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Heavy rains slogged the course at Lewis University in Romeoville last weekend, but the runners of IXC refused to be deterred by less than ideal course conditions. Stiff D2 level competition allowed our runners to mingle with and race teams of a higher caliber than will be encountered at NIRCA Nats.

Starting with the women’s race. As per usual this season, Natalie Sarris ran a well-measured race, moving up the whole time and finishing 39th overall to lead the team with a 23:31.6. Ms. President Julia Schultz was next for the team, with a solid time of 24:19.4. 20 seconds later, Grace Gudwein came through with another solid performance in 24:40.9. Freshman Brisa Mcgrath had a great top 7 performance in 25:34.5. She was followed in close order by Senior Mia Bertaud in 25:53.5. Freshman Audrey Calkins was 6th for the team in 27:30.4. Rounding out our top 7 was Freshman Mikeelie Jensen in 27:43.8. This was an excellent return to racing for Mikeelie, who ran the race after 2k with only one shoe, and after dealing with ankle sprains and other injuries in the lead-up. Running with one shoe is an interesting tactical choice, but in this case it clearly paid off. Next time 2, 3, or even shoes may lead to a faster time though.

Up next was a very close pack of runners. Clare Oehler, Maddy Feehan, Riley Maloney, Emily Condic, Lucy Jensen, and Lauren Brunk , who all finished within 15 seconds of each other with times of 28:07.9, 28:08.3, 28:11.4, 28:12.4, 28:15.6, and 28:23.3, respectively. Now that is the kind of pack running you like to see on this team! All runners in this group ran excellent, but a special shoutout to Riley Maloney, who is regaining some excellent form through hard work and dedication after dealing with injuries in past seasons.

Next up for the Illini was Brianna Legner in 29:23.1, who is working hard to catch up to the “mega-pack”. Then came Gabby Aguilar-Ripley 29:29.4. Grace “Big Dog” McDonough 29:38.3. Lauren Bartels came through in another solid performance of 32:53.8, followed by Natalie Maguire in 33:10.3. MaryBeth Feeley finished in a time of 34:56.7, followed by newcomer Mary Rose Farruggio in 36:34.6, and Katelyn Howley in 37:59.8. Nice job ladies!

Now for our muddy men. The men’s 8k for IXC was paced by head coach Josh Mollway , who ran a very solid race with a time of 26:19.1, not too far off from his fast-course times, and on a really slow day. Ryan Somerfield and Justin Ostrem were next for the Illini with times of 27:38.8 and 27:46.6. John Kellum and Matthew “Becky” Beckerman ran hard-fought races to finish 4th and 5th for the team with times of 28:09.2 and 28:12.8, respectively. Big shoutout to Becky, who based on his performance was likely pretending to be sick with the flu and injured from a motorcycle falling on his leg the past month. Thanks for hustling me and the other gamblers, Matt. Because of you, I lost thousands of dollars, my house, my car, and my wife to the casino. I only kept $12 because of a small hedge bet I placed in case you had the race of your life… oof.

Connor Farrell was next for the men in 6th on the team with a time of 28:23, followed by Freshman Spencer Nelson , who ran a great race to make his first top-7 appearance for the club in 28:29.9! Well Done! Loan Shark/IXC Treasurer Alex Kogen took some time out of beating up freshman for their meet money to finish 8th on the team in 29:23.3. Jeffrey Hesselbein was next in 29:40.4, followed by Cade Baker in 29:56.5. Breaking 30 minutes was no easy feat on the Lewis Course. Senior Daniel Engel just barely missed dipping under 30 with a 30:00.1, however this was a super-fast race for the lad on a tough course. He is ready to run a heck of a lot faster at regionals if he got more than 1 hour of sleep a week. Freshman Justice Carter finished close behind Daniel with a 30:02.7, and Garrett Minich was another 7 seconds back in 30:09.3.

Finishing close to Garrett were the goon boys Lucas Carillo and Tim Green, who came through with times of 30:17.9 and 30:20.1, respectively. What a bunch of THUGS. Liam Bots was only 0.7 seconds behind Thug Tim, but Liam is a good boy. Nice race and a nice guy! Old man and grad student Wassim Elhouar finished up telling some youngsters about his service in the merchant marine corp during the war, just in time to race at Lewis, and finished with a time of 30:53.9. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Wassim is getting fast. Mid-D Coach Patrick Willhalm ran about 200x as far as he usually runs to make his season debut in the 8k with a time of 31:29.0. He finished next to Senior Zac MacAdam , who we are happy to have back this season!

Freshman Arthur Mazzeo was next in a solid time of 32:01.5, followed by Norb Nieves in 32:19.2. Two other Freshman, Nathan Zachar and Saif Kazmi , also went under 33 minutes with times of 32:27.3 and 32:40.1. Marcus Herrington and John Feeley came through together in times of 33:05.9 and 33:07.8.

Olan Bruyere gets his own paragraph as usual. It’s not favoritism, it’s science. He ran 34:07.1.

Running under the fake name of Evan Patel was Sam Barranco, who finished in a time of 34:14.1. Our secretary Evan is a FRAUD and a HACK, so I’m glad it was actually Sam who ran under his name. Evan told me to “roast him in the meet recap”. I would go into more heinous detail, but the executive board told me to keep this professional. Feel free to message me on linkedin for roasting of Evan Patel .

Finishing it up for the IXC men were Raymond Romero , Thomas Tran, and Tristan Taylor with times of 34:36.9, 34:37.5, and 34:52.9, respectively. Although the IXC women’s “mega-pack” was the best out there today, these freshman guys have a solid group going too.

And that finishes up the race performances for IXC at Lewis. However, this weekend would not have been possible without several families of IXC members opening up their homes to host the club overnight in the suburbs. A special thanks to the Schultz, Feeley, Mollway, Minich, Jensen, and Hesselbein families for hosting our runners last weekend! We appreciate your support!

Till next time! Get excited for IXC regionals AT HOME this year in the arboretum on Nov 2nd!

In past years, the Augustana XC meet was a brutal affair, with temperatures often in the 90+ degrees range. This year, however, the conditions were perfect. Low temperatures and a flat course set the stage for some fast times; and the men and women of IXC certainly took advantage of the opportunity

First, the women’s race. As a team, the women performed great against NCAA programs, finishing 7th overall with 175 points. Sophomore Natalie Sarris lurked in the top 20 through the first mile of the race, and then blasted away from the field. She maintained a massive lead throughout the final mile of the race, and was the individual champion in a time of 22:05.7, second all-time in club history! Up next was sophomore Grace Gudwein , who moved up throughout the race and finished 6th overall in 22:45.4. Working with Grace was our president, Julia Schultz , who held on through nausea. Her toughness was rewarded with a 17th place finish in 23:03.0. Mia Bertaud hung back from the initial fast pace, and picked off runners as she moved up throughout the race, finishing with a time of 24:39.4. Freshman Maddy Feehan was next with a time of 25:57.3. She was followed by the ever inseparable Lauren Brunk and Audrey Calkins , who ran the entire race together with near identical times of 26:24.0 and 26:24.3 to finish 7th and 8th on the team.

