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Nats has been on our radar for a very long time. The meet was abruptly moved from Bloomington to Shelbyville due to construction issues and put a strain on the club finances. But thanks to some phenomenal administrative work from Michael Jang and Noel Brindise, as well as the leadership from Head Coach Splitt and President Mateusz’s board, we got to Shelbyville Indiana safely.

A little bit about Shelbyville. It has a population of 19,191 as of 2010 and was home to the tallest women (Sandy Allen 7’ 7) until 2008. 21st Vice-president Thomas Hendricks (served under Grover Cleveland) was from Shelbyville. Easy, breezy, beautiful, Shelbyville.

We’ll start with the field events. Inga Augustatius was a key returner for the women, racking up 14 points on her own in the shot and discus. She took 3rd in shot (9.43m) and PR’d in the discus (29.14m) for 2nd.

In the long jump, Illinois athletes did some expected damage taking 2nd in the women and 1st in the men’s long jump. Ashley Raehsler jumped 5.10m (16-08.75) and Justin Nebel jumped 6.52m (21-04.75m). I don’t like to toot my own horn, actually I do, but I believe I said that Nebel would win the Nats long jump and here he is. His teammate Doug Howard jumped for 12th. In the men’s discus, Liam Nassib had a great throw of 33.39m to take 4th. Zach Sawickis was just out of scoring in 10th and freshman Kelvin Cross was in 12th.

In the triple jump, none other than Ashley Raehsler took 2nd in 10.50m and is now #3 on the club leaderboards. Mateusz Lopez took 5th for some much-needed points.

You already know Lauren Grant is having the times of her life this year. PRs indoors and outdoors, this grad student can race. She ran 27.64 in prelims and took 6th in the finals and was followed by Jasmine Williams who took 12th in 28.42. I see a future sprint superstar like Jonen, Haight, Grant etc. in the making. Jasmine is working hard and under Coach Haight’s guidance, she can make some noise next year. Shan ran 31.82 and his previous PR was 33.56. After a year of training this guy is making big strides as an athlete and a teammate. A testament to the sprint crew’s depth was that 3 men made it to the finals. Lopez, Bienduga, and Barch all qualified. Unfortunately, Garret Barch messed up his hamstring in the 4×1 that had been bothering him for a few months. In the finals, Bienduga took 4th in 22.81, Lopez 7th in 22.85, and after 1 minute and 28 seconds, Garett Barch walked across the line with an ice pack on his hamstring to claim a single point for the Illini. Big props to Garret for being a team player all year. He tried hurdles for the first time at club relays and does whatever he needs to for the team. Hope his hamstring gets better 1 like = 1 respect.

In the 4×8, McDonough, Foley, Haworth, and Yathaputanon ran 10:20.25 for 7th place. The men’s 4×8 dominated the club record for second place behind a strong Minnesota team. They ran 7:53 to take 2nd and a 6-second club record. Congrats to Lee, Splitt, Kellum, and Mollway. Mollway had taken 2 weeks off from training with an ankle/Achilles injuries and only managed to get a few workouts in the past month but still evenly split a 1:57.

The 5k was run in some pretty nasty conditions but Josh Feldman ran 15:47 for 16th overall and a PR. The #2 runner was Connor Farrell who ran 16:00 for 27th overall. I personally think the time, though solid, reflects the conditions rather than his training. It was the best race he’s had in a while which is always nice to hear at Nationals. The women battled even worse conditions early on Sunday morning. Abby Ludwig ran 22:02 and Noel improved by 20 seconds to run 20:11.9. Vicky Dent PR’d in the 5k with even splits running 19:54.

In the 400, Lauren grant took 6th with 63.86 and Malorie Moore showed up big to take 8th place and secure an important point with 64.73. Maggie Madden had a huge lifetime PR with 72.31. At club relays, she split 76 seconds. For the men’s 400, Mateusz Lopez took second with 51.36 out of the second-fastest heat. Splitt scored a point with 52.37, also in the second-fastest heat.

The women’s 4×100 took 6th in 55.50 and them men were third, despite Garret hurting his hamstring halfway through his leg and having to slow down. They were about to hammer home a win with a massive lead and even with the hamstring issue they took third.

The men’s 800 was quick with Keith Lee running 1:58.81. Throwback to his first two years where breaking 2:00 was a good day and now it’s routine. Sean McCarty ran 2:00 flat and trains solo most of the time due to his loaded coursework and research. Evan Patel ran even splits for 2:07. He started in dead last and moved to third and wore braids instead of his usual flowing locks. He said, “Having hair not boucing everywhere felt nice”.

Maggie Madden had another big PR with 2:53.36. A week ago she ran 3:00. Maia Haworth ran 2:37.78 and has been consistent as ever this past XC and track seasons. Emily Foley ran an aggressive race to take 5th in 2:25. She was “so so happy” with “one the best races [she’s] ever run probably”.

In the 1480/1500 Emily Foley also ran well and ran 5:05 converted. Grace McDonough also showed why she’s on the upswing and has no intentions of slowing down. She put down a 5:19! For the men’s 1500, Mollway led the way in 4:06 in a very, very, fast heat. Evan Patel crushed his old PR of 4:35 with a 4:24 mark. Zack Fishman threw down the hammer in his heat and no one could respond. He had at least a 30m lead on everyone behind him.

Michael “One Speed” Frintner has given the club running community a lot. After a standard 5k, he got badly spiked in the 1500 the next day. Like, very badly spiked. A real champ, he finished the race and ended up having to get stitches. The man is unstoppable.

The 100m dash was highlighted by Becky Haight driving from her chemistry GRE and freshman Jasmine Williams running 13.81 to just barely miss qualifying. Alex Bienduga also qualified for finals for the men. In the finals, Haight ran 12.55, breaking the meet record of 12.59 held by Lauren Jonen. In the last few meters, she tweaked her hamstring and had to end her season there. Alex Bienduga ran 11.50 to take 7th in the finals.

With Becky out, the women’s 4×4’s All American status looked iffy. But everyone stepped up big time. Julia Schultz, injured from a fall and off her peak training came to race. So did Lauren Grant who ran the 100, 200 prelims, 200 finals, 400, and 400 hurdles, and 4×100. Emily Foley ran the 4×800, 1480, and the open 800. Malorie Moore was in the 200, the 400, and 4×100 and was probably feeling those three races from the day before. Nevertheless, they put together a very aggressive race and took 3rd for that well deserved All American status! The men’s A and B team 4×400 dominated their heats and showed NIRCA why we’re the deepest sprint/mid D crew in existence. The A team won Nationals in 3:26!

In the end, the women tied for second with 64 points with the University of Michigan (we kept the trophy ayyyyy). Penn State was 1st with 154 points.

The men took 4th behind Wisconsin and Michigan who also tied for second.

I know I’m posting this after Peaks happened but stay tuned for another write-up!

