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Graduation season starts, Track and Field season ends. ITFC was able to close out the season at two North Central College meets.

The first was the Dr. Keeler meet that saw four men race. Josh Mollway ran the 5k in a time of 15:32.74. His goal was 15:45 and was a bit worried about his low mileage. But this is the same Mollway that ran a 1:57 leg at Nationals relays after some injuries. His splits were very even and it’s a great way to close out the season.

In the 400, Beau and Mario ran 54.57 and 56.87, respectively. That’s a 0.8 second PR for Mario and 0.1 second PR for Beau. Big congrats to Mario on his club career, Cornell is lucky to have you <3.

Josh Feldman walked into Naperville to take names. His season was focused on slow, steady progress instead of big breakthroughs. He PR’d in the 5k in nasty conditions. He ran a 4:36 mile while developing a cold at Peaks. In the 3k steeple, he had PR’d this season with a time of 10:00.29. Just a half step over sub 10:00.

Here is an excerpt from his log:
“The first lap was around 75, then around 77 and 78. Towards the 5th and 6th laps, I started to fade a little bit mentally an” d I kind of didn”t think I would PR. But with one lap to go, I heard another coach yell ‘”You have to run a 78 to break 10! I knew I could run a 78, so I really started pushing as hard as I could cause this is my last race of the season. I passed like 4 guys and had a really strong kick. My final time was 9:54.19 which was my first time under 10 and a 6-second pr.”

Josh is now the 2nd fastest steepler behind Chris DeSilva. The club record is 9:36.50, in case you were wondering…

Later in the week, North Central hosted another meet for D3 athletes trying to get Nationals qualifying marks (or for club runners looking for a good time).

Michael Jang ran 11.76 for the 100m dash. Though not a PR, he ran into 2.2 m/s headwind. If you took PHYS101 you can do the math yourself, he was moving fast. His PR is 11.42 from Club Peaks.

Malorie Moore doubled in the 200/400 running well in both.

In his final race as a club member, having already graduated, Sean McCarty ran 2:01 in the 800.

Now it’s time for some well-earned rest. Big things are coming this next XC season, HAGS.”,2018-05-18 23:00:00+00,Outdoor
238,Josh Mollway,Early Season Racing at EIU,”After a wonderful winter break of training, we had four athletes go to the John Craft Invite at Eastern Illinois.

Jacob Avenaim started off for the Illini in the 60m dash. He came in at 7.31 which is only a single second off of being on the all-time top 10 list for our club! This freshman has a bright future ahead of him, for sure.

Also running in the 60 was Thomas Harris who finished in 7.34. Coming off a PR from the early bird, this is a great start to the season for this senior. Thomas also ran an impressive 23.7 in the 200.

John Brandenburg rounded out our 60m runners with his 7.58. This was his second best 60m performance so just wait until these 10pm practices start kicking in. John also came back later in the 200 with a 24.65.

John Kellum ran a solid 4:45.68 in the mile and 2:06.84 in the 800. Though these weren’t quite what he was hoping for, he has true dedication and the hard work will start to yield some results soon enough.

Great job to these athletes on a successful early meet. With the meet being shifted a day earlier, some athletes planning to compete were unable to attend.

The Illinois Track Club competes next at Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, January 26th.”,2019-01-23 11:05:00+00,Indoor
232,Josh Mollway,IXC Dominates Regionals on Home Turf,”In team sports, the term ‘home advantage’ describes the benefit that the home team is said to gain over the visiting team(s). Through constantly training on it, we as a club have gotten to know the arboretum quite well. It came as no surprise, therefore, that almost all 80 of our racers were comfortable on Saturday morning walking around at the NIRCA Great Plains Regional Championship course for 2018. We knew that course better than anyone on any other team. We expected the tough 800m back loop, we knew what it was like to run up that hill countless times, and we knew when we needed to start our kicks. IXC had the home advantage once again (we also hosted back in 2014 and 2015), and our runners’ performances reflect it.

With only 8 total teams, the fields were relatively small. 170 men total. 102 women total. Packs of Illinois runners could be seen all throughout the field.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…GO! The men’s 8k was off and almost immediately the Illini grouped up and moved in packs. Josh Mollway finished 2nd in 26:32 after moving up the majority of the race. Ryan Somerfield ran a strong race up front and kicked hard to finish 3rd in 26:39. Butcher, after hitting a couple hundred mile weeks in a row, finished in 26:56. After some mileage droppage in the upcoming weeks (still nothing below 80; let’s not get too crazy), Butch should be primed for a perfect Nationals race. Jean Rasmussen ran another very strong race, nearly cracking 27 again in 27:03. Behind him was Justin Ostrem running well in 27:15, with Josh Feldman improving on his time from Lewis with a time of 27:19. Rounding out the men’s top 7 was Eli Walker who used the pack running to his advantage to run a solid 27:20.