Senior Brianna Legner has now gone 2/2 on PR-ing in races this season, with a 26:46.3 effort. NIRCA drug testing policies are essentially non-existent, but we sincerely hope she is clean in the wake of the recent NOP revelations! After struggling with injuries the past year, Junior Grace Mcdonough showed no struggles today, running a time of 27:05.3. To quote, “I was feeling gooood”. We hope that good feeling isn’t from any association with Alberto Salazar. Senior Margo Van Loon was next with a solid time of 27:55.8. Even better, she is a top contender for teammate of the year already, reportedly encouraging teammates and even other competitors WHILE racing. Lauren Bartels ran a strong race, and finished with a 30:01.1 PR. Sub 30 is knocking on the door. Natalie Maguire ran 30:25.7, and freshman Marybeth Feeley ran 32:38.4. Katelyn Howley and newcomer Mengyan Liu wrapped it up for the women with times of 38:32.2 and 42:02.4. Keep an eye out for some huge drops in time as we get closer to nationals!

Next, the men’s race. Although the U of Chicago xc team was the class of the field, with a perfect score of 15, the IXC men had an excellent performance in grabbing 2nd place as a team, beating out many solid D2/D3 programs in the process. Coach Josh Mollway started off relaxed and moved up as usual for 7th place overall and a 25:36.6 time. Sophomore Justin Ostrem has been killing it at practice lately, and ran 25:59.7 for 22nd overall. Ole man Ryan Somerfield ran 26:14.9, and felt smooth throughout. He is looking to get out less conservative next time, and we all know he can run sub-26 when he’s feeling good. Junior John Kellum has struggled with running cross country in the past. The workouts have been there, the track times indicate high potential, but the races just haven’t come together in XC. That was not the case at Augustana, where Kellum finally had the race he knew he was capable of, running a massive PR of 26:33.0 in the process! Who knows how much faster he can run?! Congratulations man!

Glorified carpool planner Connor Farrell followed up his Aurora performance with another top-7 finish in 26:33.7. Sadly, he didn’t eat a Culver’s afterwards with the bulk of the team… nerd. Nikita Smyrnov paid the iron price for going out hard with the leaders, finishing in 26:40.6. However, what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger. We love the aggressiveness this early in the season. Cody “Dr. Thicc” Lund was next in 27:15.5. He has been running well and running consistent. Matthew Beckerman had a series of unfortunate events; a motorcycle fell on his leg, and he was out with the flu for weeks. You wouldn’t have even noticed it seeing how this guy ran a 27:49 on about a week of running, just off his PR! Freshman Spencer “Spencie” Nelson was next in 28:02.3, followed closely by the hard closing, heavily injured, and possibly roided out Evan Patel in 28:08.3. Dojomaster Alex Kogen and Freshman Justice Carter , (who was making his debut), finished together in 28:20.3 and 28:21.5, respectively. Freshman Cade Baker got all pumped up listening to his favorite rapper, Yung PP, in the car ride over. It showed today with his 28:27.7, but he probably should listen to actually good artists, like Queen , and Tech N9ne.

John Walls ran 28:44.1 in his first race for the club, followed by Tim Green , who PR’d with a time of 28:46.0. Lucas Carillo also PR’d with a 28:54.9, despite still being sick after a month. Nice sub-29 though! Freshman Arthur Mazzeo and Sophomore Nathan Saltzman also finished closely together, with times of 29:16.7 and 29:20.9. Daniel “Rocket” Engel ran a 29:28.6, and likes rocket-related things. Despite having a tough semester, Matt Dickinson has still been putting the work in with night runs on his own. He finished with a time of 30:04.8, and is still running close to his best! Senior Zac Macadam returned from his year-long sabbatical from the club, and ran great with a 30:34.4. Marcus “Mr. 5:20” Herrington went out a little too quick, but still finished next to Nathan Zachar , with both finishing in times of 31:07.2 and 31:07.7. Rumor has it thanos ran the 8k at Augustana. Those rumors were correct, as John Feeley dished out a little street justice with his 31:44.3 time. This guy has been consistent with his training, dedicated, and has been dropping time like a goon. Sam Barranco and Tristan Taylor were next in 32:15.7 and 32:19.3, respectively.

How could I respect myself as a webmaster if I didn’t give Olan Bruyere his own paragraph in this writeup? Luckily, I clearly respect myself. Olan Bruyere ran 32:30.4 for his 8k. Sometimes a big dog’s gotta eat.

Three freshman rounded it out for IXC men. Raymond Romero , Isaac Schifferer , and Thomas Tran ran 33:26.6, 33:44.4, and 33:45.6. Keep an eye on this training group; they”re only going to get faster and faster.

And this concludes another successful outing. Good luck to our runners at the Lewis XC invite tomorrow, and expect a recap of their performances soon!

Friday the 13th is traditionally viewed as an unlucky day, but the men and women of IXC had anything but that on the first race of the season at Aurora, producing some super fast performances. With perfect weather and a flat course, the team did not disappoint.

On the women’s side, new Sophomore Natalie Sarris ran her first 6K with the club in a stellar 22:15.0, good for 4th place overall and one of the fastest times in club history! After a summer of consistent training, our President/overlord and local coffee junkie Julia Schultz was 6th overall with a time of 22:34.0. Sophomore Grace Gudwien had a terrific first season with the club last year, culminating in an All-American finish at nationals. She continued to impress at Aurora this year, coming through with a top 10 performance and a massive PR of 22:51.9, skipping the 23 minute zone entirely. Mia Bertaud was 4th for the team with a time of 24:12.4. Freshmen Annika Koester , Mikeelie Jensen , and Sophomore Clare Oehler rounded out the top 7 for the women with excellent debuts of 24:45.5, 25:02.0, and 25:23.1, respectively.

Following them was a stream of new runners dropping some impressive times. Maddy Feehan ran 25:26.5, followed by Ally Tippett with a 25:40.7. Brisa McGrath and Lauren Brunk finished closely together with times of 26:15.0 and 26:22.0 respectively. Audrey Calkins raced despite having bronchitis, but still produced a great time in 26:46.4. We’re all looking forward to seeing what she can run while healthy. After a summer of training on her own in the corn fields, Senior Brianna Legner showed up with a PR of 27:10.6! Margo Van Loon ran her first ever race in a great time of 27:36.0 and finished next to returning Sophomore Gabby Aguilar-Ripley , who ran 27:38.8. Big dog Grace McDonough has dealt with a frustrating series of injuries in the past year, but raced with a time of 27:48.4! It’s great to have her back in action! Our very own Gender Minority Captain Riley Maloney was next in 28:16.4, and is hungry to improve as the season goes on. New freshmen Lauren Bartels and Maggie Kosterman were next in 29:18.8 and 29:19.4, respectively. Grad student Anna Winnicki was next in 29:37.1, and Sophomore Natalie Maguire rounded it out for the women with a 30:06.1. She is looking forward to running better next time, and we all know that she will drop lots of time as the season goes on!

On the men’s side, the charge was lead by the supreme duo of Head Coach Josh Mollway , and Russian hacker Nikita Smyrnov , who finished neck and neck in 25:36.2 and 25:36.4, good for 4th and 5th place overall! Justin Ostrem also dipped under 26 minutes and was 9th overall with a time of 25:54.3. Junior Brian Butcher had an oof moment and forgot his spikes at home, but still impressed with a 12th overall and 26:01.7 performance in trainers. God, what a heart throb. Ryan Somerfield didn’t have the race he wanted but still ran well, finishing 16th overall with a time of 26:11.9. Ole redbeard will be back for sure, and he has his sights set on getting another piece of paper (or better) at Nats. Webmaster Jarod Meyer broke 28 and 27 minutes for the first time with a 26:22.6 performance to get 25th overall and, even better, cucked Travel Coordinator/Aspiring Soundcloud rapper Connor Farrell out of the last meet t-shirt. Connor still ran a fantastic PR in 26:25.4 for 26th overall, and is happy to be back and fit again. We’re all looking forward to his album too.