This past weekend was a big one as ITFC looked to get the best possible performances at Nationals. A squad of distance runners went Friday to race in the many 5k’s at The WashU Invite and other athletes attended the John Creer Invite.

Friday night, Quinn Todzo led the team with a 15:49 performance. In a big pack, he made sure to move up well on the straights. After closing in a 72, Quinn knew he had more in the tank and has his sights set on 15:40. Anneliese Schulz, in her final track race before The Boston Marathon, ran 18:40. A 4.6 second PR from her freshman year Nationals performance. After leading for 8.5 laps, she was able to put up a strong performance.

My favorite race of the night goes to Riley Maloney. Nobody deserved a PR more that night and with a lot on her plate, she ran with the hopes of breaking 21:00. She did, of course, with lots of surges. A time of 20:19 is not only a PR but also a big step towards her sub 20:00 goal. She noticed the surges in the middle of the race took a lot out of her. Once she gets an evenly paced race, who knows where she’ll end up.

Olan Bruyere, Tim Zmudzinski, and Matt Dickinson all ran in the same heat, with Matt pulling away to 17:43. He’s shooting for 17:30. He’s had phenomenal training and is in the best shape of his life considering he PR’d in the 3k on a split. In his log, he described how his legs locked up towards the last mile and he’s ready to improve on his pacing and pack running.

Tim and Olan finished together in 18:59 and 19:02. Those two are on a big upswing. Olan’s looking to race the 5k again at Nats and the mile at Peaks. #RoadToSub5. Hanskat, the speed demon, ran 16:24 off of a fast mile followed by a hard surge. Though he wants another crack at the 5k, he knows he’s got bigger goals. I, however, would love to see this man race another 5k with better pacing along with his lethal kick. He’s a fun one to watch.

The next day, just a few towns over, Lauren Grant PR’d some more. She PR’d in every event indoors and she’ll probably keep doing it outdoors too because this season is her season. She ran 28.36 (over a 1 second improvement) and 1:02.78 (about a 2.5(!) second improvement). NIRCA is probably wondering how Becky Haight is going to dominate Nats, but they’re sleeping on Grant. Stay tuned for Nats.

Maia Haworth, after some knee injury, wanted to get a distance race under her belt. She ran 5:44 in the 1500. She’s looking to focus on the 400/800 in future meets. Remember, this woman split 2:35, 68, and 70 at club relays.

Laura Houston got her 3k steeplechase qualifying mark in 15:11. Though she was worried, as all of us would be, about the hurdles, she kept a steady pace and actually enjoyed the water pit. Know that she knows the race and how to run it, she’ll give it another go at Peaks or at the NCC meets. Congrats to Laura for taking a risk like that!

Her coach, Josh Feldman, loves to run 3k”s. Indoors he runs em without barriers, outdoors he has them. In his fourth 3k race, he ran a phenomenal time of 10:00.29, an 11 second PR!!! Big congrats to Josh on such a great performance. Now that he”s 5th on the club leaderboard, he”s got a shot at moving up to top 3 (9:57 or better).

In the 100, Shan ran 15.78 and will look to keep racing the 100/200 at Nats.

In the 200, Harris PR’d with 23.11 and Bienduga ran a 2nd best in 23.11. Freshman Steven Bellefontaine ran 22.63 for #8 all time. This guy is on fire. He’s dominated the sprints after a disappointing injury his senior year. At Jacobs High School, he ran 10.93 and 22.39, but right now he’s writing a new story with a potentially much better ending.

The 800 was filled with college PR’s. Kellum ran 2:00.55 in a wet and wild 2 lap race. Sean McCarty ran a phenomenal 2:00.53 and Patrick Willhalm PR’d by 2 seconds in 2:06. He got out slow but felt good. Beau Barber also PR’d with 2:08.94. He’s a living testament that when you love the sport, it shows you love back. This mid D crew is killing it in the 800s. However, my favorite part of Nationals last year was when the depth of our sprinters/mid D runners was made clear as the men won the 4×400 A, B, C, and D heats of Nationals and the women went toe to toe with 4:00 flat squads and competed with them.

After his Achilles injury, Michael Jang is looking good with a 400mH time of 1:00.56. He nearly matched his time from Lindenwood last year and will do some damage at nationals.

Tyler Splitt ran 51.91 in the 400. We all know what time he’s chasing and that it’s going to be a happy day when he does. Until then, it’s a lot of grinding.

The 4×100 of Jang, Bienduga, Bellefontaine, and Harris ran a #6 all time with 43.37. Someone go check how many top 10 performances came from this season. It’s insane I feel like I’ve typed “all time” like 30 times this year I love it. The throws had quite a day as Kelvin Cross threw 9.63/24.17 in the shot/discus. Shantanu threw 5.79 in the shot. But the big chucks came from Zach Sawackis. Walking in with a 27.12m PR in the discus, he threw 29.64m!!!!!! I’m eating whatever he had for breakfast that day. He also improved his shotput from 8.90m to 9.15m. Big congrats to Zach on some well earned performances.

Lindenwood had some very cold, very rainy, very unpleasant conditions, ITFC was dry thanks to Beau Barber and his tents as well as the good vibes and positivity the team maintained. S/O Beau+team <3 <3 <3″,2018-04-06 12:00:00+00,Outdoor
192,Muneeb Ansari,ITFC Spends the afternoon in Decatur before Nationals,”After the Western Illinois meet was canceled due to weather, head coach Tyler Splitt quickly contacted meet directors and found a meet a mere 44 minutes away at Millikin University in Decatur. For many mid-distance and sprinters, it was a final chance to get racing legs in time for Nationals.

Katherine Miles has made a pleasant return to the club, looking to work on her 200 speed and move up to the 400 where she has the most experience. She ran 32.10 in the 200.

Shantanu Amin improved his 100 and 200 times and Andy Marszewski took second in the 400m dash with a time of 52.41. Winning the 400 was Justin Nebel who also set a new club record in the outdoor long jump with 6.64m. His indoor best was 6.72m. Big congrats to Justin who continues to dominate the long jump!!

Evan Sacks set a club PR in the 200 with a time of 26.53. His indoor best from the 2018 Titan Open was 27.36.

In the 800, Coach Splitt ran 2:02.59, Zack Fishman 2:06.25, Maggie Madden 3:00.70.

It’s a big week of homework and sleep as we prepare to go to NATIONALS this Saturday!

This is the best day of the year. People have been hyped about this meet since LAST club relays.

Sit tight, this is a long write-up. Feel free to annotate or take Cornell notes. There will be a quiz.

Let”s start fast with the 60m dashes. Leading the sprinters is, you already know it, B. E. C. K. Y. H. A. I. G. H. T. She dominated this race all season and ran 8.02 for a new club/meet/personal record. Is she going to go sub 8.00? Yes. Other big races came from Lauren Grant who PR”d AGAIN. Every PR she has is from this season, what a senior year. She dropped from 8.78 to 8.60.