Richard Skogsberg (he’s our head coach) has been hitting pretty steep mileage these days as well and was feeling it in his legs on Saturday. Still, he ran 27:27 and is looking forward to running an 8k he’s proud of at Nationals. Connor Farrell ended up with 27:31 after going out a bit too fast, but he knows he can learn from it and stay mentally strong to race well at Nationals. Every race is a new opportunity. This was only Nikita Smyrnov’s second 8k and he came in at 27:36. With some tough competition at Nationals, no doubt he’ll drop a sizeable PR in Lexington. Colin Kirkham raced 27:46 and Evan Patel ran an impressive 27:54 on the unofficially confirmed long course. Nathaniel Oomen, in his first race of the season, dropped a 27:58 with calf-cramping Matt Beckerman right at 28:00.

Jarod Meyer ran 28:11, determined to break the 28 minute barrier at Nationals. Cody Lund ran only a few seconds behind his Lewis time with 28:18, which should turn into a sub 28 performance come Nationals. Michael Gerkin raced his first 8k of the season at the arb and ran 28:28. Alex Hanskat was next in 29:02 after having to deal with stomach issues for much of the race. With a fresh mindset and a cured stomach, I certainly believe that Hanskat can have the race he’s been waiting for in 3 weeks.

Jordan Meyer has slowly and quietly been grinding out workouts, races, and long runs and his progress is evident. He ran 29:13 and will be ready to reach his peak when the time comes.

Sean Frintner is unquestionably the man of the day, in my eyes. The entire experience on Saturday can be credited to Sean’s coordination and hard work. This man does not just show up on Wednesdays with rakes, people. He puts in an incredible amount of work behind the scenes to make sure our racing experience at the arboretum goes as smoothly as possible. Beyond this success, he ran 29:14, a time he hasn’t gotten close to touching since his freshman year and felt amazing physically and mentally while doing it. Remember when I said that moment would come and it would be glorious? Bravo, Sean. Bravo. And thank you for all you did to make Saturday the success that it was.

Liam Bots was next in for our men. He ran 29:16 and is excited to make big gains in Kentucky. Lucas Carrillo finished in 29:32. This being his first race since Aurora, he was able to PR by over 15 seconds! Right behind Lucas was Andrew Walmer who ran 29:35. Alex Kogen raced hard to finish in 29:47, and Patrick Willhalm accomplished his goal of wanting to break 30 with a 29:49 performance. Daniel Engel ran 29:51 on some stiff legs, but is excited for what he can do after decreased mileage. Blake Duncan had a rough race, finishing in 29:54 and then throwing up. Just wait until he’s THROWING UP ON THE COMPETITION AT NATTIES! (maybe don’t actually do that, Blake).

Kevin Callahan had a retreat planned for this weekend and missed the first day to race with his friends on such a lovely day for a race. He ran 30:12 and we greatly appreciate him showing up. Tim Green raced 30:33 and Muneeb Ansari came in at 30:36. Muneeb raced on this course for NIRCA Regionals his freshman and improved on his time from then by over a minute. Going into his final Nationals, Muneeb looks forward to flexing our team’s depth in the B races. Eric Bayer and Matt Dickinson came in together in 30:38, with Zach Scheffel shortly after in 30:40. Running again on pretty fatigued legs, Dickinson looks ahead to the mileage drop and what he can do at Nationals.

Nathan Saltzman dropped 3 seconds from Lewis with 31:15, but hey, any improvement is good. Ari Machtinger dropped a huge PR with 31:25. Bryan Himmel had a bit of a rough day with 31:33 but has one more race this season to show what he can do. Olan Bruyere ran 31:52 and David Creger was right after in 31:54. Olan experimented with starting conservatively and being more competitive throughout the race. Thomas Chavez ran his first race of the season fittingly on the home course and came in with a time of 32:02. Nathan Ehrenhofer ran 32:05 in his first race back from injury. Three weeks of training is definitely enough time for him to gain back some ground and do damage in Kentucky. Nick Schuster was next in 33:11.