Continuing the stream of IXC men was converted Sophomore Middle-Distance runner and Newman Hall Guru Jeffrey Hesselbein , who in his first 8K ever ran a ridiculous 27:01.5. Some quick math shows that the 8K is 10 times as long as the 800m, making this a very impressive run for a big step up in distance. Freshman Spencer Nelson also ran great in his IXC debut, closely following Jeff with a time of 27:02.7. Merry thiccmas definitely came early this year, as Senior Cody Lund ran a PR of 27:11.1. Sophomore Jordan Meyer also PR’d huge with a time of 27:29.3 while running on no sleep the whole week. John Kellum did not feel great but still ran a 27:41. Kellum will be dangerous later in the season when the good races start coming. After punishing his body with feats of strength before school even started, McChicken enthusiast and naughty secretary Evan Patel still broke 28 minutes with a 27:48.8 performance on a destroyed leg. Once he ups the caffeine dose to the kilogram range, he’ll drop that by another 5-10 minutes. Up next was Daniel Engel who shattered his PR and is knocking on the door of the sub-28 range with a 28:01.4. German exchange student Lukas Koller ran a time of 28:24.8, with freshman Cade Baker right behind him in 28:26.4. Very nice debuts! New Freshman Arthur Mazzeo ran great to finish in 28:59.5, just barely edging out fraternity legend Timothy Green , who was also clocked at 28:59.5.

Gies Business student and full-time IXC treasurer Alex Kogen ran solid with a 29:03.5, with a rabid pack of other IXC boys right on his heels. Sophomore Robbie Sieczkowski was next in 29:15.6, followed closely by new freshmen Ian Repking and Garrett Minich . They both ran awesome with times of 29:16.5 and 29:17.9, respectively. Sophomore Lucas Carillo was weighed down by his gat, (and an illness), but still ran a PR of 29:24.3 while “surrounded by killers”. Hinsdale Central enthusiast Nathan Saltzman tracked him closely with a very respectable time of 29:31.5. Senior Matt Dickinson is just getting back into the swing of training, but put up a very promising time of 30:10.6. He’s gonna drop some big time off of that.

In his first 8K, Grad student and former teacher Wassim Elhouar continues to put children in their place with a great run of 30:26. Senior Sean Frintner also ran 30:26.4 despite not being able to train much, a sign of good things to come later in the season. Freshman Norb Nieves ran a great debut of 30:42.8, much faster than his Big Ten 10K time where he clapped Jarod Meyer’s cheeks. Another freshman, Justin Baysore , was next with a time of 31:57.2. Look for him to improve as well as he gets used to the 8K. Sophomore club legend John Feeley ran a time of 32:14.5, and is on pace to have an awesome second season. Freshmen Tristan Taylor , Isaac Schifferer , Marcus Herrington , Saif Kazmi , and Sahil Yemul all ran solid openers with times of 32:49.9, 32:58.1, 33:13.2, 33:20.3, and 34:07.9, respectively. All five of them are getting used to the jump from 3 miles to 8K, but will improve rapidly as the season goes on. Keep an eye on that Isaac kid too, sub 33 minutes is impressive for having never run before joining the club less than a month ago!

Aurora was a great start for IXC club’s competition record this year, with 22 women and 35 men finishing the races! Even better than that, everybody got to feast at Culver’s after the race. Congratulations to all of the new people who finished. 6K’s and 8K’s are very difficult to get used to, especially moving up in distance from the 3 miles/5k’s everybody runs in high school. Even though the Aurora course is one of the fastest ones we race on, a tidal wave of PRs can be expected from the new runners as they train consistently and get used to the patent-pending IXC racing strategy.

Till next time! Stay tuned for another action write-up when the men and women of IXC take on the competition at the Brissman-Lundeen invitational in Rock Island, Illinois on October 4th. Rock Island is also the homeplace of the hit underground single “A Nite in Rock Island” by famous rapper Chief Big. The song is the highpoint of his 2010 album “Town Business”, which has run rampant on the spotify charts the past few years.

With the start of the new semester brings about the start of a brand new season for the men and women of IXC! The gun goes off this Friday at our first meet of the season at the Aurora XC meet, located in the scenic (and usually muddy) Oakhurst Forest Preserve. The Women will start us off with the 6K at 5:00 PM, followed by the Men’s 8K at 5:45.

My decrepit Senior heart is warmed to see so many new runners signed up for the first meet of the year, and it makes me look back on all the XC races I’ve had the privilege of running with this club the past 3 years. Although meets are a great way to showcase your fitness and claw for that always coveted PR, I am a firm believer that XC meets are the best way to bond and get to know your fellow teammates.

To all you new people on the club, the exec board and I hope your years on this team get to be spent with hours laughing in meet car rides, and countless burgers and shakes at Culver’s (or questionable spaghetti dinners at Fazoli’s). Whether you are ready to strut your stuff after a summer of running, or just getting back into the swing of things, hopefully this first meet of the year will be a fun way to test your fitness and get to know your teammates better.

Get hyped for Friday! And maybe offer up a little voodoo sacrifice so that we don’t have a car breaking down an hour away from the meet like last year. Actually, get a large group of people (20-30+) together and do a mass voodoo ritual because we really don’t want that to happen again.

A few of our runners participated in the last available meets of the year at North Central College. At the Dr. Keeler Invitational, Beau Barber ran sub 55 again in the 400m with a time of 54.94! John Kellum ran a PR in the open 800 with his performance of 1:57.74! Then at the Gregory Invitational, Evan Patel continued to drop time in the 1500m, capping his season with a run of 4:07.32!

Congrats to these athletes on their performances, and congrats to all athletes on a great season!

We look forward to seeing everyone next year! Have a great summer and good luck to those competing in cross country!

A few of our athletes took the opportunity to compete post-nationals at Illinois College last weekend.

In the men’s 100m, Michael Jang crossed the line in 11.22, just narrowly missing a new PR while beating both of his 100m performances from Oxford. John Brandenburg ran 11.43 for his best 100m time of the season! PJ Coleman finished in 13.87, setting a new PR by almost a second! Sure, it was a bit windy out there, but these guys ran awesome times among those aspiring DIII nats qualifying varsity chumps.

Becky Haight had strong performances of her own in the 100m. She ran 12.33 in the prelims and 12.47 in the finals! Desarae Echevarria came through in 13.20.

In the 200m, Andy Marszewski clocked in at 23.02. Michael Jang posted 23.20, with John Brandenburg behind in 23.33.

Becky Haight ran fast again in her 200 coming through in a time of 25.26.

Andy Marszewski led our 400m performances, running 50.71 for his second sub 51 performance this season! Justin Nebel came in next in 51.59. Then it was Beau Barber with his 54.64, a season best for him!

Running his first 800 was Alex Bienduga who ran a pretty impressive 2:09.05. I bet he could improve at least five seconds or so on that if he became more experienced in the event.

Malorie Moore was our lone female 800m runner. She crossed the line in 2:30.66 in her first 800 this season!

We had just one distance runner at Illinois College in Josh Feldman. This senior, who was All-American in the steeple a few weeks ago, won the 5000m with a time of 15:50!

Michael Jang also competed in the 110m hurdles, where he went 15.92 in the prelims and 16.23 in the finals, both of these times were under his previous best mark!