Steven Bellefontaine also PR”d in the 60, leading the Illinois men with 7.30. Evan sacks had quite a day, improving by .26 seconds to run 7.93 for his first time under 8.00. Qixin Zhu ran his first race with us, running 8.15 and Shantanu dipped under 10.00 for the first time, running 9.77.

We recently said our goodbyes to Roger Bannister, the first man to run under 4:00 in the mile. But what”s even more special is when we watch a young man break 5:00 in the mile or a young woman break 6:00. It”s not news-worthy, it”s not groundbreaking, but it”s theirs and no one can take that away. Matt Dickinson ran 4:59.72 with a 71 second last lap for his first time under 5:00. Big congrats to him. Also, Cody Hansen ran 4:59.77 to go sub 5 for the first time in college. Daniel Engel also was shooting for sub 5:00 but just missed it by 0.95 seconds, running hard from the front and bringing the pack with him. Winning the mile was Josh Mollway who went 2:14-2:06 in an epic last 400 that lasted 60 seconds. Alex Hanskat was the #2 runner leading from the front and running brave. He had a 7 second improvement from the start of the season and is looking to improve his kick. John Kellum also PR”d after running 2:00 flat in his 4×800 leg. Evan Patel won his heat of the mile and looked damn good doing it. Matthew Beckerman has been consistent at practice but simply hasn”t raced. Until now. He threw down a solid mile, running 4:58 in his iconic headband. Olan Bruyere also PR”d from his highschool 1600 time of 5:20. He ran 5:14 and is hungry for more. Jeevan Madilla ran 5:24 after running only 3 days this season, just imagine where he”s gonna be after some solid training under him. Pierre ran 5:16 which is very impressive since he”s a former mountain/trail runner but now runs fast with the Mid-D crew.

On the women”s side, Emily Foley closed her indoor club career with a 5:26. A 2 second PR and 3rd place overall, exactly what she was shooting for. Anneliese Schulz was the #2 woman running 5:37 with many surges and a great kick. She ran this after a 3k PR which, lemme tell ya, is not as easy as she makes it look. Learning from her previous races, Vicky Dent raced conservatively and ran 5:44 to win her heat with a dive across the line. Noel Brindise stuck with Erin McKee to run 5:47. She used to run too fast in the beginning but instead saved energy for a solid 40 second kick. After missing 6 weeks of training over winter break, Noel feels confident to keep on keeping on. Recently, she did a 9-mile run slightly slower than her 6k pace. I know the math doesn”t make sense, but it happened and she”s on fire. Tiffany Yathaputanon ran her first mile with the club and broke 6:00! She clocked 5:56 and ran all the same races as her boyfriend #GOALS. Laura Houston also had her first race with us, throwing down a solid 6:09. Audrey Bloomquist, in her 2nd track race in a very long time, improved by 5 seconds to run 6:24.

It wouldn”t be a proper relay meet without some 4×200”s, now would it? The women were lead by a #4 club performance in 1:50.07. Evans, Haight, Grant and Williams took the W. The B team of Ward, Moore, Shillington, and Zhang ran 2:00.92. On the men”s side, the A team ran 1:32.88 which is now a meet record and #2 all time. The B team of Sager, Rosenberg, Barch, and Marszewski ran 1:34.69 and the C team consisting of Barenas, Jang, Sacks, and Ivanoff ran 1:37.92. By the way, the B team ran #6 all time and the C team ran #10 all time. How on earth can we have 3 different squads get into the top 10 lists it doesn”t make sense, but it happened.

Everybody and their uncle ran the 3k. Starting with the women, Julia Schultz ran a #3 all time of 10:25.87. Her win was more important than just a win and a PR. She said ‘”The 3k wasn”t just a PR, it was me shattering all the limitations I had put on myself for years'”. She has big goals and more limitations to shatter. A credit to her success is her training partner Anneliese Schulz who PR”d in 10:53. The next morning, Anneliese casually ran 16 miles. Vicky dent PR”d in her second 3k ever in 11:24. Anna Piazza and Megan Frintner closed their indoor club careers with 12:30 and 14:02 times, respectively.

On the men”s side, freshman Brian Butcher led the way in 8:56 followed by William wolf in 9:04 and Josh Feldman in 9:09. Quinn Todzo was happy with his 4 second improvement in 9:10. Connor Farrell and Michael Gerkin ran 9:15 and 9:18, respectively which is a testament to their grit during Tuesday night workouts. Battling a nagging hamstring injury, Jarod Meyer ran 9:38 despite riding the ”pain train” the last 1000 meters. He may have collapsed at the finish, but he”s up and ready to go for the 5k outdoors. Speaking of getting up, Michael Frintner ran 9:46 after an unfortunate battle with Achilles pain. Also coming back from injury was Rohit Kumar who ran 10:55 and showed he”s not giving up just yet. A big shoutout to Kevin Callahan who has been an underappreciated presence on the distance squad. He is a hard worker above all else and happy to be racing again.

In the hurdles, coach Michael Jang was worried about having enough hurdlers. Thankfully, Garret Barch stepped up to train and in his first hurdle race with the club, he got #3 all time with 8.89. No big deal. Michael Jang ran 9.40 after battling an Achilles injury. He said he is happy with his hurdle form and is looking to regain some speed and drop time. Sonia Zhang also stepped up to the hurdle challenge and ran 11.44 after 2 weeks of training and Ali Djokic made a guest appearance running 11.77.

Props to Kevin Sager and Mason Rosenberg who ran 400m legs in the SMR and were in that stunning B team 4×400. Two 400s is a lot to ask from sprinters who cover the distance in 50ish seconds. In the SMR, Harris, Marszewski, Sager and Lee won in 3:38.91. #2 all time, but you”re probably used to the club leaderboards getting rearranged. Our leaderboards are filled with 2018 times. Andy Marszewski made a phenomenal move 50m into his 200m leg that solidified the lead. The women”s squad of Haight, Williams, Grant, and Schultz won, of course. The #3 all time performance was propelled by a great 200m split from Williams and a great 400m split from Grant.

In the 4×800 the men”s team of Splitt, Lee, Kellum and Mollway took second by .06 to Minnesota. The exciting race was capitalized by Josh Mollway”s 1:56 anchor leg. Their time of 7:55.66 shattered the indoor (8:03.23) AND outdoor (7:59.58) records. Look out @nirca. John Kellum described what it meant to be on such a dominating relay. ‘”Really thankful for the opportunity to race with Keith, Splitt, and Mollway and make club history as well. It was an honor to be able to represent our club like that'”.

The women”s 4×800 lead off with Kaleigh Evans. Maia Haworth worked to close the gap between herself and the 3 teams up front. Lexy Rudofski ran a stellar leg that put Emily Foley in position to strike. Foley went from around 6th to 4th in an exciting come back. Props to these women.