John Feeley ran a huge PR of over a minute with a time of 34:06, showing that consistency and moderation pays off. Derek Engelbrecht finished in 34:59, with Robert Chun (35:56) and Sean Norris (36:03) racing their first races this season. Nate Sun came in at 36:31 to improve drastically from his Lewis performance. Leonel Rodriguez suffered an achilles injury just days before Regionals, but knowing that he could not race Nationals without finishing Regionals, he toughened up and showed true grit as he came across the finish line. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we wish Leonel a speedy recovery because we want to see him succeed in his last cross country race more than anything. Rounding out the men in this race were Cameron Smith, who ran 37:42, and Tim Zmudzinksi, who ran 39:49 in his first race of the season.

On the girl’s side, we once again saw incredible pack running and teamwork as our ladies pushed each other to do their best.

Leading the women again were Emma Burkhardt, Anneliese Schulz, and Julia Schultz, who embodied the picture perfect image of pack running. All three of these women ran smart, confidently, and showed NIRCA that they mean business. Burkhardt PR’d by 29 seconds with 23:14 and Schulz PR’d by 7 seconds with 23:19. Schultz is continuing to take steps in the right direction with her 23:38 performance. Watching these 3 compete in Lexington is going to be a show.

Next in for the women was Grace Gudwien who has just continued to get better and better. She ran 24:11 for a 28 second PR! Mia Bertaud closely followed in 24:24 which also was a personal best. Vicky Dent finished in 24:41 and is motivated to have her best race at Nationals. Noel Brindise came in 7th for our women with a time of 25:07. Clare Oehler PR’d by a few seconds with her time of 25:22, and Sara Folliard, in her first race of the season, accomplished her goal of sub 26 with 25:37. Tiffany Yathaputanon’s chest is still feeling a bit tight, but with it improving she was able to run 25:44, and she stays optimistic regarding what she can do at Nationals. Emily Condic raced hard to finish in 26:05.

Lindsey Schmidt didn’t know what to expect coming into her first 6k, but she managed to run an impressive 26:55 after having the goal of being in the 27s. Let’s hope she runs Nationals! Grace McDonough came into the race nervous about shin splints she’s been dealing with, and struggled to remain focused throughout the race. Though she didn’t have the race she wanted, she is a strong woman who is always able to look on the bright side of things and take something out of them. Brianna Legner raced 27:40 in her second 6k, and came in with confidence, knowing what to expect and how to approach the race. This was nearly a minute and a half PR! Sam Gonski also had a huge PR, running 27:55 after her 28:50 performance at Lewis. Congrats on the massive PRs, ladies!

Lucy Jensen raced her first collegiate 6k, and finished with a time of 29:16. Natalie Maguire finished in 30:06 after being able to continue moving up throughout the race. Next in was Adriana Miltko in 31:10 who was extremely happy with her performance and loved racing at the arb. Zoe Jacquat raced her first 6k and finished in 32:57. Not far behind her was Audrey Bloomquist (33:02), Katelyn Howley (33:17), and Maggie Madden (33:43) who all raced their first 6ks of the season. Madden was proud of her consistent race and looks now to speeding up overall and learning to run at the pace that she knows she can. Josie Suter found the hill tough towards the end of the race, but was thankful for the hill workout a couple weeks back that prepared her for it as she rounded out the women in 34:04.

With both the men and women having FIVE ALL-REGIONAL runners, the Illini took home first place trophies on both sides, scoring 24 points on the women’s side and 28 on the men’s.

With Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky three weeks out, IXC goes back to training hard for half of that time before tapering to be ready for peak performances.

Be ready. Be excited. The hype starts now.

Until next time.

Competing against some very fast varsity teams, IXC showed up at Lewis ready to race coming off some high mileage weeks and tough training. With humidity, a talented field, and a decently-sized hill to climb 200m in, this race would prove to be a mental test for all of our runners.

Uncommonly, the men’s 8k was the first race of the day. Ryan Somerfield had a tough time getting into a comfortable rhythm throughout the race. But the fact that his time of 26:26 is a subpar performance for him now is stating something. He is determined to stay focused and looks forward to regionals. Leonel Rodriguez has been on the up and up all season, so it isn’t surprising that he had another breakout race with 26:49. He trusted himself and it paid off. So excited to see how he can do at our last two races. Jean Rasmussen, our favorite Dane, improved by over 30 seconds on his race from ONU running 26:55. Brian Butcher raced tough in the humidity and finished in 26:59. Coach Richard dealt with dangerously low iron levels for quite some time and his body was unwilling to listen to him. Running 27:07 shows that his body is finally listening to him. Or maybe he just got lucky. Either way, we’re glad to have him back to racing.

