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The Illinois Cross Country Club had a successful morning at the UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa Invitational. Once again, the women looked dominant. Women”s captain Megan Mocogni led the charge with an impressive third-place finish, looking strong down the final straightaway and all by herself in third. Not far behind was Beth McGreal with another good showing. The women”s third finisher was Lauren Choi. Her sub-20 finish was the latest in a fantastic fall campaign for the senior, who has been a top-7 mainstay. Heather Guetterman was fourth for the women, followed by freshman Anneliese Schulz to round out the scoring five. Schulz has been steadily improving all season.

Auburn Jiminez, in his first race with the team was the top finisher in 26:12, good for ninth place. Jared Ripoli was close behind in 12th. Brad Coyle had another steady veteran race to be the team”s third man. David Choi had a strong race on Parkside”s hills, and kept his chip on the whole race to be counted in the final results. Sophomore Michael Frintner was the men”s final scorer in 38th.

‘”We should be thrilled with where we”re at and thrilled with where we”re going,'” said head coach Steve Krauklis. ‘”We are running well right now. Staying focused and staying healthy are the two keys to our success moving forward.'”

Note: IXC Now is a quick post-race recap of the team’s top finishes. A full recap highlighting all of the team’s great performances in-depth is still to come. 

The Illinois Cross Country Club heads north to Kenosha, Wisconsin for UW-Parkside’s Lucian Rosa Invitational. Last year, the men took ninth and the women took tenth by unofficial count. It”s the team”s first action since a stellar performance at Augustana on September 25.

One of the highlights of Augustana was women”s captain Megan Mocogni”s seventh place finish, good for the second fastest 6K in club history. She”s been leading the women on a tear this fall and they return four of their scoring five from Parkside last year. Mocogni”s roommate Abby Madden will make her season debut after a strong track season. Freshman Anneliese Schulz will look to build on a strong debut at Augustana and Coach Krauklis said she”s looked better and better in every workout. Freshmen Kaitlin Sumler and Becky Haight also return to action after debuting at EIU.

The biggest breakthrough at Parkside last year came from Ryan Somerfield. Somerfield ran a huge 67 second PR on Parkside”s course. Coach Krauk expects to see the ‘”real'” Ryan Somerfield after a big summer of training. David Choi also showed his top seven staying power last year after his breakout race at Augustana. Choi”s roommate Tyler Dixon loves Parkside”s hills and ran a strong race last year. Saturday will also mark Alex ‘”Ohio'” Notton”s debut with the team.

The Parkside field features a strong field of competition from Division I to III as well as the men”s team first club team competition in Wisconsin. But the team”s biggest challenge at Parkside might be the course. The Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course is a true cross country course through woods and prarie. It”s also very hilly, including an enormous uphill start for the first 800 meters.

The women race at 10 and the men go off at 11. The team will be staying in the north suburbs on Friday night. It”s a short drive from Chicago, so we hope to see some IXC supporters in Kenosha!

IXC head coach Steve Krauklis can be hard to please, but even he was impressed with the Illinois Cross Country Club’s performance on Friday night at Augustana’s Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. The women had a dominant showing and the men’s team ran a savvy race. Veterans put up big PR’s, while several newcomers put on strong debuts.

“Both men and women exceeded expectations, top to bottom,” Krauk said. “I am extremely pleased and excited moving forward.”

Augustana is a meet full of strong competition, and the field ballooned this year as more teams got in on the action. Last year’s meet featured 39 teams in the men’s race and 35 in the women’s. This year, 50 teams competed in both races. The women of IXC took home sixth place, while the men took eleventh.

Women’s captain Megan Mocogni had an outstanding race to take seventh place in 22:19. She led the charge in a fantastic showing for the women with a time that ranks as the second-fastest 6K in club history. Beth McGreal also earned a top-15 finish in her first 6K of the season, taking 14^th place in 22:50- good for the fifth-fastest 6K in club history. Augustana’s Saukie Golf Course is conducive to fast times, with flat terrain and great competition and the women certainly took advantage. Behind Mocogni and Beth was Heather Guetterman in her season debut. After a jaunt around Africa in the spring, this was Heather’s first race with the team since NIRCA Nationals last November. It looks like she picked up right where she left off, moving up the whole race for a great season debut.

After breaking her 5K PR by 33 seconds at EIU, Lauren “Loco LoCho” Choi had another strong race, breaking her 6K PR by 40 seconds and finishing as the team’s fourth runner. Emma Burkhardt rounded out the scoring five with a promising performance after dealing with an injury. Freshman Jill Monier had another solid showing, especially considering the circumstances. The women’s race was unexpectedly moved up 10 minutes and everyone did a great job handling the change. With a curtailed warm-up, Jill still ran 24:22 and was the team’s sixth finisher. Allison Gibson was seventh for the team.