The 4×400 is always a good time. For the women, they really didn”t need a W, but they sure wanted it. With Becky Haight nursing a minor injury, the ever-dependable Emily Foley stepped up to the A race with Ashley Raehsler taking Emily”s spot. Foley, Grant, Evans, and Schultz dominated with 4:17.14. For the men the A team (3:26.6 Bienduga, Lopez, Nebel, Splitt) and the B team (3:31.97 Sager, Barch, Bellefontaine, Rosenberg) took the top two spots. In total, there were 21 4×400 squads from Illinois.

For the throws, Obie Azie was happy with her PR of 10.11m which is a big improvement from her 8.78m from UIndy. Inga Augustaitis took second behind Obie with 9.80. Nayeli Lara threw 8.36: her second best throw ever and even better than her outdoor PR.

Liam Nassib threw 11.14 and the dedicated freshman Kelvin Cross threw 10.12. That is a huge improvement from the 8.72 he tossed earlier in the season. Connor Murphy threw 8.82m last club relays but tossed 9.75m at this meet for an indoor PR.

The high jump is always tricky to do at club relays. But Becky Haight (1.40m) Ashley Raehsler (1.30) and Sonia Zhang (1.30) got the job done. Hooray for high jump! Hameed Odunewu (1.85m) and Connor Murphy (1.70) scored good points for us with their marks.

The long jump was dominated by Illinois athletes. Raehsler (5.05m #3 all time) took the win. Jasmine Williams jumped for the first time as well. The men went 1-2-3 with Nebel (6.65m) Howard (6.35m) and Murphy (6.18m). These three men and Raehsler are unstoppable in the long jump and NIRCA is soon going to see it.

In the triple jump, Lopez (13.07m) and Raehsler (10.16m) both won with Zhang (9.82) taking 2nd for the women. Lopez”s jump broke his own club record but might not have even counted. In order to score, two jumpers needed to get a mark. Thankfully, Yemi stepped up. Having hurt his hamstring in the 60m dash, he was in pretty bad shape. But, he toughened up and got a jump in so that Mateusz”s jump would qualify for points. Shout out to Yemi.

In summary, the men and women won their 10th Club Relays. We have rewritten so many records this season it is crazy. NIRCA doesn”t know what”s coming for them. Thank you to volunteers, parents, alumni, Eric Vetter, and our athletes. On to outdoors!

Your favorite RSO traveled to the appropriately named ‘”Amateur Sports Capital of the World'” for the University of Indianapolis Invitational.

The sprinters were led by Thomas Harris once again as he put up his second-best 200m time with the club (23.39). He”s going to be a key player in the 4×200 and SMRs at Club Relays. Fellow sprinter Doug Howard stepped onto the track after competing only in the long jump and 60m this season. He clocked a time of 24.74. Becky Haight PR”d in the 200 with 26.13, which is also a club record and also broke the meet record. This. Girl. Is. On. Fire. After her race she took a well-deserved nap and ate a pepperoni pizza. Freshman Jasmine Williams won her heat of the 200 by a quarter second and ran a quality 400m.

Justin Nebel dominated the 400m, taking 9th in a time of 52.46. Patrick Willhalm also had an open 400 PR in 55.06, winning his heat. Mason Rosenberg ran 53.9 but was cut off towards the finish by an out of control competitor. He was disqualified, however, for stepping outside his lane for four steps. He took it as a learning experience. ‘”I”m not as mad about getting DQ”d, it”s my fault and it”s fair'”. He”s keeping himself well rested for a killer performance at Club Relays.

In the 800, Zack Fishman likes to go out fast. Very fast. Sub 60 fast. But today he told himself he”d run the first quarter conservatively and, boy did it pay dividends. He clocked a time of 2:04.9, faster than his club indoor PR by 3 seconds AND faster than his outdoor club PR. Beau Barber won his heat in an exciting race that had him making a move at 550m and build a sizeable lead. In his words ‘”I heard everyone yelling and I thought someone was coming up on me, but it was my #Squad cheering for me'”. Pierre also ran his first track race with us after a consistent cross-country season and track offseason. He ran 2:16.69 and is looking to gain more fitness. Maia Haworth also ran a solid 2:41.25 in the 800. She has been working out very well with the mid-D crew and has real speed. Congrats to her on her season opener.

Despite not feeling the best coming into the race, and wanting more out of his kick, John Kellum smashed his PR in the mile with a time of 4:33. Julia Schultz is amazing. Her range extends from the 400m to the 6000m and every race in between. In the mile, however, she”s perfect. She said ‘”It”s not very often you walk away from a race not wishing that you did something differently, but if I were to rerun my race I would just hope to replicate it. I”m very happy'” She ran 5:11, #5 all time for our club behind Emma Grimes and Megan Mocogni. Big congrats to her on her performance. Vicky Dent also ran her first mile and broke 6:00! She ran 5:52 and could really surprise us all at Club Relays with some more training and pacing. Also, Audrey Bloomquist toed the line on the track for the first time in 7 years. She wanted to go sub 7:00 and she destroyed that goal, running 6:29.15!!!! In the 3000m, Josh Mollway put himself into club history with a time of 8:42.75, good enough for #6 all time. He also closed in a 63 soooooo… he”s fit. Connor Farrell proved he”s young scrappy and hungry with a time of 9:16. A solid race at Club Relays could put this frosh in the top 20. He”s got the work ethic and consistency for it, that”s for sure. Olan Bruyere ran a phenomenal race in 10:43. Tough racing, moves late in the race, and adrenaline took him to a 50-second improvement! Anneliese Schulz went in wanting sub 11:00 in the 3k. At 1 mile in, she was right on pace with little room for error. She made a hard move at 2600m and another on the final lap to run a strong 10:58.19.

In the long jump, Justin Nebel jumped a solid 6.55m but said, ‘”I need to focus on getting my mark. I had a few really good jumps but scratched by just a tiny bit'”. Obie Azie represented the throws squad by showing up to the meet super early and throwing 8.78m. She”s been consistent and is looking to make waves at Club Relays.

SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO MRS. KELLUM FOR SENDING GU WAFFLES FOR THE ENTIRE TEAM. It was very much appreciated and made the meet more memorable and tasty.

The next big meet is the biggest meet. CLUB RELAYS HYPE STARTS NOW.”,2018-02-14 15:34:00+00,Indoor

When I say round and purple, some people might think of an eggplant or Tinky Winky or perhaps Barney the Dinosaur #NeverForget. But for ITFC, we think of the friendly confines of ONU”s Perry Recreation Center. A bright 200m track featuring an amazing array of talent and performances.

This meet was special because it was the debut for many, showed us some PRs and also some changes to the club leader boards.

Ladies first. Lauren Grant left Bourbonnais with TWO PRs in the 200 (28.32) and 400 (1:03.02). Her outdoor PRs are 29.85 and 1:05.38, in case you didn”t know. So far this indoor season she has PR”d in the 60, the 200, the 300, the 400, and was on a ”PR” 4×4. Big congratulations to her. This. Girl. Is. On. Fire.

