On 4/30 ITFC went down to Olivet-Nazarene University for the last meet of the outdoor season. Since this was a 2-parter this like the other meet write-up will be shorter in nature. Not only that, however, the meet also got rained on pretty harshly making it even shorter. So without further ado, this was the last meet.
Track Events:
In the 100m dash Anthony Stewart ran an 11.83.
In the 200m dash Anthony Stewart ran a 24.31.
In the 1500m Denver Soekawan finished with a time of 5:27.54.
In the 400m Hurdles, Katherine Vande Pol broke the current club record of 1:07.31 with a time of 1:07.22!
Lastly, for the 3000m steeplechase Annie Brunton finished with a time of 12:30.44.
This wraps off the last of our meets for ITFC for this outdoor season. Looking forward, I see nothing but success and triumph for us in the future. This will be the last meet write-up I’ll be writing, it was fun and I hope whoever carries the torch next will enjoy it as much as I did.
It’s been a difficult, but successful outdoor season but overall we overcame it and had a lot of fun in the process. So on 4/29 the team ventured out to compete at Wheaton College for their Elmhurst Twilight Invitational. This was actually a two-parter meet with some of the team running on 4/29 and some of the team running at another meet on 4/30. So in essence this was the last meet of the season for a lot of our athletes and the same could be said for the 4/30 meet. So without further ado let’s get into it.
Field Events:
For the Men’s Long Jump, Tyler Klein jumped a good distance of 6.04m.
In the Men’s High Jump, Nick Hartmann jumped 1.86m finishing off with his highest jump this season..
Track Events:
In the 100m dash for the Women’s Ninawa Odicho ran a 12.88, marking it as her fastest time this season in the 100m. For the Men’s, Tyler Klein ran a stunning 10.68, matching our current club record. Tyler came in 2nd place overall. Kevin Saju ran an 11.47, Anthony Stewart came in with an 11.87and Sandin Cuturic ran 12.80.
In the 1500m run Gabriel Inojosa ran a 4:45.58 marking a 10 second pr for him in this race. Nathaniel Lenning dropped a 5:01.23, and Gabe Benson ran a 5:17.68.
In the women’s 400m dash Ninawa Odicho did an amazing job, running 60.07 coming in first place. Katherine Vande Pol then ran a stunning 60.90, coming in 3rd place.
In the 400m dash for Men’s, Trevor Glancy ran 52.99s, Gerardo Porras ran a 54.37, up next was Eric Sylvester who ran a 54.44, Nic Soto dropped a season best with a 52.12.
In the 800m run Mikeelie Jensen ran a 2:54.46 and Annie Brunton ran a 2:26.60.
For the Men’s, Henry Hornbrook came in with a 2:14, Kevin Saju ran a 2:16.13, Denver Soekawan finished running with a 2:32.00, Nathaniel Lenning ran a 2:38.86 and Gabe Benson finished with a 2:35.35.
For the 200m dash, Ninawa Odicho ran really well coming in with a 26.60.
Then for the guys, Nic Soto got under 23 seconds with a 22.93, Anthony Stewart ran a nice 24.57, and Tyler Klein came in first running a 22.07.
Lastly, never before in club history Annie Brunton ran a 3000m run coming in with a 11:39.52!
So that was the Elmhurst Twilight Invitational, and honestly, if you go back to the beginning of our outdoor season, even our indoor season you will find the improvement to be huge for most of our athletes and I couldn’t be prouder. The next you’ll hear from me is for my final meet write up about the meet on 4/30.
On 4/23 ITFC went down to Olivet-Nazarene University for a meet out in the sun. We haven’t had a lot of sunny warm meets this season so this meet was, well, it was a warm welcome to say the least. So let’s get into this meet which was a nice change of pace this season.
Field Events:
For the Men’s Long Jump Tyler Klein jumped a long distance of 6.45m and Srinjoy Das came through and jumped 5.19m.
Track Events:
In the 100m dash for the Women’s Ninawa Odicho ran a 13.31 and Kerry Annett threw down a 14.87. For the Men’s, Tyler Klein ran a speedy 11.09, Jean-Christophe Raymond Bertrand ran a 11.38, Eric Sylvester ran the race coming in with a time of 12.80 and lastly, Srinjoy Das ran with a time of 13.41.