In their second races of the season, Noel Brindise and Megan Frintner both dropped nearly 30 seconds off of their pace per mile. Some women also ran their first race ever with the team: freshman Sara Folliard ran 26:01 in her first collegiate competition and sophomore Audrey Vandercar ran 26:27 in her first race with the team. It was a strong showing top-to-bottom for the ladies as nearly double the number of women raced at Augustana, compared to EIU.

Jared Ripoli led the men’s team in Rock Island, taking 30^th place and earning a coveted Brissman-Lundeen top-40 t-shirt. Jared ran 25:32, smashing his PR by 37 seconds. Early in the race, Jared had an unexpected companion in Michael Frintner. Frintner went out hard and when he started to settle down, Jared called him right back up. The result- a huge 55 second PR for Frintner, all while wearing middle school spikes digging into his heels.

The duo of Bradford “The Teacher” Coyle and David Choi ran savvy races as the team’s third and fourth finishers. The pair worked their way up nicely throughout the whole race. Brad, the elder statesman, finished in 26:09 and David’s finish is unknown, as his timing chip fell off during the race, as if he never even competed. Freshman Josh Feldman once again finished as the team’s fifth man, building on a strong performance at EIU. Willy “WEEM” Wolf and assistant coach Ryan Somerfield finished sixth and seventh for the team. Krauk was impressed with Weem’s intuition in his very first 8K.

Arturo Woodward-Montes ran a strong race in his IXC debut and Leonel “El León” Rodreguez had a solid first 8K with the team. Krauk said expect the pair to improve further as they gain confidence throughout the season. Justin “Shimeister” Shim made his collegiate racing premiere and finished like an “800 meter stud” according to Krauk. Tyler “T-Dix” Dixon had a strong and steady race. Arun Madhavan and Will Reyes also made their IXC debuts after a few weeks of grinding it out at practice.

Brissman-Lundeen marked the debut for many new members of IXC. Shout-out to Annaliese Schulz, Sara, Audrey, Anastasia Rodriguez, Sarah Garrow, Kendra Zwonitzer, and Morgan Cirvale. For the men, Arturo, Justin, John “is a Lyon” Lyons, Ciaran Lynch, Arun, and Will all raced for the first time with IXC.

It was a great day for the club in Rock Island, and special thanks to the friends and family who came out to cheer on the team at the meet. The club will toe the line again on October 10 in Kenosha, Wisconsin for UW-Parkside’s Lucian Rosa Invitational. It’s a short drive from Chicago, so we hope to see you there supporting IXC!

It was a strong showing for IXC at the Brissman-Lundeen tonight. The women were impressive, taking sixth place behind a blazing seventh place finish by women”s captain Megan Mocogni. Beth McGreal also earned a top-40 t-shirt with a 16th place. Heather Guetterman looked strong behind those two in her season debut, charging up throughout the race. Lauren Choi had another great race as the team”s fourth finisher, followed by  Emma Burkhardt.

The men also ran well, led by a 30th place finish by Jared Ripoli. Michael Frintner ran a tough race, starting off quick near Ripoli and crossing the line  as the team”s second runner. Brad Coyle and David Choi ran together as No. 3 and No. 4, strategically moving up throughout the race. Choi lost his chip during the race, so the team finish is still TBD. Freshman Josh Feldman once again rounded out the scoring five for the men in his first collegiate 8K.

‘”Both men and women exceeded expectations, top to bottom,'” head coach Steve Krauklis said. ‘”Some of the older team members showed a lot of maturity and handled all the changes and the race in general very very well. I am extremely pleased and excited moving forward.'”

Note: IXC Now is a quick post-race recap of the team”s top finishes. A full recap highlighting all of the team”s great performances in-depth is still to come. 

The Illinois cross country club is headed to Rock Island, Ill. this weekend to compete at the 34th Annual Brissman-Lundeen Cross Country Invitational. After a successful showing on a hot day at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open three weeks ago, IXC will toe the line at Augustana against an enormous field of premiere competition from around the Midwest.

Last year, the men placed eighth of 39 teams and the women placed ninth of 35. The Saukie Golf Course was the stage for David Choi”s breakout race. He was the team”s fourth finisher in 26:29. At EIU, Choi was the team”s second finisher and he”ll try to continue that success on Augustana”s fast course.