Malorie Moore made her club debut with a 29.77 200 and in the 4×400 relay. Also making her debut in dramatic fashion was Ashley Raehsler. She long jumped into club history with a 5.14m mark, 9th overall out of 25 women. She also triple jumped 10.42m, which places her 3rd in the ITFC leaderboards. Congratulations to both of these women on their club debuts!!

Emily Foley chased the club record in the 600, running 1:44.37. While she missed out on the 1:43.70 mark set by the Legendary Lauren Jonen, Emily is now #3 in the 600.

Inga Augustaitis had a phenomenal day in the shot put, throwing 9.22m. A year ago, she threw 8.45m at IWU. A well-deserved club PR for her!

For the gentlemen, Thomas Harris established himself as the short-sprint man to beat in NIRCA. He ran a 200m Club PR in 23.27.

Andy Marszewski has done the 60m dash before. At IWU in December, he unfortunately hurt his hamstring and finished the race in a time of over 20 seconds. But as athletes, we understand that injuries are an inevitable part of the game. The intensity and dedication we put to getting faster and stronger is applied to getting healthy, and Andy demonstrated this the past month. After patient and careful recovery, he”s back in business running the 60m (7.59) and 200 (24.02). Welcome back, Andy.

Mason Rosenberg, newcomer Tim Doll, and Alex Bienduga also posted times in the 200: 23.99, 24.47, and 23.71, respectively.

Bienduga also raced President Mateusz Lopez in the 400. Both men ran 52.39, but my professor is a stickler when it comes to significant figures so Bienduga technically ran 0.002 seconds faster. Tim Doll also posted an impressive 53.26 second 400.

Connor Murphy ran 2:58.87 in the 1000, which comes out to roughly a 4:48 mile pace. For a guy that exclusively trains with sprinters and jumpers, this is pretty darn impressive.

The men”s mile featured Cody Lund and Quinn Todzo. Cody went in confident and ready to PR, but he didn”t think he”s PR by 9 seconds. At club relays last year he ran 4:42, today he ran 8 laps in 4:33.05. Quinn Todzo also PR”s by almost 3.5 seconds. A great day for both of these guys.

Today was the first meet for the throws crew to show what they”ve been working all off season for. After Inga”s great performance, Liam Nassib threw 11.13m, his second best mark ever. Kelvin Cross, a freshman who you can find training EVERY Tuesday night chucked the shot 8.72m.

Congratulations to all the athletes that competed. We”re 20 days away from Club Relays. If anyone”s wondering I don”t have a date to the 4×4.

This past Saturday, the Illinois Track and Field Club attended Illinois Wesleyan University”s Top Times Titan Open.

On the women”s side, the Top 10 charts changed yet again. You can thank Becky Haight”s 8.07 60m time and her 61.65 400m split. She now holds the best 60m time in club history and her 4×4 squad with Emily Foley (65.01), Julia Schultz (62.25), and Lauren Grant (62.73) now hold the third best indoor time ever. I can”t wait for Club Relays. This women”s team is so strong in every respect they”re going to be very hard to stop. Haight also split under 60 in the DMR.

Speaking of the DMR, Julia Schultz ran her 1600m leg in 5:20 which gives her a shot at a top 10 time in the mile. Erin McKee ran a 2:46 split in the 800m leg and came back to run a 6:18 mile. Her senior year club relays will be special, no doubt about it.

Maggie Madden ran the 800m in 2:58, over 10 seconds faster than last week. With 4 more weeks of consistent training and workouts, she”s going to throw down at Club Relays. Mia Bertaud had her club debut with a mile time of 6:05.26. The question isn”t if she”ll go under 6:00, it”s when.

Adeline Shillington also made her club debut running the 200m (32.14) and 400m (1:11.67). She”s got her legs under her now and it”s going to be exciting to see what this massive group of sprinters will pull out at Club Relays. Last year we had 197 races, jumps, and throws by Illinois athletes. Bring ear plugs for the 4×4, it”s going to be rowdy.

Anneliese Schulz also surprised herself with an 11:02 3k, taking 3rd overall. A week and a half ago she ran 11:35 so she”s on her way to a phenomenal Club Relays performance.

The gentlemen had quite a day, fielding two DMR”s. The 1200 leg was run by John Kellum (3:18.82) and Jarod Meyer (3:30). Meyer came back to run 9:42 in the 3k, a very solid performance that is a testament to his consistency and grit. He is a model on how to balance academics and extra-curricular activities. He”s also really good looking and could be a model. The 400m leg of Tyler Splitt (52) moved the B squad up a place while Beau Barber (56.16) held the lead Kellum had built. The 800m leg of the B team was run by Josh Mollway. This guy ran a 60 second quarter to finish of a 3k time trial two weeks ago. His 1:59 split not only put his quartet into the lead, but it established him as a force to be reckoned with on the national stage. Evan Patel split a 2:11.54 for the A squad.

The coaches put these two DMR”s together to race each other. And race they did. Keith Lee and Alex Hanskat battled it out in the 1600m leg. Eventually the dogfight ended with Keith taking the W with a 4:37 split and Hanskat taking second with a 4:36 split.

Thomas Harris ran a season”s best in the 60m (7.32) and the 200m (23.57). Steven Bellefontaine made his club debut in 7.34 seconds. He”s running with the top dogs. Other 60m runners include Mason Rosenberg (7.54), Tyler Muckian (7.75), John Brandenburg (7.76), Evan Sacks (8.22), and Shan Amin (10.03).

Alex went on to run his best 200m time on a 200m track (23.58). His PR comes from GVSU”s 300m oval. Alex went on to run 53.15 in the 400 ahead of Justin Nebel”s 53.75. Justin”s time is impressive by itself. But this is the man”s FIRST time running a 400m for us.

The man who can do anything, Connor Murphy, ran 24.41 for an indoor 200m PR.

In the 3k, Josh Feldman led the group to 5th place in 9:13. He got out fast and settled into a pack of Washington University runners. In an online log, he said ‘”Of course I regret going out that fast, but I didn”t have any regrets in the sense of ‘”I wish I pushed myself more.'”

Connor Farrell ran a solid 9:27 and is on his way to some great performances. He was the 6th runner at xc nationals and is a staple of the men”s squad.

Matt Dickinson made his track debut with a 5:10 mile. He got his racing strategy under control and is ready to break 5:00. 10 seconds might seem like a lot but remember this is the same Matt Dickinson that dropped from 32:31 to 30:27 over three weeks.

In the jumps, Hameed Odunewu jumped 1.68m. Last year at Club Relays he hit 1.85m so I guess you could say… things are going up from here.

Justin Nebel leaped a phenomenal 6.54m and Tyler Muckian put up a solid 11.38m triple jump.

In the 4×400 relay, Keith Lee established a solid lead but Zack Fishman was tripped up in the final 60m of his leg and fell to the floor. Like a trooper, he finished his leg and eventually the 4×4 squad was able to pull through with a win thanks to a strong 54.7 split from John Kellum and a 52.59 leg from Tyler Splitt. Never give up on your dreams, kids.