Connor Farrell ran a solid 27:22 but is determined to work even harder to get where he wants to be. Josh Feldman took 7th place for the IXC men in a time of 27:39. Eli Walker battled himself mentally and felt weak throughout the race, but still managed a nice time of 27:44. With composure and confidence, this man of golden locks will soon show his best. John Kellum took a tumble after a runner in front of him went down mid-race. After a rough first few miles, he turned it around and finished hard in 27:50. Knowing he has what it takes and having the determination to get it done, Kellum looks forward to breaking his limits come the NIRCA races.

Evan Patel supposedly ate upwards of 90 pizza rolls in a single sitting. His time of 27:58 is only 19 seconds off his PR. Let’s see some of that pizza roll strength at Regionals, Evan. Cody Lund knocked off 10 seconds from his time at ONU, running 28:14. Can we see a sub 28 out of him next week at the arb? Next in was Jarod Meyer who ran 28:44. Recently free of injury, Meyer dug deep and worked himself nearly to throwing up in this race. Right behind Jarod was Jordan Meyer in 28:46. It appears that these two are nearly inseparable in races.

Alex Hanskat ran 29:04 and is looking forward to showing NIRCA how the REAL Alex Hanskat races soon enough. Alex Kogen improved on his time from ONU, running 29:11. Running his first race of the season, Patrick Willhalm ran a solid 30:02. This mid-distancer likes to show up on the XC course here and there and prove that he can do em both. Working together with Willhalm throughout the race was Sean Frintner, who yet again was very close to his PR with a time of 30:06. That moment will come and it will be glorious, Sean.

Muneeb Ansari stayed focus and surged hard to run 30:59. His goal at Regionals is sub 30. We know he can do it. But more importantly so does he. Nathan Saltzman finished in 31:18 in his first collegiate cross country race. PAR breakfast night aficionado Olan Bruyere was only a few seconds off his PR with a time of 31:20. Looks like Regionals will be bringing a lot of PRs to IXC this season. Matt Dickinson is a ping pong GOD, so I’ve learned, and will be looking to bounce back from his 32:34 on the home turf.

The Lewis race saw another first-time 8k competitor in Derek Engelbrecht, who ran 34:13. Derek came from a high school that didn’t offer cross country, so he’s only been doing this mad sport for a few months while some of the rest of us have been doing it for close to 10 years. Derek has much to learn and much experience to gain, which will only make him stronger. John Feeley ran tough to finish in 36:17 in the humidity and mush, and Nate Sun, who took a slight detour towards the end, ran 41:05 in his first 8k. With more consistency and mileage, Feeley and Sun might be surprised to see where they could be at this time in a couple of years.

The women’s race consisted of 19 Illini. Emma Burkhardt finished in 23:57, moving from group to group throughout the race. She enjoyed having to fight her way to the front. Anneliese Schulz pushed herself so hard she threw up after crossing the line in 24:13. This was a tough race for her but when you have as much experience as she does, you’re able to brush it off and look ahead and focus on what’s next. She looks to get one more 6k PR under her belt. Julia Schultz came in at 24:15, and although her season hasn’t started the way she wanted it too, she’s staying positive and is confident she can turn it around. Grace Gudwien felt pretty good throughout the race and ran a solid 24:45. Mia Bertaud had a strong finish to run 25:31, and is staying optimistic for the last two races of the season. Noel Brindise stuck onto a pack and finished in 25:38. Emily Condic rounded out the women’s top 7 with a time of 26:24.

Clare Oehler crossed the line next in 27:36, with Tiffany Yathaputanon right behind in 27:39. Hats off to Tiffany for continuing to push even after she started to have chest pain during the race. We hope she is back and better than ever for Regionals. Maia Haworth ran tough to finish in 28:33. Not far behind was Sam Gonski in 28:50 in her first 6k. Also debuting in the 6k was Brianna Legner who ran 29:03. In her first race for IXC, Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley ran 30:03. Hopefully, she liked it enough to do it again at our home course next week!

Riley Maloney made sure not a single person passed her in the whole race and finished in 30:18. On a tough day in tough conditions and tough outside factors, she did her best to make the race count. We’re all so proud of you for how hard you’re pushing, Riley. This was Stephanie Garcia’s first 6k representing Orange and Blue, and she ran 30:25. Rachel Troeger finished in 31:53, with Natalie Maguire coming in at 32:04. Josie Suter worked hard in her first 6k to run 33:38.

This day did not see many PRs from our club. It proved to be a mental (and obviously physical) barricade. But as we all know quite well, a season is more than a single race, just as a race is more than a single mile.

Prepare to show NIRCA and those other club teams that haven’t been training as hard as us why we deserve it more. Prepare to show them why they should fear IXC. Prepare to dig deep. Victory comes to those who endure.