For the 200m Ninawa Odicho and Kerry Annett ran 27.22 and 28.95 respectively.
Ninawa Odicho preparing for takeoff ^Lift-off
For guys, Tyler Klein and Eric Sylvester ran 22.50 and 24.41 respectively.
In the 400m Ninawa Odicho ran a 60.43 and Mikeelie Jensen ran a 1:13.14. Eric Sylvester had a fun time going in solo and running a 56.09.
Next in the 800m was Katherine Vande Pol clocking in at 2:25.75. For the dudes, Jeffrey Hesselbein came in with a time 2:01.56, Henry Hornbrook was right behind him with a 2:02:43, Cade Baker ran a 2:08.59, Ryan Fredericks finished with a time of 2:14.29, Beau Barber ran a 2:17.00, Lane Weber followed behind with a 2:19.68. Daniel Pogrebinsky clocked in with a 2:32.37, Gabe Benson followed through with a 2:37.17 and lastly Denver Soekawan ran a 2:33.14.
Beau doing his thing
In the 1500m run, Natalie Maguire went solo and ran a 6:00.44. For the guys, Beau Barber took off running a 4:37.94, Lane Weber finished with 4:51.04, and Jacob Fleck ran a 4:41.05, Gabe Benson finished up with 5:19.87, and Gabriel Inojosa finished with a 4:58.18.
In the 110m Hurdles we saw Piotr Biel run it up and finish with a 20.39s.
Next in this recap will be the 400m Hurdles where Piotr Biel and PJ Coleman ran 1:13.09 and 1:21.39 respectively.
Look at that smile!
In the 4x400m we had Beau Barber, Eric Sylvester, Henry Hornbrook, and Ryan Fredericks and they ran a 3:44.56 together.
That concludes our day in the sun for ITFC, hopefully in the coming weeks and coming seasons we all see more warm weather like this. Next week we will see two meets in rapid succession to close out the season.
Oh yeah, they also had a giant bouncy ball at the meet too
Coming down from the high of Nationals we had a meet at Ball State University on 4/16. Only a few of our athletes were available for this meet due to scheduling but that didn’t deter us. We still went in and had fun nonetheless, you could even say we were ballin’.
Field Events:
For the Men’s Long Jump Srinjoy Das jumped 5.18m.
Track Events:
In the 100m dash for the Women’s Chaitra Niddodi ran a 16.41. For the Men’s, Anthony Stewart came in with an 11.85and Srinjoy Das ran 13.25
In the 200m dash Eric Sylvester ran a 23.97 and Anthony Stewart ran a 24.28.
In the 400m dash Eric Sylvester ran a 55.76.
For the 800m, Annie Brunton ran a 2:27.97. For the Men, Henry Hornbrook threw down a 2:23.56, Isaac Schifferer ran a 2:29.30, Beau Barber was pacing Denver Soekawan leading him to his PR in the 800m. Beau ran a 2.39.79 and Denver ran a 2.30.70
In the 1500m run, Jeffrey Hesselbein ran a 4:05.21, Beau Barber threw down a 4:39.93, and Henry Hornbrook ran a 4:46.72.
In the 400m Hurdles Katherine Vande Pol ran a 1:10.27.
Lastly was the 3000k Steeplechase with Annie Brunton running a 12.23.41 and Isaac Schifferer ran a 11:47.69.
That was the Ball State meet, just giving a huge shout out to all who participated in this meet seeing as they could’ve very easily just not went. Next week on 4/23 the team will be heading up to Olivet-Nazarene for a meet there so stay tuned.
Who runs the world? Girls, obviously, considering that on the weekend of Apr 2nd-3rd. ITFC came to Olivet, Michigan to compete in the Nirca Nationals and the Women took 1st place!
If you didn’t know Nirca stands for The National Intercollegiate Running Club Association and every year they host a meet comparable to our very own Club Relays. So when I say being the National Champions within Nirca is no small feat, I mean it, and they did it in the cold too!
So without further delay allow me to detail to you the meet that was Nirca Nationals.
Field Events:
I’m going to detail the field events first, then work my way down for the running events in chronological order because some events had semis and finals.
In the long jump Khalia Mullin jumped 4.37m far.