ITFC will be at ONU next. Less than 4 weeks until Club Relays.

With school a few days away, the Illinois Track Club had their top athletes in the Illinois Open in the friendly confines of the armory. With plenty of volunteers to spectate, Emily Foley, Becky Haight, and Keith Lee had plenty of people to cheer them on.

The Saturday started with Emily Foley running 5:28.46 in the mile with remarkably even splits. Look for something fast at Club Relays, this woman is on a mission. More than anything, it shows that she is fit and ready to tackle the indoor season. A month ago, she ran 5:37 and here we are, 9 seconds faster.

Becky Haight is probably one of the most consistently dominant sprinters our club has ever had. Indoor, outdoor, early or late season, she can keep churning out quality performances. In the 200, she took 2nd in her heat in 26.41 for 11th overall. This is her fastest time on a 200m track which is easily missed if one just looks at the raw numbers. In the 60m, she ran 8.19, good for 17th in a field of 27 women.

In 2015, Keith Lee, a senior at Urbana High School, ran 1:57.70 to take 7th place in the Illinois 2A State Meet. Being an All-State brings great pressure to keep performing. Since joining our club, he had not broken the 2:00 barrier. His best club time as of this morning was 2:00.10. A quarter step separated him from sub 2:00 in an Illinois singlet. Now the Mid-D coach for one of the deepest Mid-D squads in NIRCA, he has to lead by example. Today, he finally ran under 2:00 in a time of 1:59.61. This is his fastest indoor time by almost a second. If my math is correct, (and I got an A- in MATH241), he’s gonna blast the outdoor 800. A big congratulation goes to Keith Lee on his performance. It’s very, very well deserved.

Special thanks to all those who volunteered, your services are greatly appreciated! Enjoy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!”,2018-01-13 19:35:00+00,Indoor
154,Muneeb Ansari,ITFC Races Early at EIU,”After winter of training, several ITFC athletes attended the EIU John Craft Invitational in Charleston, Illinois.

Notable performances included Lauren Grant, a staple athlete in sprint practices and meets, who ran 1:03.45 in her indoor 400. By itself, that time is impressive. But considering that this is 2 seconds faster than her outdoor best of 1:05.38, I think we might see some exciting 4×4”s in her future.

The women”s 800m run featured several athletes including Freshmen Maggie Madden (3:08.99) and Angela Wu (3:26.69). The stage is set for them to get quality training under their belt and perform well at Club Relays and beyond. Be on the lookout for Maggie Madden this season, her consistency at practice and even when she cannot make it to practice gives a lot of hope to her teammates. Emily Foley ran a phenomenal race in 2:27.83, leading from wire to wire. She came through the 600m mark in about 1:49.46 which, by itself, would put her top 10 all time for our club. This. Girl. Is. On. Fire.

On the men”s side, Thomas Harris ran his 2nd fastest 60m dash in 7.37 and his 2nd fastest 200 m in 23.73. John Kellum lead the group of 800m runners winning his heat in 2:04.25. He said ‘”it wasn”t fast, really. But I executed my race plan. It was a great measure to see how much XC has helped me without any speed work'”. Give this man some fast intervals, @Richard, he”ll be on fire. Zack Fishman (2:09), Beau Barber (2:16) and Patrick Willhalm (2:13) found their baseline times. I”ve got my eye on Patrick Willhalm. A consistent XC runner, this man is made for the 400/800 races. He has been training over break and has a stride longer than most. More importantly, this guy competes and loves to push the pace. It”s guys with that sort of passion that make track and field so fun to watch.

In the long Jump, Doug Howard and Justin Nebel had quite a day jumping 6.20m and 6.12m, respectively. These two are on fire and those jumps would put them 2nd and 4th at 2017”s Club Relays and 7th and 8th at Nationals. I”m trying to contain myself, but I might just jump (he he) for joy.

Next week will see a big delegation going to IWU for the Titan Open. We”re about a month away from CLUB RELAYS!!!! Also, I finally figured out how to set up our Instagram so follow us @illinitrackclub. Like the pictures we post because I get notifications on my phone and people will think I”m popular.

Christmas came early for ITFC in the form of 3 wins and 2 new club records. Many sprinters and middle-distance runners attended Illinois Wesleyan University’s Titan First Chance Invitational after months of stale armory air and intense training.

In the women’s 60m dash, veterans Becky Haight and Kaleigh Evans ran PRs of 8.10 (new club record) and 8.76, respectively. Newcomers Dalemarie Johannesson (9.29) and Jasmine Williams (8.64) showed that their fall training block was not for nothing. Jasmine has been involved with the club a great deal at social events, practice, and volunteering opportunities.

In the 200m, Coach Haight won in a time of 26.56. She is very fast and will be getting faster. Her athletes Jasmine (28.50), Ciara Ward (30.91) and Dalemarie (31.42) have lots to look forward to as well.

IWU offers a 300m run because this is America and we run whatever we want. Lauren Grant came through as the top Illinois runner in 45.97. Shout out to both Dalemarie and Ciara who ran the 200m and 300m.

After a big week of applying to graduate schools, Emily Foley showed that she’s on the hunt for a big mile PR. Being the lone woman in the chase pack, she ran a new club PR of 5:37.79. This senior is going out with a bang.

In the 4x400m relay, Becky Haight, Kaleigh Evans, Lauren Grant, and Jasmine Williams got 4th with 4:19.13. These ladies were running on tired legs as each of them had run at least one race before.

U of I’s pole vault crew was represented by Ciara Ward (8’ 8.25”) and Kat Leiner (9th in 9’ 2.25”).

The men’s races were highlighted by Justin Nebel. He had a big day running 7.39 in the 60m dash and winning (!) the long jump. On his second attempt, he put himself 6 inches past second place and into club history. He is now the best long jumper with 22’ 3.5”, a foot over jump coach Lopez’s mark. His mark would have won last year’s NIRCA national meet by 24 centimeters.

The 60m dash showcased new faces including Shantanu Amin (10.39), Tyler Muckian (7.83), and Evan Sacks (8.19). Thomas Harris also ran 7.46 and was recognized by Coach Haight for having the best attendance at practice this month. That sort of dedication carries our team to the next level.

Taking a strong leadership role this year, Mateusz Lopez has a lot on his plate. Managing a general body of over 100 athletes with issues of money, space requests, social events, team bonding, competition, and travel is hard to say the least. But these responsibilities have not shaken this All-American as he won the 200m in 23.29. In 11th place was Thomas Harris in 24.00 as well as Tyler Muckian (26.52) and Evan Sacks (27.71). You can’t help but feel excited when you see dedicated members finally getting their chance to compete and grow.

As if a full lap at full speed wasn’t fun enough, both Thomas and Evan competed in the 300m as well. If IWU offered a 400 I bet they’d run that too.