Until next time.

With the breezy, fall cross country weather among us finally, IXC was back for the second meet of the season in Bourbonnais.

With plenty of time to spare before warm ups, you could find our runners huddled together to keep warm, or off exploring the corn or searching for undiscovered Porta-Potties.

When it was time for the women’s 5k race, our women were excited and ready. Emma Burkhardt chilled in the chase pack for the majority of the race and had a great kick at the end to come in first for our women with a time of 19:01. This is just as fast as she has run a 5k on the track. Which means to also look out for her come track season. Anneliese Schulz was not far behind in a 23 SECOND PR of 19:07. With her parents and fluffy dogs cheering her on, this women’s captain had a fantastic race and was very proud of all the women who came out. Julia Schultz has been hitting high mileage and finished in 19:51. She still has yet to show all that she has and it will come at the right time.

Vicky Dent set a cross country 5k PR in 20:10. Grace Gudwien came in at 20:13, with Mia Bertaud close behind in 20:19. All three of these girls packed up and pushed each other throughout the race, which is what we love to see. Clare Oehler rounded out the top 7 for the women in 20:54. Grace McDonough had another strong race, running 21:19. In her first race of the season, Brianna Legner ran 22:52. Our hard working social events coordinator, Riley Maloney, crossed the line in 23:01. After dealing with a rough injury, Maloney is putting in the work and results will come from it, it just takes some time.

Samantha Gonski also raced her first race in an Illinois uniform in Bourbonnais. She finished with a time of 23:31. Next for the women was Natalie McGuire who ran 24:34, with Mahum Chaudhary not far behind in 24:53. Zoe Jacquat wrapped up the women in 25:17.

On the men’s side, Ryan Somerfield had a strong race amid a tough field, finishing first for the club in 26:12. Freshman Justin Ostrem showed up big again, running 26:33. Willy Wolf raced tactically and had a strong finish to come in at 26:37. Thanks to Coach Skogsberg, making his first ever race appearance was Josiah Marshmallow who raced comfortably and came in right with Wolf at 26:37. Josh Feldman came next in 26:53. Freshman Colin Kirkham debuted his 8k with a fantastic 26:55 performance. Topping off the men’s top 7 was Connor Farrell in 26:57.

Leonel Rodriguez has been putting in a lot of work so far this season and it is really paying off. He ran just a smidge under 27 in 26:59.96 and is ready to continue showing that he belongs with the top guys. Nikita Smyrnov had an impressive 8k debut as he raced a 27:11. Eli Walker came in right behind Smyrnov in 27:12. John Kellum was next in 27:26. Fun fact for those who didn’t know: Kellum used to be a sprinter.

Alex Hanskat nabbed a 20 second PR in the wind with a 27:31. Next in was Jean Rasmussen, who is only here with us for the semester from Denmark. Rasmusen ran 27:34 in his first 8k, and knows he can do better with a slightly different race strategy. Matt Beckerman surprised himself with a fast time of 27:36. He now looks ahead to breaking 27. Recent sub 2:54 marathoner Evan Patel decided to race ONU just for fun yet surprised himself with a 20 second personal record of 27:39. He is ready to get back into 8ks and continue improving throughout the season.

With his back continuing to feel better, Andrew Walmer is showing significant signs of improvement, with a 27 second faster time of 28:20 than his Aurora race. Biology joke enthusiast Cody Lund ran 28:24, and Blake Duncan posted a 28:44. Zach Fishman, racing his first cross country race in 3 years, got into a strong, comfortable pace during the race and finished with a time of 29:04. He believes this is a strong start and a great confidence booster.

Evan Eckels finished in 29:13, with Alex Kogen coming in at 29:34. Daniel Engel ran 29:40 but knows he has room for improvement. Sean Frintner got a big confidence boost from his 29:55 after trusting in himself and going out strong. He also was closer to his best time than he has been in years. Hopefully he is able to reach it very soon. Just behind Frintner was Eric Bayer who ran 29:56 for his first collegiate race. Matt Dickinson ran a solid PR with 30:00, but was really hoping for sub 30. With some more training, no doubt he’ll pull it off. Dr. Mr. Sir President Muneeb Ansari, PhD. set out with a hefty goal this week of reaching 70 miles. Amidst this, he ran a 30:15 8k here at Olivet, pushing himself and taking some risks. Congrats on the mileage PR, President.

