprised of Tenne Renkens, Grace Hucek, Jo Dibuz, and Danelle Woods, ran away from the field with a club record of 12:50.48. In the men’s DMR, the A team featuring Aaron Silver, Jack Skelton, Mike Brothers, and Mike Spillone broke away from the field and ran a new record of 10:19.36. The B team also ran a great race finishing just behind the second place team in 10:41.85. The members included Mike Frigo, Mike Schmidt, Pathik Gandhi and Brendan McDonnell. In the mile Ryoh Shinohara ran a great race in 5:29.84 and Jessie Balagtas ran 5:44.52. On the men’s side there were many great performances by Blake Flood (4:38.78), Kevin Wolz (5:01.35), and Jake Englander (5:04.19). In the 3k Victoria Ngo-Lam (12:37.02), Jessica Ang (12:43.14), and Maureen Foley (12:36.82) ran well on the women’s side while for the men Brett Lustgarten (9:20.58), Alex Harrison (9:30.59), Andy Becker (9:48.01), and Ben Zeman (9:54.68) put out good performances. In the men’s 800, Ryan Jorgenson ran 1:58.08 in a new club record and, Nathen Carter (2:09.05) and Cory Cameron (2:10.14) ran great first races. The men’s 4×400 consisting of Matt Halberthal, Ryan Jorgenson, Mike Brothers, and Jack Skelton set a new club record to finish off the day in 3:29.95. In the shot put, Matt Kmet improved his own club record by throwing for 12.76m. The ICCTC will next compete on Saturday in the 3rd Annual Illinois Club Relays.

On Saturday, January 22, the ICCTC opened up their season at the EIU Mega meet and had a number of promising starts to the season. In the 60m, Matt Halberthal began his season breaking the 60m record in 7.21. In the 600, Jo Dibuz ran 1:44.76 breaking the club record. Selah Lee also went on to break the record in the triple jump jumping 9.53m. In the shot put, Matt Kmet threw for 12.17m breaking his own club record. In the jumps Scott Luedtke and Manny Del Rio had promising starts. The ICCTC next compete in the IWU Titan Open next Saturday.