It will be the men”s first 8K race of the season after the Walt Crawford was shortened to 4 miles due to the heat.  Michael Frintner was the seventh man at Augustana last year and has put together a promising string of workouts. Sophomore  Quinn Todzo will look to build on a strong race at EIU. The freshmen will be racing their first collegiate 8Ks, and Coach Krauklis said to look out for Leonel Rodriguez and Arturo Woodward-Montes, running his first race with IXC.

This is the first 6K of the season for the women”s team. Megan Mocogni is the top returner from last year at Augustana and Lexy Rudofski, who rounded out the women”s scoring five last year, will run her first race of the season.Lauren Choi put on a show at EIU with a top-7 finish and she”ll look to continue her hot streak. Krauk also said Hannah Behle, making her season debut, is poised for a good race.

Augustana is a haven for PRs, with a fast course and a deep field of great competition. The Saukie Golf Course is flat with a few rolling hills, conducive to fast times. The women race at 5:30 and the men are scheduled to go off at 6:00.

The Illinois Cross Country Club kicked off its 2015 season on a sweltering night last Friday at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open. By unofficial count, the men and women both took home fourth-place finishes in the first meet of the season. The women put on a strong performance, and every single male runner PR’d in the four-mile run, as the race was shortened due to the heat.

The women raced first on Friday. Fearless leader Megan Mocogni, the women’s captain, led the charge with a seventh-place overall finish. There was another familiar name atop the results for the ladies in Beth McGreal. Beth kicked off her #thereturn tour with IXC pretty much where she left off, running with Mocogni at the front of the pack. She ran 35 seconds faster since her last race at EIU in 2012. Emma Burkhardt was also in a familiar place in the results, finishing as the team’s No. 4 runner after solidifying herself as a consistent top-5 contributor last season.

After Erin McKee made a splash last year by finishing as the women’s No.1 runner at this meet, her high school teammate, freshman Jillian Monier turned some heads as the No. 3 finisher. Emma and Mocogni’s roommate, Lauren “LoCho” Choi really impressed on Friday, smashing her 5K PR by 33 seconds and rounding out the ladies’ scoring five. She’s coming off a fantastic second-place finish at NIRCA Nationals last fall and the momentum looks to have carried over. Allison Gibson, coming off a big summer, and Erin, were No. 6 and 7 for the team.

The men’s race was full of PR’s and new marks on the club leaderboard- because the club has never run a 4-mile cross country race before. Top dog Jared Ripoli covered the Panther Trail in 20:54, good for 10^th place overall. Congratulations to Jared, the inaugural club record holder in the 4-mile run. LINK. The second-fastest 4-mile time in club history now belongs to David Oskar “Cliff” Choi. David showed some big flashes of potential last season, and it looks like he might be able to fully capitalize on them this year.

Brad “The Teacher” Coyle finished as the men’s No. 3 finisher in his first time on the cross country course since the 2008 NIRCA Cross Country Nationals. My calculations may be off, but I believe some of this year’s freshmen were not even born the last time Brad ran in a cross country race. Michael “One-Speed” Frintner and young Josh Feldman finished as the final men’s scorers. Jack Morrissey continued his success at EIU with another top-7 finish and Willy Wolf had a strong club debut in the No. 7 spot.

Ken Sprague put together the strongest race of his IXC career and Quinn “The Dancellor” Todzo had an impressive race after a big summer of training and bolstered nutrition thanks to the home-cooking of Edwin Zen.

EIU also gave several runners their first taste of collegiate cross country. On the men’s side, Hinsdale Central alumni Josh and Nick Tandle, Leonel “El León” Rodriguez, Monsieur Tristan “Most Fun Name to Say”Sarton Du Jonchay, and Jordan “The Flying J” Vear all made their IXC debuts in the heat on Friday. For the ladies, Jillian, Becky Haight, Kaitlin Sumler, and IXC Scavenger Hunt Champion Noel Brindise kicked-off their IXC careers. Congratulations to all the newcomers for competing in their first race with the club.

The team returns to action on September 25 at Augustana’s Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. It’s a big meet with a lot of quality competition, and IXC will spend the next three weeks grinding it out and getting ready to toe the line again.

The new season gets underway tonight for the Illinois Cross Country Club in Charleston, Ill. for the EIU Walt Crawford Open. Several freshmen will make their collegiate running debut while some grad students will make their return to the cross country course. It’ll be a hot one in Charleston, but it’s a great place for IXC to start the season.

Last year, both the men’s and women’s team ran to third-place finishes against Division I-III competition despite suffocating heat.  Three of the men’s top-7 from last year return to the “Panther Trail,” including Eric De Guevara and Jack Morrissey. Head coach Steven Krauklis said to keep an eye on Morrissey, as he could be poised for a strong race and a breakout season. Morrissey has finished in the team’s top-7 in both of his previous trips to EIU, so he knows how to handle the heat, even with a luscious beard. It was also at this meet last year when a young Michael Frintner made a name for himself by finishing as the team’s third runner.