Olan Bruyere got out at a good speed and maintained well throughout the course to run a MINUTE PERSONAL BEST of 31:17. What a beast. Nick Schuster, with some tight plantars, raced 32:38, and Ari Machtinger debuted in the 8k with a 32:54. John Feeley ran 35:06, and if you’ve seen this guy’s effort at practice, you know that time is going to come down more. Cameron Smith rounded out the men with a time of 36:08.

With the women taking first place and the men placing 4th, the Illinois Cross Country Club continues to show it belongs at meets with talented D2 and D3 schools.

Until next time.

It’s September and still way too hot out which means cross country season is among us once again and, not even two weeks after classes began, the Illinois Cross Country Club found itself at its first meet of the 2018 season in Aurora.

With little to no troubles (besides a car breaking down), 44 of us, including nearly 15 freshmen and a couple non-freshmen newcomers, arrived at the Oakhurst Forest Preserve, ready to toe the line with some elite runners from varsity teams.

Thanks to some wonderful travel coordinating by our fantastic travel coordinator, Alex Hanskat, almost all of our cars arrived with plenty of time before the runners had to head out on their warm ups. After warm ups and some final race preparations, 5 o’clock rolled around and it was time for the first of the night’s two races: the women’s 6k.

As top tier returners, senior Anneliese Schulz and junior Julia Schultz (who are not sisters for anyone who didn’t notice the extra letter) led the lady Illini from the gun and worked off each other throughout the nearly 4 mile race. Though doubtful she would be able to pull off a PR in the dismal ground conditions, Schulz opened fast and ran tough in the mud. She ended up with a 22 second PR, coming in at 23:26 for 5th place. She finished right behind Schultz who finished in 23:20. That’s over 30 seconds faster than her time from Nationals last year! With season openers like these, NIRCA once again better look out for this dangerous duo come November.

Senior Vicky Dent crossed the line next for the club in 21st with a time of 24:23. She, probably like the rest of us, is curious what she could’ve run if it had not been for the mud. Not far behind Vicky was junior Amelia “Mia” Bertaud in 24:33 who somehow made it through the muddy course without spikes. Veteran Noel Brindise and newcomer Grace Gudwien came in almost side by side, finishing in 24:37 and 24:39 respectively. Noel decided to be aggressive early in the race and try to maintain, which paid off. Her time was well under what she expected from herself at this race and she now has her eyes set on a goal of breaking 24. This was a marvelous debut 6k by Gudwien and it is definitely safe to assume that she is going to keep doing damage throughout her time with us.

Tiffany Yathaputanon, a senior only in her second season of cross country, came in at 24:58, finishing off the top 7 for our women. Not far behind was sophomore Grace McDonough who was super excited for this race, after putting in a hard summer of training. Her time of 25:18 is almost a full minute faster than her time from nationals last year, which had also been a minute PR from her previous best. This means we can expect a 24:18 out of her next race, right?

Clare Oehler crossed the line next at 25:26. Clare is one of our new freshman and it can be assumed that she’s eager to make her mark early. Emily Condic, another seasoned veteran, finished next for the club in 25:38. After studying abroad for part of last year, she is back and ready to compete. Maia Haworth, who finished in 26:12, bested her nationals time from last year by minutes and was happy with the race, but knows she still has more left in her. Mahum Chaudhary is another freshman who came in at 27:28. Mahum enjoys long walks in downtown Naperville and running in the rain. Let’s just assume she loves running in the mud, too. Rounding out the women was Natalie Maguire who is another freshman (we’re glad we have so many of those) who finished in 29:20.

As the start of the men’s race was nearing, the men from the car that had broken down had arrived with a solid 10 or 15 minutes to spare before the gun. After Coach Skogsberg collected every watch in the greater Western Chicago area, it was race time.

Our men got out aggressively and packed up to work together throughout the race. Sophomore Josh Mollway was able to kick past former club coach Ryan Somerfield down the stretch to finish first for the club in 25:49, securing 5th place. Somerfield was just behind in 25:50 and 6th place, even though the polls say otherwise. Freshman Justin Ostrem showed up big in his 8k debut, running 26:05. No doubt he’ll become a vital component of this team as time progresses. Former ye ol’ Mahomet runner Brian “Butch” Butcher ran a consistent race after a consistent summer of training and finished with a time of 26:07. With Ostrem and Butch finishing 9th and 10th, the men’s top 4 finishers were among the top 10 overall finishers. Pack running pays off, people.

William Wolf, another Mahomet alum and our only All-American last season, finished off our scoring five coming in at 26:26. After a very busy academic year last year, this senior appears ready to finish off his time with the club strong. Josh Feldman and Leonel Rodriguez were the club’s 6th and 7th finishers, running 26:32 and 26:39. With Leonel feeling bronchitis-free and running with newfound confidence, it’ll be exciting to see what he can accomplish by this season’s end.