In the women’s 100m hurdles, Desarae Echevarria ran 16.50 in the prelims and 17.06 in the finals. Both of these runs were under her previous best!

Alton Barbehenn is a busy grad student who competed for the first time this season, although he has been to many practices over the months. He ran 1:01.02 in the 400m hurdles, which would’ve given him 16th place at NIRCA Nationals! PJ Coleman crossed the line in 1:14.44, a new PR of seven seconds!

Our men put together a 4x100m team of John Brandenburg, Michael Jang, Alex Bienduga, and Andy Marszewski. They ran 42.86, our fastest time in that event all season, and the second best time in our club’s history!

Taylor Millsap competed and won the pole vault with her mark of 3.43m (11’ 3”)!

Justin Nebel landed at 6.30m (20’ 8”) in the long jump.

Congrats to these athletes on their impressive marks and times!

As the end of the season approaches, we only have two more meets to which we will only be sending a few athletes. Both are at North Central College in Naperville, the first being May 9th and 10th.

Good luck with finals, everyone!

Alexa, play All We Got by Chance the Rapper Ft. Kanye West. “And we back and we back and we back…”.

Mid Distance and Sprints have been the reliable and consistent performers of our track program since day 1. After their semester of training, they finally got to lace up their spikes, put on an Illinois Uniform, and wait for the gun. At the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open, ITFC showed up to compete with veterans and, more importantly, young bucks.

Hurdle coach Jang has had some trouble recruiting people to do hurdles. But he’s got a real athlete in Desarae Echevarria, a graduate student from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. She ran 10.6 for the hurdles and jumped 4.67m in the long jump.

Quick side note about the times: the timing system was acting up, so they might not be too accurate. Some events were hand-timed. Point is, we came to compete, and we did.

Becky Haight is good at the 60m. Very good. She ran 8.2 in the prelims and then 8.00 (!!!) to take 3rd in the finals. That is a PR for her if we look past the timing issues. Timing issues or not, she’ll be sub 8.00 this year so we can call her “Becky Sub-Haight”.

Other ladies in the 60m dash included returner Katherine Miles (9.2) and newcomer Taylor Calcagno from Fenwick (9.3). After stalking her MileSplit profile, it appears she threw shot, discus, triple jumped, is sub 30 in the 200, 1:05 in the 400 and ran the three mile. That range is just impressive.

Thomas Harris ran 7.22 which would be a PR for the 60m. Jad Karajeh, a newcomer from Tinley Park with several triple jumps over 40’, ran 7.35. For Jad, this meet was a ‘wake-up call’. A real competitor and consistent trainer, he realized he needs to work even more to compete with college athletes. Time to start setting big goals.

In the women’s 300, Kaleigh Evans threw down a 44.90 and Malorie Moore ran 47.3. Malorie was 9th at last Spring’s nationals with a time of 1:04.73 in the 400. Keeping up with Malorie was newcomer Tatiana Montanez. Tatiana was nervous about her first big meet (and it didn’t help that the starters reset the runners like 3 times) but she had a strong day overall. She ran 47.3 in the 300. That’s very fast, especially for DECEMBER 1st!!!!!

Sophomore studdddd Andy ran 36.30 in the 300 and 23.33 in the 200 (2nd place). He’s gonna be a busy guy during club relays running the SMR, the 4×400, and if Coach Richard has anything to say, he’ll be in the 3k.

Speaking of distance guys, Patrick Willhalm came hot off an XC season to run 4:57.6 in the mile. Not the time he might have wanted, but he’s fit and had a phenomenal XC season which gives him proper base mileage for his mid D adventures.

Ciara Ward ran 31.4 in the 200 and Katherine Miles ran 31.58. Zoom zoom.

Fun fact, people do pole vault at meets, but they train the Champaign’s Pole Vault Junkies. Taylor Millsap jumped 3.35m for 4th place, Kat Leiner jumped 3.05m for 5th, Ciara 2.6m for 12th, and Ben Juronski jumped 4.1m to take 3rd.

Justin Nebel, the big shot national champion long jumper, jumped 6.39m followed by Max Shaw in 5.67m. Max was looking forward to the triple jump as well but scratched. He still had a phenomenal week of practice and is gonna do some damage at club relays.

Coach Skogsberg always enters Josh Mollway in as some brutal distortion of his name. Today, Josh Mollway was Jebediah Malware. Some days he’s Josiah. I don’t know. In the 3k, Richard ran 8:59. Josh ran 8:51. They were solo the whole time, pretty much, get these two some competition they’ll bust something crazy.

In the 600m, Jeffrey Hesselbein of Barrington ran 1:30!!!!! I think we found a new leg for the 4×800…

Now to the women’s 600, 3 laps around the track. Lauren Grant, fresh off of an engagement(!) ran 1:41.81 which shatters the club record of 1:43.70 set by legendary head coach Lauren Jonen. Big moves, big PR, big history.

Happy training over winter break, y’all! Club relays is coming!”,2018-12-04 13:00:00+00,Indoor
277,Josh Mollway,Men and Women Take Third at Nationals,”Both our men’s and women’s squads walked away from Miami University last weekend with third place trophies, among numerous All-American accolades. Our runners ran fast, our throwers threw far, and our jumpers leaped far and high.

Over the entire two day meet, countless personal bests were set, heats were won, and even an MVP was trophied to the Illinois Track and Field Club. More importantly, however, the Illinois faces were smiling and laughing as everyone cheered for one another and played a big part in each other’s successes.

The first event of the meet was the women’s 100m prelims. Becky Haight ran 12.82 in these prelims, to then run 12.60 in the semis, to then become, once again, a national champion with her run of 13.02 in the finals! It was a close final, but Haight was able to win the gold with her lean at the end by just .02 seconds over second place! Kaleigh Evans timed 13.88 in her prelims race, with Ciara Ward running 15.41!

Next was the men’s 100m prelims. Michael Jang ran 11.54, Alex Bienduga ran 11.57, Jacob Avenaim ran 11.58, and Andy Marszewski ran 11.65 to close out our qualifiers for the semis. Thomas Harris clocked a time of 11.80, John Brandenburg ran 11.91, with Brend Hiserote running 12.17, and PJ Coleman coming in at 14.67. In the semis, Avenaim ran 11.28 to qualify for the finals heat. Bienduga finished in 11.34 to set a new PR for himself. Jang ran 11.43, and Marszewski crossed the line in 11.50. In the finals, Avenaim secured three points for the club as he ran 11.71 for his first All-American honor with the club.

Taking the track next were the women in the 400m hurdles. Lauren Grant came away in fourth place and a time of 1:09.79 (a PR of nearly five seconds!). Behind her in seventh place was Desarae Echevarria, who ran 1:10.82! Tatiana Montanez crossed the line in 1:17.81.

The men’s 400m hurdles race was extremely exciting and came right down to the end. Michael Jang grabbed second place with his 56.85! This is a new personal record of about 1.5 seconds and is the new club record! We also owe many thanks to Jang for planning and coordinating all the traveling details for the meet in Oxford! Also running very strong was Yousuf Ahmad, who came through in 1:00.21 for a three second personal best! Eli Decker ran 1:03.02 which is also a new PR, and PJ Coleman finished in 1:21.69 in his first 400m hurdles race!

We had some more fantastic PR performances from the women in the 5000m. Emma Burkhardt ran 18:02.77 mostly alone and on very little sleep. Regardless, it was good for a personal best and fifth place for All-American! Anneliese Schulz came through in 18:27.58 for a nine second PR and just barely squeezed herself in as the last All-American! Grace Gudwien has had an incredible first season with the club and showed off her talent again with a run of 18:46.14. Coming in next was our treasurer, Noel Brindise, who ran 19:32.29, a personal best of 12 seconds! Riley Maloney ran a strong race for a time of 20:38.60, over a minute faster than WashU!