Friday night will mark the debut of several promising freshmen prospects that will have a chance to shine. Willy Wolf will join his brother, grad student Henry Wolf, in the Illini pack. West Suburban Silver trio Josh Feldman, Nick Tandle, and Jordan Vear will toe the line for the first time with the Illini.  While the freshmen will experience their first college race, Brad Coyle will hit the course in an Illini singlet for the first time. After an impressive track season, where he PR’d nearly every race, the grad student looks to be near the front of the Illini pack on Friday and throughout the season.

Last year at this meet, freshman Erin McKee made an early-season statement, finishing as the women’s No. 1 runner. Now a sophomore, Erin should once again help lead the charge for the Illini. Current social coordinator Emily Foley also had a strong debut at EIU last year as the team’s seventh finisher. Freshmen ladies made a lot of noise at this meet last year, so there’s plenty of potential for any of the several newcomers to have a big premiere with the club.

The trip to Charleston is also the start of stalwart women’s captain Megan Mocogni final cross country season with the team. After a string of strong workouts, she’s ready to start the season with a bang. The women also have a new grad student joining the ranks, except it’s a very familiar face in Beth McGreal. Beth was the team’s top finisher at Nationals in 2013, her senior year, and now she’s back and ready to tear it up once again in her return to IXC.

The Panther Trail course is flat and favorable, but the heat consistently makes this meet a challenge. It’s a good introduction to collegiate cross country for newcomers, who will try to run strategically in the heat. The women start at 4:45 and the men go off at 5:30 to start another exciting season of IXC.”,2015-09-04 11:22:39+00,XC

It’s a new season and a new dawn for the Illinois Cross Country Club. After one of the team’s most successful performances ever at NIRCA Nationals last fall, the club will look to soar to new heights in its 2015 campaign. Both the men’s and women’s teams are reloaded with talent and will look to build upon a fantastic end of 2014.

The women’s team is stacked on paper going into the 2015 season. The ladies of IXC bring back a whopping five of their top seven from last year’s second place finish at Nationals. The lone non-returnee is last year’s individual runner-up, Emma Grimes. However, the talent coming back should far outweigh the team’s losses. Returning to IXC after a year away is Beth McGreal, who was consistently at the front of the Illini pack two years ago, finishing as a NIRCA All-American and women’s No. 1 runner at Nationals in 2013. Women’s captain Megan Mocogni is back as the fearless leader for the ladies and has had a big summer of training in preparation for her final year with the team. Perhaps most exciting was the performance behind Mocogni at last year’s Nationals. There was a tight, tenacious pack of 3-4-5 runners all returning for IXC in junior Emma Burkhardt, sophomore Erin McKee, and sophomore Lexy Rudofski.  This pack should once again be close in races, but higher up in places. The women also bring back senior Heather Guetterman, who’s on her senior farewell tour this season. Heather just returned stateside after a semester trapzing around Europe, and she’s back as a savvy veteran racer. Heather always seems to peak at the right time, and she’ll be an important presence all season.

And that’s not even mentioning the new talent on the women’s team plus those who have been grinding all summer to improve. There’s a promising freshmen class of runners who will have a chance to prove themselves over the course of the season, starting today at Eastern Illinois.

The men’s team also brings back a boatload of talent from last year’s team. Only two return from last year’s third place team: junior Jared Ripoli and senior Eric de Guevara. However, the men’s team absolutely dominated the B-race last year, placing 7 in the top-15. Last year was a devastatingly deep group, and that depth should translate to more success as all of those runners have progressed over the course of a full track season and summer. Ryan Somerfield led the charge for the men in the B-race, claiming the individual title. Now sporting the title of assistant coach, Somerfield is back and ready to make some noise in the A-race. The other returners from the B-race will keep the Illini competitive all season long. Sophomore Jack O’Neil, sophomore secretary Michael “One-Speed” Frintner, grad student Henry Wolf, junior Jack Morrissey, junior David “Cliff” Choi, and senior Mike “Kid Brother” Schaible.

Mr. Bradford Coyle has some lessons to teach NIRCA during his first season running cross country with the club. After a highly successful track season, where he ran PR after PR, and scored key points at NIRCA Nats to propel the men to a second-place finish, he’s ready to take his talents to the grass.