Rattling in next for the Illini were John Kellum in 26:53, Eli Walker in 26:58, and Connor Farrell in 27:07. All of these men improved from their nationals’ performances in Michigan last year. Secretary Cody Lund finished in 27:20, a solid PR, and enjoyed the true cross country experience of racing in the mud. You can thank Cody for getting us the stellar new uniforms.

Alex Hanskat didn’t exactly have the race he wanted with 27:54, but every race is a learning experience and his goals for this year are beyond times and places. No doubt he’ll accomplish what he wants to accomplish.

Next in was Blake Duncan who finished at 28:00. He’s a freshman with a lot of talent and we’re excited to see what he’s got. Brothers Jarod and Jordan Meyer finished just about side by side, with Jarod going 28:08 and Jordan going 28:09. Freshmen Evan Eckels and Alex Kogen were 10 seconds apart, finishing in 28:29 and 28:39. High school superstar Andrew Walmer, who was set back with a back injury last year, had a time of 28:47 which is a fantastic starting spot in coming back and building up to full strength.

Daniel Engel came into Aurora just hoping to break 30, and he came away with a time of 28:53, a 50 second personal best. (Have you been paying attention to how many PRs there has been?) Nathan Ehrenhofer and Bryan Himmel ran 29:08 and 29:19, with Timothy Green and Lucas Carillo not far behind in 29:46 and 29:49. All 4 of these freshman ran impressive opening 8ks.

Coming in next was hard working home meet coordinator, Sean Frintner, and dear president Muneeb Ansari. Frintner finished in 30:49 and Ansari came in at 30:50. With all of that mud, these are solid performances by our board members.

Finishing in 31:08 was Matt Dickinson. He is looking really solid aerobically and is looking to show what he can do on a course without swamps of mud. Zach Scheffel came in at 31:57 and Nick Schuster rounded out the men with a time of 32:28.

On a course where times were not the main concern, our runners ran pretty darn fast. The women claimed second place overall while the men grabbed first.

We hope to see more people come out to compete at our next meet hosted by Olivet Nazarene University at the Aspen Ridge Golf Course in Bourbonnais on Friday, September 28th.

Until next time.

What a perfect day at the races on our ‘home’ track. Our happy little club slept in, ran our race, and enjoyed the rest of the day. Ah, the joys of hosting. Several people looked to capitalize or bounce back from Nats. Others looked to have their first race after injury and other issues.

In the women’s 100, Lauren Grant PR’d with 13.90. A week ago she ran 14.17. In her first race due to injury and a very busy schedule, our beloved Social and Fundraiser Adriana Miltko ran the 100 as well. (Sign up for fancy dinner if you haven’t by the way)

For the men, Tyler Muckian made a comeback running 12.36. Shan PR’d again with 15.34, knocking off another .2 seconds. Do I hear a sub 15 next season? I do. I’m saying it. Throwback to club relays when I asked Michael Jang how his comeback was going. He said “my hurdle form is good, I’m just trying to get my speed back”. Like One Direction in a year, Jang came back together strong. He was the top Illinois sprinter in the 100 throwing down an 11.42, good for second overall. Andy also improved his collegiate PR from 11.83 to 11.48.

In the women’s 800, Grace McDonough continues to astonish us with a MEET RECORD of 2:32.02. Right on her hip was Tiffany Yathaputanon who has been grinding and grinding and grinding all of college and got a phenomenal race for second place. Tiffany ran 2:33.09 and her previous open best was 2:37.65. She said in her log “This was quite the redemption from last week at Nirca, and maybe all of this season. This is probably the first time in YEARS that I”ve felt that real ‘”in the zone'” feeling, where you don”t really feel the pain, or hear the people, or see anyone else besides who is in front of you.” Go Tiffany! Maggie Madden matched her PR from last week #consistentlyFast.

For the men’s 800, Keith Lee, John Kellum, and Mollway hammered the last 300 pushing one another. Keith took the W in 1:57.51. A lifetime PR! After a disappointing finish at Nats, Kellum took Coach Skogsberg’s advice and ran the week easy. He ended up with a season’s best and a satisfying end to his racing schedule until cross. Fishman also got a collegiate PR in 2:03.19. If you remember, he used to blaze the first 400 in 57-58 and crash and burn. I think he’s figured out how to race even splits. Beau Barber knocked another 0.9 seconds off his PR and finished in 2:06.92. Pierre ran 2:15.14, a 3.5 second improvement from Nats. The team also graced him with an Illinois flag for him to remember us back in Europe. :’( gonna miss u

The women’s 5k was essentially 3 separate races. One Northwestern girl going 18:30ish, another going 19:20, and Vicky Dent looking to run 6:20 pace. She was paced by Julia Schultz who kept it going and Vicky ran perfectly! She closed in an 88 for a PR!