In the shot put circle, Inga Augustaitis was able to claim 7th place and All-American with her throw of 9.16m (30’ 0.75”)! Ali Djokic threw a season best of 6.99m (22’ 11.25”).

Sprinting to victory also in the 200m was Becky Haight who ran 25.25 in the prelims and 25.68 in the finals, setting a new meet record in the event! Kaleigh Evans came in at 28.39 for a new PR. Malorie Moore ran 29.20. Katherine Miles set a new personal record with 29.86, and Ciara Ward crossed the line in 30.98.

In the men’s 200m, we had Alex Bienduga run 23.00. Andy Marszewski came through in 23.21. Kevin Sager, who hasn’t competed with the club since last season, ran 23.85. John Brandenburg finished in 23.95, with Andre Ells running 24.19 for a new personal record! Eli Decker crossed the line in 24.42, also setting a new best, and PJ Coleman ran 29.10.

Our three men in the shot put all scored points for us! Chris Rydberg placed second with his throw of 13.66m (44’ 9.75”). This is a new club record! Liam Nassib placed fifth, throwing 11.23m (36’ 10.25”), and Zach Sawackis grabbed the last All-American spot in the shot put after throwing 10.15m (33’ 3.25”). These guys gave us a total of 14 points!

The women’s 4x800m relays were up next. Our relay of Lauren Grant, Emily Condic, Katie Sledz, and Julia Schultz ran 9:48.60 to get second place!

Justin Nebel claimed fourth place in the long jump with his mark of 6.50m (21’ 4”)! Jad Karajeh leaped to a new PR of 5.98m (19’ 7.50”). Setting a new best of 5.88m (19’ 3.50”) was Brend Hiserote, with Andy Marszewski landing at 5.81m (19’ 0.75”).

In the women’s long jump, Becky Haight jumped 4.94m (16’ 2.50”) to earn six points for Illinois. Desarae Echevarria landed at 4.60m (15’ 1.25”).

Our men’s 4x800m relay consisting of John Kellum, Patrick Willhalm, Josh Mollway, and Keith Lee crossed the line in 8:02.03 for sixth place.

Beaming with confidence during his race was Connor Farrell, as he led our men’s 5000m performances with his PR of 15:47.99. Matthew Beckerman came in next in 16:18.78. Leonel Rodriguez stayed mentally tough and finished in 16:56.73. Jarod Meyer had a tough last mile but still ran a solid 16:57.95. Liam Bots ran a consistent race and ended up with 17:05.13. Muneeb Ansari closed out his time with the club fittingly, running 17:20.59 for a personal best. Olan Bruyere also came away with a new PR after running 18:47.45. Sean Frintner crossed the line in 20:37.66.

Returning to throw in the discus was Inga Augustaitis, who threw 28.81m (94’ 6”), and Ali Djokic who threw 22.48m (73’ 9”).

Competing in the men’s high jump was Jad Karajeh who cleared 1.67m (5’ 5.75”). Also jumping was John Brandenburg who got over the bar at 1.53m (5’ 0.25”).

Chris Rydberg brought three more points to the club after throwing 36.31m (119’ 1”) in the discus. Liam Nassib was also able to sneak in as an All-American with his throw of 30.33m (99’ 6”). Zach Sawickis grabbed a new personal best with his mark of 30.23m (99’ 2”)!

Up next over on the track was the women’s 400m. Becky Haight become another national champion as she ran a new PR of 59.07! Lauren Grant (1:02.06) and Malorie Moore (1:04.14) also both ran new personal bests! Ciara Ward crossed the line in 1:09:08, with Katherine Miles coming through in 1:12.24. Anna Winnicki finished in 1:16.78, and Mariam Hussain ran 1:20.56.

Running a new PR of 50.72 in the 400m was Alex Bienduga. Justin Nebel also came away with a new best in his 51.50. Kevin Sager finished in 52.77. Beau Barber raced a new personal best with his time of 55.41. Andre Ells crossed the line in 55.58.

The women’s 4×100 team of Becky Haight, Desarae Echevarria, Kaleigh Evans, and Malorie Moore finished second with their time of 52.19!

Our first men’s 4×100 relay was Michael Jang, Thomas Harris, Jacob Avenaim, and Andy Marszewski who ran 43.44 for third place! Another relay consisted of Brend Hiserote, Jad Karajeh, PJ Coleman, and John Brandenburg who ran 47.65.

In the women’s 1500, Julia Schultz finished in 5:09.04. Katie Sledz came through in 5:13.81. Emily Condic ran 5:19.84. Noel Brindise ran a strong 5:22.88. Mahum Chaudhary (6:28.25) and Adriana Miltko (6:35.49) both raced for the first time in a while!

Josh Mollway grabbed a new PR in his 1500 with 4:00.94. Apparently if you just tell Evan Patel to close in a 65, he’ll close in a 65. He ran a huge new PR of 4:09.53! Alex Hanskat pushed hard to run 4:17.87. Andrew Rhode had a solid race of 4:18.56. Cody Lund wasn’t far off his personal best, running 4:20.34. John Kellum finished in 4:22.49. Patrick Willhalm ran 4:22.95, a five second improvement from the week prior! Jeffrey Hesselbein came through in 4:23.97, Matt Dickinson ran 4:37.91, and David Young ran a new best of 5:08.20.

Desarae Echevarria ran 18.11 in the 100m hurdles prelims to qualify for the finals. In the finals, she placed fourth with a time of 17.17, also setting a new PR!

On the men’s side in the 110m hurdles, Yousuf Ahmad (16.46) and Michael Jang (16.51) both qualified for the finals. Eli Decker finished his race with a new personal best of 17.67! In the finals, Jang ran 16.09 for fifth place, and Ahmad ran 16.40 for eighth!

In the triple jump, Justin Nebel jumped a season best 12.50m (41’ 0.25”), taking home sixth place! Jad Karajeh marked 12.42m (40’ 9”), good for eighth place! For the women, Becky Haight jumped 9.41m (30’ 10.50”) which also got her eighth place. I think we can all agree that Becky would win another national championship if there was a heptathlon/decathlon in NIRCA.

We had three women race the 800m. Lauren Grant was the national runner-up with her time of 2:22.80! Katie Sledz ran her best 800 of the season in 2:32.63. Mariam Hussain finished her race in 3:06.75.

Keith Lee kicked hard at the end of his 800 to finish fifth overall in 1:58.02. Josh Mollway also grabbed some points with his 1:58.32. John Kellum ran 1:59.43. Jeffrey Hesselbein and Alex Hanskat finished close together, running 2:04.28 and 2:04.30, respectively. Evan Patel ran a collegiate PR with his 2:06.12. Beau Barber ran 2:15.33, and David Young finished in 2:23.72.

In the men’s 3000m steeple, our three men got after it and really pushed each other to tremendous races. Ryan Somerfield finished in third and 9:54.20 after a monstrous kick for a new PR. Josh Feldman was right behind in 9:54.36. Justin Ostrem came in at 10:02.52. All three of them were All-American!

Our A team women’s 4×400 consisted of Becky Haight, Lauren Grant, Kaleigh Evans, and Malorie Moore. These women ran 4:11.97 for third place! The B team of Ciara Ward, Emily Condic, Anna Winnicki, and Desarae Echevarria crossed the line in 4:40.36.