Mid Distance Coach Keith Lee has some big boots to fill. After last year’s men’s 4×400 won the National Title in 3:18.47 (all returners) and went sub 8:00 and sub 10:00 in the 4×8, there’s not that much room for improvement. Beau Barber explained how the training this year is much more speed based with 150m buildups and plenty of fast moving.

In the 600m, Keith Lee ran 1:24.84 to take 4th place in the meet and 4th in the club leaderboards. His athletes Zack Fishman (1:30.24) and Tim Plomin (1:30.46) look sharp and ready to bring some fire in middle distance races. Tim is a real newcomer to the sport, having ran track only once before. But if he is already running 90 second 600s in December and battling it out with veteran mid distance runners like Zack, I think he’ll find that this is his sport.

The lone cross-country runner, Josh Mollway ran 4:29 in the mile to win his heat by 8 seconds. After a week of low-mileage, he’s ready to get into the swing of track season.

Connor murphy ran 9.41 in the 60m high hurdles and qualified for finals where he finished 7th in a time of 9.43. A true renaissance man, he also pole vaulted 13’ 5.25”.

The 4x400m relay of Tyler Splitt, Beau Barber, Tim Plomin, and Zack Fishman took 9th in 3:40.42. Tyler Muckian and Mateusz Lopez also competed in the triple jump hitting 38’ 1.5” and 41’ 5”, respectively. Lopez was the national runner-up last year in this event and, if Muckian sticks with it, we could see two All-Americans from our happy little club.

ITFC prepares for a big block of solo training over winter break and then many more races to come, including the annual Illinois Club Relays meet on February 24th.

Results

A week out from Thanksgiving, ITFC had a lot to be thankful for. The distance runners sat gratefully for a fast and fun Nationals performance. Sprinters, jumpers, and throwers were eagerly counting down the days until their first competition in December. 

But this Thursday was about remembering one of ITFC’s greats: Sean Berbert. Some cultures remember the passed with prayer. Some with charity or songs or stories. We remember our own with 400 meters of running. The perfect nexus between sprinters and distance runners, almost all of ITFC ran 400m that night. 

Sprinters lead by Coach Becky Haight took the race seriously with a coordinated warm up and four-point starts. The distance runners, well, most are still enjoying their time off.

The night started out with the combined 1600 meter run. Josh Mollway and Alex Hanskat battled it out in the final lap. Mollway pulled ahead to run 4:33 after a slow 72-second start. Hanskat was 2 seconds behind in 4:35 to run a PR. On the women’s side, Emily Foley ran a club PR of 5:38. Look out for this Mid-D senior to take our women’s team to new heights in the 800 and 1500/mile. After a breakout cross country season, Noel Brindise dropped 9 seconds to a new PR of 5:45.

The distance 400s were like stuffing in a turkey: ugly and clunky but the night wouldn’t be the same without it. Daniel Engel ran a 61.05 PR. Catch him at his local turkey trot 5k running hard after a long climb from injury. The male sprinters were lead by the President of the Illinois Track and Field Club (POTITFC) Mateusz Lopez (52.01). Close behind him were returners Alex Bienduga (52.05), Head Coach Tyler Splitt (52.08), and Garrett Barch (52.81). Lopez took 9th in the 200 last year at NIRCA Track Nationals, Barch took 11th in the 100, Bienduga was 11th in the 400, and Splitt was 12th in the 400. These heavy hitting sprinters are coming in hot this season, don’t blink or you’ll miss them. Another promising sprinter is Andy Marszewski (52.92). From Downers Grove North, he boasts PRs of 49.79, 23.50, and 10.98. He also ran 18:59 in the 3 mile but this cross-country president is not holding his breath for him.

The women sprinters are a young group. Most are new to the group and Coach Haight says “there is a lot of promise beyond just the performances last week and we are looking forward to a strong season starting with Early Bird next month.”. ITFC will be competing at the Titan First Chance Meet on December 2nd. Big things coming, stay tuned.

Sprinter results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DdIdyk0nBp4i-7aHf34zwc4JLgYf2DOHQ1b8MOGv3IM/edit#gid=162292564

Distance results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OYE3I_vfBbwjed3w3bLjMPUnBFCQf2Y0DTT3p_ipBDA/edit#gid=2077653293

The 2017 NIRCA Nationals proved a fruitful trip for IXC. Numerous athletes not only PR’d, but ran standout races. The day was composed of six heats. Let’s break them down.

Men’s Jr/Sr/Grad

Though freezing temperatures, the still wind made for manageable conditions for the day’s first race. For many IXC athletes, it would be their last Nationals.

Senior Austin Kuehr capped off his IXC career with a strong race. Keuhr ran consistent splits averaging about 5:50 per mile. Throughout the second half of the race he passed 25 runners to finish 45th overall in 29:23.

“This season I”ve been working on improving my race strategy of starting out conservatively and making a move in the second half of the race.” Said Kuehr, “I think I was finally able to pull that off at Nats.”

This was Kuehr’s first nationals race scoring for the Men’s Jr/Sr/Grad squad.

“Not a mind-blowing, spectacular race or anything, but a great way to end my ten years of cross country.” Said Kuehr in an online log.

Junior Leonel Rodriguez has struggled with bronchitis throughout his IXC career, and though the cold air did not help, he showed an enormous effort at Nationals, finishing 16th in 27:47.

Rodriguez says that lung problems made the race extremely difficult, though decided not to drop out. He even made surges in the last kilometer, passing competitors as he approached the finish.

Rodriguez ran even splits throughout the race, taking it out in 5:30/M pace and slowed down only slightly, averaging 5:35/M pace overall.

Women’s Jr/Sr/Grad

Junior Anastasia Rodriguez, who did not even run Nationals last year, ran a phenomenal race on Saturday in 26:57 and 27th place. Rodriguez (no relation to Leonel) capped off a great season with her performance.

“It went pretty good,” said Rodriguez, “I think I ended the season pretty strong and I’m ready for next season to be even better.”

Rodriguez ran with Junior Sara Folliard and Senior Andrea Arriaga for much of the race, though surged ahead and maintained distance with Senior Erin McKee. Like many today, this was Anastasia’s first cross country Nationals.

Arriaga, a senior who joined the club only this year, ran another PR on Saturday in 28:26. In her first and last year with IXC, she has seen steady improvement. Starting at 29:41 at the Aurora Spartan Invite, she has PR’d every race, with Nationals being a six second PR.
Although Arriaga had ankle pain at Regionals, she recovered enough for a good season’s end.

Another strong performance came from Senior Mariela Marquez. Despite struggling with injury this season, Marquez placed 65th place [28:44]. Marquez got out in 7:35/M pace and settled into 63rd place by mile three, holding her ground until the finish.

Men’s Championship

“…from the University of Illinois, William Wolf!” Says the NIRCA official to a chorus of IXC cheers. Wolf walks to the stage to receive his first All-American medal. Hours ago, he had just placed 30th, securing the final All-American spot.