The men’s 5k was lead by Eli Walker who was duking it out with his TA. Sean McCarty ran a pretty decent time in the 3k Steeple considering he’s never done it before. In a flurry of senioritis, he ran 11:13 and looked like he was having fun while jumping the barriers. Good for him!

I swear all I do in this board position is talk about Lauren Grant. She PR’d. Again. In the 400. And set a meet record. 1:02.65. I don’t know, just expect it at this point. Malorie Moore also shaved off some time to get a new 400 PR in 1:04.67. Her dogs also came so that was pretty great.

The men’s 400m was led by Andy Marszewski. This freshman ran the FASTEST 400 OF THE SEASON for the entire club. 50.77 is quick. Coach Tyler Splitt also ran a season best of 51.09. Some guy named “Martin” on Yahoo Answers says that starting blocks can take off .15-.30 seconds in the 400. That’s all I’m saying. It was written ‘1 decade ago’ and has one thumbs down but I broke 60 I don’t care what the timers say.

LAUREN GRANT PR’D IN THE 200 AND WON IT 27.54 HER PREVIOUS BEST FROM LAST WEEK WAS 27.64. wow reacts only. Julia Schultz ran the 200 and just wanted to beat her 29.00 seed time. She’s got serious wheels and can pace down to the 100m split. She ran 28.64: go Julia you’re a Rockstar. After missing all of outdoor, Ciara Ward ran under 30.00 with a time of 29.88! Her indoor best was 30.91 so shout out to Ciara for all the behind the scenes work she’s done on and off the track! 😀

In the men’s 200, Michael Jang showed us why he’s the GOAT travel coordinator by running 22.90. That exactly matches his PR from LAST year’s Club Peaks. Is Michael Jang a part of the Illuminati? Yes.

2018-2017=1.
1 x 22.90=22.90.
2+2+9+0=13.
13 reasons why.
Illuminati confirmed.

John Brandenburg PR’d by .37 seconds by running 23.61! His previous record was from last week. He’s progressed from 24.14 in 2016 to 23.61 that’s great.

In the women’s mile, Emily Foley took it out from the gun and never looked back. She finished in 5:31. Lexy Rudofski and Noel Brindise stuck together and Noel ran a 5 second PR! Megan Frintner finished her last race as a club member with a cartwheel across the line and a hug from her twin. They grow up so fast .

The men’s mile was my favorite race to see. It wasn’t because Mollway won, or Feldman got second. Not because Cody went sub 5 again or Matthew Beckerman ran 4:59.99. Yeah it was cool to see our beloved home meet coordinator race the old home meet coordinator. But I loved this race for Rhode. Andrew Rhode came up to me, the IXC President, at the beginning of the year and explained that he’s injured and won’t be training with this season. He bought a uniform, and I was convinced we just made 45$ and will never see this guy again. But we did see him. He’d be out there doing 2-4 mile days. Slowly, very slowly building his mileage back up. For a full 8 months this guy stayed patient while we were out hammering 40-80 mile weeks. And finally, after a 4:56 time trial last weekend, Rhode showed up in the uniform he bought in September and ran 4:45.73 for 6th. If you’re injured, you got a string of bad races or bad training, look at his logs. See what it’s like to persevere and struggle in silence with your eyes on the prize. I am so very proud of him. The other notable performance was Leonel. He gave his heart and soul and 1000 paper cranes for us and his racing. This isn’t the last you’ll see of him. I know that for sure.

In the long jump, Ashley Raehsler jumped once and never again. But I don’t blame her. You jump 5.18m (17’), break your own club record by .08, why keep going? She triple jumped as well and improved her mark from last week to 10.52m (34-06.25).

Inga in the shotput was quite the performance. She threw 9.99m on her final throw which is good enough for a #2 all time performance. She also threw 28.80m (94-06) in discus which puts her at the #1, #2, and #3 performances in club history. Erin McKee also threw 21.62m (70-11) in discus which is pretty awesome.

Thomas Nute came back after a knee injury and tossed 11.24m. Liam Nassib PR’d in the discus by .64m by throwing 33.34m.

All in all, it was a gorgeous day for a meet. A great close to many seasons and collegiate careers.

This is my mood right now.

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.