For the Men’s Tyler Klein jumped 6.19m far. Tyler Klein came in 1st place overall for the Men’s long jump. By the way, prepare to read Tyler Klein’s name a lot during this meet write-up. It really wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he’s the reason the Men even placed in the Top 5. His performance was so outstanding he earned the nickname “Him” and “TK” by his fellow teammates. Tyler definitely deserves a pat on the back for this one.
The boy wonder himself, TK
Next up was the triple jump in which we saw Nick Hartmann and Derrick Stokes compete and jump 11.30m and 10.26m far respectively.
For the girls Khalia Mullin jumped 9.87m far which let her land a sweet 1st place victory at Nirca Nats.
Within the Women’s High Jump Annie Brunton jumped 1.35m high. For the Men’s Nick Hartmann and Derrick Stokes jumped 1.76m and 1.55m high respectively.
Track Events:
Starting our day off was the 100m race. This race was divided into prelims and finals so I’ll cover the prelims first. Within the Women’s we had Chaitra Niddodi, Caylee Losch, Rachel Sakwa, Ari Afolabi, and Ninawa Odicho compete and run. They got times of 16.70, 14.48, 13.92, 13.49, and 13.35 respectively. Ari and Ninawa got 1st and 3rd respectively and Ari, Ninawa, and Rachel advanced to the finals! In the Men’s 100m we had Sandin Cuturic, Andre Ells, Adam Adil, Jean-Christophe Raymond Bertrand, and Tyler Klein run and compete. They came in with times of 13.22, 12.58, 11.84, 11.54, and 11.32 respectively. Tyler Klein took 1st place and he and Chris moved onto the finals.
Next was the 400m hurdles and for the Women’s Katherine Vande Pol ran a 1:13.10, Annie Brunton got a 1:13.85 and Maria Becerra got a 1:16.63. The 400m hurdles is such a tough race and the fact these athletes did it in the cold is no small feat. For our Men’s Derrick Stokes put down a 1:06.32, Lane Weber ran a 1:05.64, and Nic Soto ran a very precise 59.99.
Now here’s another thing to note about this meet, some of the events were disjointed in terms of men running and women running. In order to keep the chronological thing going I won’t be combining them. So with the explanation out of the way Natalie Maguire ran a 22:22:13 in her 5000m run!
Next was the 200m prelims. For this event they had prelims, semis, and finals. For the Women Caylee Losch ran a 30.54, Rachel Sakwa ran a 30.08, Ibukun Ajifolokun ran a 28.66, Ari Afolabi ran a 28.50, and Ninawa Odicho ran a 27.74. Almost like they purposefully swapped places from the 100m dash this time Ninawa Odicho came in 1st and Ari Afolabi came in 3rd. Ibu, Ninawa, and Ari all advanced to the semi-finals.
For the Men’s 200m prelims. Daniel Pogrebinsky ran a 27.82, Eric Sylvester ran a 25.31, Nic Soto ran a 23.91, Kevin Saju ran a 23.83, Jalen Frazier ran a 23.73, Adam Adil ran a 23.36, Chris Bertrand ran a 23.31, and Tyler Klein ran 23.05. Tyler Klein came in 3rd place and Tyler Klein, Chris Betrand, Adam Adil, and Jalen Frazier proceeded to the semi-finals.
Next was the 4x800m relay and if you’ve been keeping up with our club so far our women’s absolutely dominate that race no holds barred. Our Illinois “A” Team consisting of Annie Brunton, Ella Chambers, Bridget Brokaw, and Katherine Vande Pol came in with a time of 10:19.13 coming in 1st place and blasting the other teams. The 2nd place team had a time of 10:31.66 just so you all know. For the Men’s 4x800m we had two teams. In our Illinois “B” team it included Denver Soekawan, Henry Hornbrook, Beau Barber, and Ryan Fredericks running a time of 9:04.77. In the “A” team it had Jeffrey Hesselbein, Nolan Enright, Spencer Nelson, and John Burns they had a time of 8:07.19.
Next was the Men’s 5K and Vijay Shah, Daniel Engel, and Kyle Kenmotsu ran clocking in times of 18:11.19, 17:48.39, and 17:12.30 respectively. Vignesh Ravibaskar and Cade Baker also competed coming in with times of 17:10.59 and 16:54.88 respectively.