The A team men’s 4×400 was Alex Bienduga, Andy Marszewski, Kevin Sager, and Justin Nebel, who ran 3:22.89 for fourth place. The B relay of Michael Jang, John Kellum, Jeffrey Hesselbein, and Keith Lee ran 3:36.40, and the C relay of Andre Ells, John Brandenburg, Patrick Willhalm, and Eli Decker crossed the line in 3:39.62.

It was a beautiful weekend for a track and field meet, and all of our athletes found success. The men finished with 95 points and the women with 100 points. Both squads took home a trophy for the first time in a while.

Congrats to all athletes on your great performances!

Full results of the meet can be found here.

We compete next at Illinois College on Saturday, April 27th.

On Saturday, April 6th, ITC traveled all the way to Decatur to compete at Millikin on a very warm and sunny day.

Ryan Somerfield started things off in the 3000m steeplechase. He ran 9:55.55 which was a personal record of 20 seconds!

In the 1500m, Clare Oehler came out with an impressive 5:18.37. Natalie Maguire also ran strong to finish in 6:32.02.

Josh Mollway ran 4:05.80 while also getting badly burned by the sun. John Kellum’s 4:06.34 is a PR of nearly 13 seconds! Josh Feldman ran 4:09.99, with Justin Ostrem coming in at 4:11.97. Evan Patel closed in a 63 final 400 to run a PR in 4:19.87, dropping 5 seconds from his performance last weekend! Patrick Willhalm came across the line in 4:27.80.

Michael Jang got after it in the 110m hurdles, running 16.38. Desarae Echevarria ran in the 100m hurdles, but the timing system messed up and did not record a time for her.

Malorie Moore had a strong 400m race, coming in at a time of 1:05.00.

In the 400 for the men, we saw Alex Bienduga finish in 51.50. John Kellum came back from his huge 1500 race and ran a 53.45! We also saw Andre Ells run 55.52!

As always, Becky Haight dominated in the 100m, winning with a time of 12.68!

There were many PRs for the men in the 100. Maybe it was because the wind was behind them, or maybe they all just had awesome days. Who knows? Andy Marszewski was able to barely edged out Michael Jang for the second week in a row in the 100m, with Marszewski running another PR of 11.18 and Jang PRing with 11.21. John Brandenburg ran a PR for himself in 11.47, with Thomas Harris also setting a new best in 11.48, and Brend Hiserote finishing in 11.79.

Racing 2:23.68 in the 800 was Lauren Grant! Also in the 800 was Clare Oehler who finished in 2:36.87. Natalie Maguire came in at 3:12.87.

Keith Lee had a huge performance in the 800, running close to a personal best with 1:57.81! Josh Mollway came next in 2:03.19. Jeffrey Hesselbein ran 2:04.83. Zack Fishman finished in 2:06.42. We again saw a massive kick out of Evan Patel, who timed a collegiate best in 2:06.72. Justin Ostrem crossed the line in 2:10.46, with Josh Feldman running 2:12.22.

Becky Haight lit up the track again in the 200m, winning with a 25.83 performance. Malorie Moore also had a strong performance with a time of 29.40.

For the men, Andy Marszewski grabbed a new best with his 22.64. Right behind him was Alex Bienduga running 22.67 for a PR. Michael Jang raced a time of 22.97. Thomas Harris crossed the line in 23.60. John Brandenburg came next in 23.82, with Andre Ells running 24.61.

Noel Brindise and Mia Bertaud ran strong 5ks under that hot sun, big props to them. Brindise ran 19:44.64, and Bertaud ran 19:45.84.

We had a women’s 4×400 relay consisting of Becky Haight, Lauren Grant, Natalie Maguire, and Desarae Echevarria who ran 4:36.57.

The men’s 4×400 consisted of Andre Ells, Keith Lee, Jeffrey Hesselbein, and Zack Fishman who ran 3:39.83.

Over in the field events, Jad Karajeh jumped 1.65m (5” 5′”) in the high jump. Malorie Moore hit a mark of 1.30m (4” 3¼“). In the pole vault, Taylor Millsap cleared the bar at 3.30m (10’ 10”).

Justin Nebel won the long jump with his jump of 6.61m (21” 8¼”). Brend Hiserote jumped 5.56m (18’ 3”). Desarae Echevarria leaped 4.5m (14’ 9¼“). In the triple jump, Jad Karajeh jumped 12.67m (41’ 7”) and Nebel marked 12.24m (40’ 2”).

In the shot put, Liam Nassib threw 10.20m (33’ 5¾”), and Zach Sawickis threw 9.47m (31’ 1”). Inga Augustaitis threw for a distance of 8.35m (27’ 4¾”). In the discus, Nassib threw 32.77m (107’ 6”), Sawickis threw a PR of 29.65m (97’ 3”), with Augustaitis throwing 27.44 (90’ 0”).

Congrats to all athletes on their performances!

Full results of the meet can be found here.
All pictures from the meet can be found here.

We compete next at NIRCA Nationals on Saturday, April 13th and Sunday, April 14th!

Springtime is here which means outdoor season is among us. The Illinois Track and Field Club opened its 2019 outdoor season at the WashU Distance Carnival in St. Louis on Friday, March 29th and Augustana’s Viking Olympics in Rock Island on Saturday, March 30th.

We competed unattached at WashU and saw some great 5k performances. Starting with the ladies, Emma Burkhardt ran a huge PR in 18:14.49. Her best 5k before this was 19:01! If she can push a bit more during the middle mile, I fully believe she can break 18 this season. Anneliese Schulz came in at 18:31.75 which is a 9 second improvement on her PR which was run at WashU last year!

Next in came freshman stud Grace Gudwien who finished in 18:40.14. This is over 90 seconds faster than her 5k from the cross country season! Mia Bertaud raced 19:38.63 which is almost 45 seconds faster than her performance from nationals in Shelbyville last spring! Emily Condic came in next in 20:45.59, with Riley Maloney running 21:45.89 after dealing with a long and agonizing injury. Great to see you back out there, Riley!

We also saw some solid performances out of the guys at WashU. Josh Mollway ran a tactical race and came across in a PR of 15:26.84. Ryan Somerfield raced well and finished in 15:55.71, a great time for not having too much strength left in the last mile. I predict something closer to a 15:20 coming out of him by the end of this season. Matthew Beckerman had a great season opener to finish in 16:18.84 for his race. Leonel Rodriguez could’ve felt stronger but still ran a respectable 16:29.30 despite feeling hazy.

Alex Kogen worked hard in his race to come out with a 17:14.20. In addition to taking some nice photos, Bryan Himmel ran 17:31.69. All of these runners supported their teammates and cheered everyone on which was really cool to see. The distance crew stopped at Chipotle for a team dinner before starting on the drive back home.

The next day, we sent 16 athletes to Augustana College for the first time not in blistering heat in awhile. In the 100m dash, Becky Haight ran 12.69 to get second place! In the 200m, Haight came in 3rd place with her 26.10! Katherine Miles went 30.92 in her 200m race for a half a second PR! Haight and Miles also ran the 400m in 1:01.90 and 1:11.96, respectively.

Sarah High ran her first outdoor race with the club in the 1500, which she ran in 6:34.99.

Competing in the 100m hurdles was Desarae Echevarria who came through in 17.72. In the 400m hurdles, Echevarria raced 1:15.73! She also long jumped 4.68m (15” 4¼'”)!