There’s also an intriguing class of new talent, some who even took unofficial visits with the team to practice. Willy Wolf (brother of Henry), Josh Feldman and Nick Tandle have been turning some heads in early-season workouts. Add in a hungry group of athletes from group 5 and beyond who have been grinding all summer, like the Dancellor himself, Quinn Todzo, and the men’s team is poised to reach new heights.

Head coach Steven Krauklis returns for his second year at the reigns, this time with Somerfield joining the staff. He has a talent-rich squad that is packed with potential. Expectations are sky-high, but Krauk’s mantra is that if everyone is running their best, the trophies will come.

The club will compete in five meets this season. The season kicks off in Charleston today at EIU’s Walt Crawford Open. That’s followed by mid-season meets at the quick-moving Saukie Golf Course for Augustana’s Brismann-Lundeen Invite and a true cross country challenge at UW-Parkside’s Lucian Rosa Invite. The club will host the NIRCA Great Plains Regional for the third consecutive year, where the team put on a stellar performance last November.  In mid-November, the team will travel to the NIRCA National Championships, held in Lexington, Kentucky, for the first time.

The start of a season is a magical time when anything can happen. The sky is the limit for IXC this year. Everyone’s excited to toe the line at the start of a season overflowing with potential. Could this be, as one exuberant sophomore declared, a “golden age” for the club? Time will tell, and we’re ready for the starter’s pistol.

This past Thursday, a large group of ITC went to Naperville, IL for the North Central Dr. Keeler ready to race fast for possibly the last time this season. That was the plan, but mother nature had her own plan. It started raining hard on Naperville, IL, the 5k”ers were able to finish their race and moments after Senior Greg Netols finished his 1500m run, a rain delay was put on the track. A delay was inopportune for many of our runners, as finals week was creeping just around the corner, and many runners traveled back to Champaign before their races started. Only Senior Steven Decker, who was looking to extend his 800m record, remained.

Overall, the inclement weather made it tough for our runners to race their goal times. Graduate Student Brad Coyle led ITC in the 5000m, finishing at 15:30.61, a little slower than he had raced at the national meet. The whole meet went kind of like this, as Greg Netols ran his 1500m at 4:03.56, and Steven Decker ran his 800m in 1:55.19. These guys have really had phenomenal seasons, so you can imagine the conditions that would lead to all of them having less than phenomenal races.

The following Saturday, THE Relay team (Szostak, Ayers, Murphy, Jonen if you haven”t been following) traveled to Dekalb to compete at the NIU Huskie Open. For the past two weeks, they had been hundredths of seconds away from breaking the 4 minute barrier in the 4x400m relay. Junior Lauren Jonen (Head Coach elect) tried her darndest, splitting a 57.024 (56.99 according to Coach Jack Skelton), but the team hit another heartbreaking miss of 4:00.63. It is doubtful that they race again this season to give it another try.

Upcoming:

As many students take their finals, a small group of distance runners return to Naperville to finish their seasons at the North Central College Gregory Invite.

West Lafayette, IN- This Saturday marked the peak meet for the Sprinters/jumpers of our club, and what better place to do it than a B1G varsity meet. Without further ado…

Women Highlights

There was a great atmosphere for competition for our women sprinters, who performed exceptionally well. Every performance was either a season PR, or a club top 10 performance, including 2 new club records. Junior Caroline Szostak continues to improve this season as she went under the 13s barrier in the 100m dash with her 12.96 (5th all-time). Junior Lauren Jonen OBLITERATED her old club record by .77s in her 9th place effort in the 200m dash (25.41). Sophomore Jess Ayers is inching towards Jonen”s record in the 400m dash with her 58.77s effort (3rd all-time). THE relay team consisting of Szostak, Jonen, Ayers, and Graduate Student Erin Murphy broke their 4x100m record by .70 seconds with their 49.65 effort, and barely missed braking 4 minutes in the 4×400 by .41.

Men Highlights

This past weekend, Senior Steven Decker did Decker things when he extended his club record in the 800m with his 1st place effort of 1:53.33. Senior Jayme Roberts, Senior Stav Caplan, and Junior Sebastian Alvis placed 1st (11.10, 5th all-time), 2nd (11.57), and 3rd (11.75), respectively, out of 4 competitors in the 100m dash. The 200m dash almost got a heat to fill the track as Roberts, Caplan, and Freshman Jacob Baier placed 4th (22.72), 6th (23.73), and 8th (23.89), respectively. Baier continued to improve in the 400m dash, as his 4th lifetime attempt in the race gave him a PR of 54.17s. The 4x400m relay team consisting of Roberts, Freshman George Gunter, Caplan, and Decker gave a solid attempt to break the club record, but came up just shy with their 2nd place effort of 3:23.97.