“I’d say it was a pretty good race,” said Wolf, “it was good to see I made it because I wasn’t sure where I placed.”

The championship men ran tough in their final race this season, giving it their all in frigid temperatures and damp course conditions.

The men got out conservatively in the first mile, packing together tightly and saving energy for the final miles of the race. Runners Josh Mollway, William Wolf, Brian Butcher, and Josh Feldman packed together, with a pack of Quinn Todzo, Connor Farrell, and Eli Walker close behind.

All the top 7 runners came through the first mile considerably behind the competition, though steadily passed competitors throughout miles 2 and 3. Feldman moved up 56 places from mile 2 to 3, moving to 41st place.

The strategy was one embraced by Head Coach Richard Skogsberg. “We weren’t sure if they were running smart or just running slow. It turns out, they were running smart.” Said Skogsberg.

Right after mile three, Mollway felt something strange. His shoe, slipping off his heel, was now about to completely slide off his foot. Mollway kicked the shoe to the side of the course and continued on.

“It was something I had to accept and not let it tarnish the end of my race,” said Mollway in an online log, “I ended up with a 30 sec PR… …so at the end of the day I’m not complaining.”

Frost, patches of mud, and freezing conditions were not forgiving on Mollway’s right foot. He however demonstrated great mental maturity by regaining his focus on the competition and surging in the last 800 meters.

Mollway finished in 37th [26:22] with Butcher [26:26], coming close behind in 48th. Feldman came through in 59th with 26:39 with Todzo rounding out the top 5 in 101st place and 27:14.

Todzo’s dedication to IXC showed in his strong performance today. A former wrestler, he has come a long way since his freshman year when he ran 30:18 at the same course.

The boys finished 8th overall in the team scores.

Women’s Championship

25:35. The last time Sophomore Riley Maloney ran that time, it was for a 5k in high school. At Saturday’s NIRCA National meet, Maloney ran the same time for a 6k. A remarkable showing of the most improved athletes on the team.

“When I came down that finish stretch, and I saw my time, I couldn’t stop smiling,” said Maloney in an online log, “and as I finished, I just couldn’t stop crying tears of joy.”

This was Maloney’s first Nationals meet, and first season as a member of the women’s top seven squad.

The IXC women were missing two of their top performers Saturday: Noel Brindise and Erin Kainrath. Noel and Erin both suffered injuries after Regionals and could not attend Nationals. The team still managed to finish 11th.

Leading the way was IXC women’s MVP Julia Schultz, who, placing 31st, came within 3 seconds of being All-American.

Schultz [23:54] was followed by Gender Minority Captain Anneliese Schulz [24:01], Vicky Dent [24:55], Riley Maloney [25:35], Anna Piazza [25:52], and Tiffany Yathaputanon [26:52].

Though Schulz did not have her best race of the season, she said she was proud of how her teammates ran.

“This was a great course and even if I ran kind of an average race there were so many other girls that ran very well.” Said Schulz.

Junior Dent ran her first ‘A’ race at Nationals on Saturday and showed a marked improvement from one year ago. Her time on Saturday is 1:35 faster than her time of 26:30 from last year’s Nationals in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In her first season on the women’s top seven, Dent has consistently run strong races.

Dent ran another PR today, beating her previous of 25:03 from Regionals.

Another Junior, Yathaputanon, ran her first Nationals and her first race as a member of IXC women’s top seven in her first season with IXC. Yathaputanon is known for her middle-distance running in track, competing on the women’s 4×800 at track Nationals and nearly breaking the club 4×800 record.

This season she has seen a significant increase in weekly mileage as she adapted to the cross-country training.

“It was a new experience and I’ll definitely consider doing it next year.” Said Yathaputanon in an online log.

Men’s Fr/So

The sun had picked up, and so did the wind. So too, did many of IXC’s youngest.

As Olan Bruyere ran past the IXC camp, comments fizzled about how smooth his form looked, how confident he was running. We could tell he was running well, but could anyone have predicted a 69 second PR?

At 32:20, Bruyere has achieved his initial goal of breaking 33 minutes. His previous best of 33:29 came at Regionals just three weeks earlier, and his best before that 34:14 at Parkside. What a season for this freshman!

Another runner with remarkable improvements has been Sophomore Jarod Meyer. The IXC 2017 story could not be told without including Meyer. On Saturday, he dropped nearly a minute from his 8k PR, running 28:04 and 24th in the race.

Meyer, like Bruyere, has gotten magnitudes faster this season. His 8k times have dropped from 30:05 to 29:21 to 28:04. Meyer attributes his performance to letting go of fear and taking risks during the race.

“I saw him pass me, and I thought I was mistaken. I was like ‘Is that Jarod!?’” Said Sophomore Evan Patel, who finished 19th in 27:58.

The sophomore class represented themselves well Saturday. Sophomore Daniel Engel moved up consistently throughout the race to run 29:42, a 1:20 PR! This is only Engel’s second 8k as an IXC member.

IXC Head Coach Richard Skogsberg attributes Meyer and Engel’s success to their persistence.

“People like Jarod, Daniel, and Riley can teach you a lot. All three of them have had rough seasons before, but stuck it out.” Said Skogsberg, “So, anyone who doesn’t feel like their training is paying off, they should really just keep at it, because a race like Jarod’s may be just around the corner.”

Women’s Fr/So

After a day of breakout races from an IXC runner in every race, the final race brought the exclamation point: Sophomore Leah Ziolkowski.

“I made a rule for myself to just show up and run a steady race,” said Ziolkowski, “Little did I know this would lead me to set a personal record by nearly a minute!”

Ziolkowski improved her previous PR of 27:14 by 58 seconds on Saturday, running 26:16 and finishing 36th overall. She says her breakout performance came as a pleasant surprise.

“After two unsuccessful races, [Lucian Rosa & Regionals] I was unbelievably ready to throw in the towel. It took weeks of encouragement and support from my teammates for me to even consider signing up for Nationals.” Said Ziolkowski, “I am overwhelmingly thankful they did.”

Following Leah in 26:18 was freshman Grace McDonough. McDonough is new to the team and has progressed with every race. On Saturday, she ran a remarkable 3:17 PR.

McDonough ran her second three-minute PR of the season. Her previous PR was 29:32 at the Great Plains Regionals, with her next best a 32:39 at the Lucian Rosa Invite. At this rate, who knows what she is capable of in the future?

“I”m going to tell every freshman her story next year and will never forget her progression.” Said President Muneeb Ansari.

Final Notes:

Ansari, along with Schulz and Skogsberg, has devoted hours of their own time every week to make the club function as well as it does.
Let’s send our eternal thanks to them for making IXC possible!

“This team has shown me what kind of person I want to be: Dedicated, tough, friendly, persistent, and fun.” Said Ansari, “I couldn”t be more proud of this team.'”

Practice for the Track and Field Season will begin on Monday, November 27th.

Results: https://clubrunning.org/races/race_results.php?race=547