Becky Haight also competed in the triple jump and hit a mark of 10.10m (33” 1¾'”).

On the men’s side, Andy Marszewski had a strong outdoor start in the 100m running 11.25, a personal best of .23 seconds! Michael Jang also raced the 100m and came away with 11.44. John Brandenburg ran 11.79, and Eli Decker finished in 12.36. Brandenburg also ran 23.78 in the 200m.

Marszewski ran 51.75 in his 400m, with Andre Ells coming across the line in 57.35.

John Kellum opened his outdoor season strong with a 2:00.71 800m race. Also in the 800 was Evan Patel who just recently completed the MCAT. His time was 2:08.28. Then there was good ol’ Beau Barber who finished in 2:12.32 then probably went back to cheering on all of his teammates.

Racing the 1500m was Andrew Rhode who finished in 4:20.21. Behind him was Evan Patel in 4:23.06 and Zack Fishman in 4:25.14.

Michael Jang hopped some hurdles for 110m in a time of 16.31. This was a new PR for Jang, with his previous best time being 17.12! Just a hair behind our travel coordinator was Yousuf Ahmad in 16.32 which is an incredible mark for this freshman! Eli Decker finished his 110H race in 18.11. All of these guys also ran the 400m hurdles in some fast times. Jang ran 58.4, Ahmad finished in 1:03.18, and Decker ran 1:03.71!

Justin Ostrem ran a strong debut 3k steeplechase to finish in 9:56.46, which is 3rd on our top 10 list! Josh Feldman finished in 10:00.93, and Tim Green ran 11:13.96 in his first steeple race.

Congrats to all athletes on their performances!

Full results of the WashU distance carnival can be found here.
Full results of the Augustana Viking Olympics can be found here.

We compete next at the Millikin Alumni Meet in Decatur on April 6th.

Though it came down to just three points on the guy’s side, the club was able to leave the Armory on Saturday having once again won Club Relays for both men and women, for the eleventh year in a row! We had over 700 athletes compete this year which is the most in the meet’s history!

It was a long day for everyone, and this recap might be just as long. So sit back, grab some pizza rolls, and enjoy:

Perhaps in contention for MVP of the day, Michael Jang competed in 6 total events on Saturday. In the 60m dash, he came through in 7.25 (a PR of .08 seconds) and placed 4th overall! Andy Marszewski also had a big race in the 60 going 7.31 for 6th place, also coming away with a PR of .09 seconds! Mason Rosenberg unfortunately suffered a pulled hamstring but still got 8th place with a time of 7.39 which is his best performance in two years!

Also in the 60m was Brend Hieserote who timed 7.56. John Brandenburg (7.60), Jad Karajeh (7.61), and Thomas Harris (7.62) came next. Ben Junkroski finished in 7.71, Nicolas Perez ran 7.78, and PJ Coleman had a big PR of .31 seconds for 8.81!

Becky Haight once again had tremendous performances to lead the woman to their eleventh title. Haight claimed victory in the 60m with her 8.01 performance, her best mark all season. With that win, she finished her perfect streak of four straight first place finishes in the 60m dash at Club Relays!

Kaleigh Evans grabbed a PR with her time of 8.69. Lauren Goodsnyder also had a great race with her 8.94, just a tenth of a second off her PR!

The mile race took over two hours to complete, with there being 14 heats of the men. In the first heat, Josh Mollway didn’t have the race he wanted, finishing in a time of 4:25.73. John Kellum was able to PR by a second with his 4:32.09! Alex Hanskat had a strong race after coming back from the 4×8 to run 4:36.31. Colin Kirkham raced 4:37.95 in his first track race for the club. Ryan Somerfield doubled back after running the 3k to run 4:38.23. Evan Patel closed with some amazing speed to run 4:39.49, winning his heat and claiming his best mile time in 3 years! Josh Feldman ran 4:41.24. Andrew Rhode had a strong 4:44.08 performance after having many inconsistencies with his training over the last year.

Matthew Beckerman PR’d by 8 seconds in the mile with his 4:50.79. Right behind him was Patrick Willhalm in 4:50.93, also a PR of 7 seconds. Jordan Meyer raced 4:52.14 in his first collegiate mile. Jeffrey Hesselbein came in at 4:53.32. Jarod Meyer finished in 4:54.04. Nathan Ehrenhofer was our last sub 5 runner with his time of 4:56.94. We had 14 men race under 5 minutes in the mile!

Tim Green finished in 5:01.48. Daniel Engel hit 5:02.00. Javier Frausto raced well to finish in 5:03.65. Robbie Sieczkowski is somebody we briefly saw in cross country, he raced the mile on Saturday in 5:04.35. Muneeb Ansari raced 5:05.12 and is rightfully proud of his race after combatting injuries and inconsistent training. Jake Winter improved over 10 seconds from his mile race earlier this season, hitting 5:06.55! Olan Bruyere had a collegiate mile PR with his 5:09.83, and Bryan Himmel had his own great race with 5:09.84.

Robert Chun ran a strong 5:17.76. Matt Dickinson ran 5:24.61. John Feeley came away with a 5:31.29. Sean Frintner ran 5:36.79, but there is more to say about him than that. We all owe Sean a big thank you for all of his hard work and coordination. He put in many hours behind the scenes to make Saturday a success and the meet would not nearly have run as smoothly if it weren’t for him. David Young closed out our men’s mile performances with a 5:40.24.

The women’s mile featured some strong ladies who packed up and pushed each other in the race. Clare Oehler finished hard once again with a great mile performance. Her time was 5:33.22 which is a 6 second improvement from just two weeks ago! Anneliese Schulz came in next at 5:33.23, Emma Burkhardt ran 5:33.95, and Grace Gudwien PR’d with a time of 5:34.12. All three of those women also ran the 3k, which makes their times even more impressive! Katie Sledz ran strong to finish in 5:36.71, and Noel Brindise broke 5:40 like she knew she could with her 5:38.77!

Emily Condic almost matched her time from Indy, running 5:58.34. Lindsey Schmidt crossed the line at 6:02.71, and Brianna Legner dropped a second on her PR, running 6:15.54. Natalie Maguire ran 7:01.92, and Sarah High crossed the line in 7:35.72.

In the 60m hurdles, Michael Jang was 4th overall with his 8.71 performance, a PR by .17 seconds! Yousuf Ahmad is a young guy with a lot of talent. He went 9.08 for 7th place on Saturday. Eli Decker is also a promising newcomer. He went 9.95, tying his PR.

We also had three women compete in the 60m hurdles. Desarae Echevarria was second overall with her 10.14. Taylor Millsap raced 11.69, and Tatiana Montanez PR’d with 11.76!

In the 4×200 relay, our boys Andy Marszewski, Alex Bienduga, Michael Jang, and Justin Nebel won the event with their 1:33.21! Our B relay, consisting of Brend Hieserote, Yousef Ahmad, Ben Junkroski, and John Brandenburg, finished in 1:37.68. Also, Andre Ells, Eli Decker, PJ Coleman, and Nicolas Perez ran 1:51.36.

Our women’s 4×2 of Becky Haight, Desarae Echevarria, Kaleigh Evans, and Lauren Grant showed the other teams they mean business. These ladies won with a time of 1:50.64! Tatiana Montanez, Ciara Ward, Lauren Goodsnyder, and Katherine Miles also ran strong and finished in 1:59.35.

Lots of men ran PRs in the 3k. William Wolf raced 8:56 after having a strong finish. Ryan Somerfield crossed the line in 9:03.6. Eli Walker set a PR with his 9:04.39. Behind Eli were Josh Feldman (9:04.96) and Connor Farrell (9:05.72) each with season best performances! Justin Ostrem ran a PR with his 9:12.98. Leonel Rodriguez ran 9:24.4 for a 20 second improvement, Cody Lund ran 9:27.76, and Jarod Meyer set a new PR in 9:30.79!

Alex Kogen ran 9:46.87, improving almost 10 seconds from his previous best. Liam Bots also PR’d with his 9:52.7 Nathan Saltzman bested his 10:14 from earlier in the season, dropping a 10:05.85, and Matt Dickinson ran a new best in 10:17.95! Nick Schuster ran 11:03.67 in his 3k debut.

Julia Schultz grabbed a new PR with her second place finish of 10:20.46! Emma Burkhardt also PR’d with her 10:44.12. Anneliese Schulz (10:46.41) and Grace Gudwien (10:52.17) had solid races, as well. Mia Bertaud raced her best 3k yet with a time of 11:24.9, and Natalie Maguire PR’d by a second in 13:42.4!

In the 4×800, Alex Hanskat, John Kellum, Nikita Smyrnov, and Keith Lee ran 8:16.58 for 5th place. Beau Barber, Zack Fishman, Patrick Willhalm, and Jeffrey Hesselbein ran 8:34.6. We even hard a third 4×8 team in Rohit Kumar, Blake Duncan, Nick Lohan, and Nathan Ehrenhofer who ran 9:22.54.

The women of Clare Oehler, Katie Sledz, Emily Condic, and Lauren Grant placed third with their 4×800 time of 10:05.36! Another team of Tiffany Yathaputanon, Brianna Legner, Lindsey Schmidt, and Katelyn Howley finished in a time of 11:30.21.

The sprint medley relay consists of two 200s, a 400, and an 800. Andy Marszewski, Alex Bienduga, Michael Jang, and Keith Lee had a great performance of 3:38.4 to get 2nd place! John Brandenburg, Yousef Ahmad, Andre Ells, and Calvin McIntyre made up another relay team which finished in 4:08.08.

Our women’s SMR of Becky Haight, Kaleigh Evans, Lauren Grant, and Julia Schultz ran 4:20.01, easily winning the event! Another team featuring Ciara Ward, Katherine Miles, Malorie Moore, and Maia Haworth raced strong in a time of 4:49.39.

Our throwers put in WORK on Saturday. Chris Rydberg has had a monstrous first season on the club and continued his dominance by winning the 16lb shot put with a throw of 13.33m, giving him a personal best and the second spot on our best all time list! He’s within half a meter of being our best indoor shot putter! Also throwing big was Liam Nassib with his toss of 11.1m. Zach Sawickis threw 9.41m, and Kevlin Cross hit a mark of 8.17m.

Throws coach Inga Augustaitis injured her ankle this indoor season, but still had a great showing at Club Relays. She threw 9.27m in the shot and got second place! Behind her in third was Nayeli Lara with 7.95m, and Ali Djokic pleased the devil with a throw of 6.66m.

In the high jump, Jad Karajeh jumped an impressive 1.75m (5 ft 8 ¾ in for you imperialists). Andy Marszewski cleared 1.65m (5 ft 4 ¾ in). Ben Junkroski jumped 1.6m (5 ft 2 ¾ in). John Brandenburg cleared 1.55m (5 ft 1 in), while Michael Jang finished with 1.5m (4 ft 11 in).

Becky Haight can do more than sprint, in case you were wondering. Haight and Taylor Calcagno both cleared the high jump bar at 1.4m (4 ft 7 in), while Malorie Moore jumped 1.35m (4 ft 5 in).

In the horizontal jumps, Justin Nebel and Andy Marszewski had strong jumps in the long jump with 6.3m and 6.08m, respectively. Jad Karajeh leaped 5.89m. Ben Junkroski grabbed a PR with his jump of 5.57m, and Brend Hieserote marked 5.27m.

In the triple jump, Jad Karajeh had a solid jump of 12.66m while Ben Junkroski jumped 10.48m.

Becky Haight won the long jump with a jump of 4.86m. Desarae Echevarria hit a mark of 4.41m. Taylor Millsap jumped 3.64m. In the triple jump, Haight”s mark of 10.21m got her second place. Millsap excitedly made it into the sand with a jump of 8.74m!

Then came the fun part. Participation in a 4×400 is a fun tradition and requirement on the Illinois Track Club. Our men’s A team consisted of Andy Marszewski, Alex Bienduga, Keith Lee, and Justin Nebel. This event is always the most exciting of the day and this year was no different. We had a lead for much of the race but barely lost to an out-lean from Michigan. These men still ran 3:28.62 and put on an amazing performance! They were also the ones who closed out our winning score over Michigan! The next team consisted of John Kellum, Olan Bruyere, Patrick Willhalm, and Josh Mollway. These guys ran 3:47.61. Right behind them was John Brandenburg, Eli Decker, Ben Junkroski, and Michael Jang who ran 3:48.16. The team of Sean Frintner, Daniel Engel, Cody Lund, and Alex Hanskat came in at 3:55.11. Behind them were Bryan Himmel, Colin Kirkham, Jordan Meyer, and Andrew Rhode in 3:58.1, and Beau Barber, Zack Fishman, Calvin McIntyre, and Jake Winter in 3:58.36.

Yousuf Ahmad, Blake Duncan, Robert Chun, and Muneeb Ansari finished next in 4:02.38. Then there were Nick Lohan, David Young, Javier Frausto, and Jeffrey Hesselbein in 4:04.05. Lastly, we had Leonel Rodriguez, Josh Feldman, Nick Schuster, and Matt Dickinson in 4:05.2, and Evan Patel, Jarod Meyer, Connor Farrell, and Eli Walker in 4:05.59. Eli suffered a strained hamstring during his anchor leg and had to hobble to the finish. He refused to step off the track. Though we don’t always recommend this, it was an act of honor and was a selfless tribute for his team. In his honor, we take a moment of silence…

Someone who also deserves a moment of silence is Beau Barber. This is Beau’s 7th year being apart of the club, and in honor of his dedication and commitment to the club, Saturday held the inaugural Beau Barber 4x400m Relay. Beau is the teammate all of us strive to be. His enthusiasm and support is unmatched, while his loyalty and hard work has shown for all of his time here on the club. We love you, Beau!

Our women were able to take home a W in the 4×400 in the likes of Becky Haight, Julia Schultz, Malorie Moore, and Lauren Grant in a time of 4:12.38! We also saw Tiffany Yathaputanon, Maia Haworth, alumni Emily Foley, and Emily Condic run 4:30.09. Not far behind them were Desarae Echevarria, Ciara Ward, Taylor Calcagno, and Tatiana Montanez in 4:33.12. Then there were Noel Brindise, Sara Folliard, Emma Burkhardt, and Anneliese Schulz who ran 4:47.14. The team of Gabby Aguilar, Grace Gudwien, Katie Sledz, and Anna Winnieki finished at 4:59.23. Finishing on the track for our club was the team of Mariam Husain, Lindsey Schmidt, Natalie Maguire, and Brianna Legner who ran 5:25.61.

We send a huge thank you to all the parents, alumni, officials, athletes, and volunteers who made Club Relays 2019 the success that it was. Congrats to all that competed, and we hope to see even more back next year!

Results from Saturday can be found here.

The Illinois Track Club now has a short break before the start of the outdoor season at WashU on March 24th.

Until next time.