Next was the 400m dash, for the Women they had Katherine Vande Pol and Adelina Garcia run with them clocking in times of 1:01.95 and 1:20.79. With Kat taking first place for the girls.
For the guys, we had a slew of people run the 400m. Namely, Trevor Glancy with a 1:04.42, Daniel Pogrebinsky with a 1:02.93, Ryan Fredericks with a 57.36, Henry Hornbrook with a 55.07, Gerardo Porras running a 54.60, Jalen Frazier ran a 54.30, Eric Sylvester ran a 54.10, Kevin Saju finished with a satisfying 53.53, Hector Ramos flew in with a 52.88, and of course Tyler “TK” Klein finished with a 50.31. Tyler came in at second place for the 400m.
After the 400m was immediately the 4x100m. The Women’s as per the trend this meet, bodied this event. Coming in 1st place with a time of 51.60, with a team composed of Ari Afolabi, Ninawa Odicho, Rachel Sakwa, and Ibukun Ajifolokun. For the Men’s it was a team composed of Nic Soto, Adam Adil, Tyler Klein, and Chris Bertrand they came in with a time 45.74 and just like the overall placement of the Men’s this Nirca meet, they came in 5th. It would’ve been at least second but Adam Adil injured himself mid race. So the fact they still came in 5th out of 14 really speaks to their speed!
Next were the almost mile runs, the 1500m run. For the Women’s Bridget Brokaw ran a 5:22.29, Natalie Maguire came in with a 6:12.84, and Grace Gudwien finished up with a 6:00.42.For the Men’s Gabe Benson ran a 5:20.95, Nathaniel Lenning ran a 5:06.75, Vijay Shah ran a 5:01.65, Gabriel Inojosa came in with a 4:54.51, Isaac Schifferer with a 4:48.37, Henry Hornbrook coming in with a 4:46.34, Beau Barber went on running a 4:46.15, Daniel Gutierrez ran a 4:40.92, Norb Nieves ran a 4:25.93, and Jeffrey Hesselbein finished with a 4:08.89.
Before we ended day one of the Nirca meet, we had the 200 semi-finals. For Women’s all three of them ran faster than their prelims and advanced to the finals with Ibu, Ninawa, and Ari running 28.04, 27.52, and 27.48 respectively. For the Men’s Tyler and Chris advanced to the finals with times of 22.83 and 23.11.
That concluded Day 1 of Nirca Nationals, the team stayed at a nice hotel and some of us explored the quaint town of Marshall, Michigan. The team got a good night’s rest and woke up bright and early for Day 2.
For Day 2 starting off we had the 100m Hurdles, Ari Afolabi ran a 16.12, Khalia Mullin ran a 18.31, and Maria Becerra ran a 19.25 with all three of them placing and earning us points.
After that was the 200m finals. Ari, Ninawa, and Ibu ran with a 27.31, 27.72, and 28.27. Ari took first place and Ninawa finished in second. For the Men’s Tyler and Chris ran 22.58 and 23.34, Tyler took first place for the 200m.
After the 200m was the 800m. For the Women’s Katherine Vande Pol ran a 2:27.98, Annie Brunton ran a 2:29.21, Bridget Brokaw and Mikeelie Jensen ran a 2:39.35 and 2:42.20 respectively. Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley finished off with a 2:57.76. In the Men’s Jeffrey Hesselbein ran a 2:00.81, John Burns ran a 2:02.11, Henry Hornbrook ran a 2:03.33, Beau Barber and Nolan Enright ran a 2:12.07 and 2.13.20 respectively. Daniel Gutierrez ran a 2:13.45, Ryan Fredericks followed up with a 2:14.27, Gerardo Porras ran his first 800m since HS with a 2:14.80, Lane Weber ran a 2:20.57, Denver Soekawan ran a 2:31.63, and Gabe Benson finished with a 2:36.53.
After that was the 100m final. Women’s 100m saw Ari, Ninawa, and Rachel competing. Clocking in with times of 13.16, 13.39, and 13.83. Ari and Ninawa came in first and second place. For the Men’s Tyler and Chris ran times of 11.06 and 11.45 respectively. Tyler came in second place being beaten by .02 seconds, so you can imagine how close the race was.
Almost wrapping up was the penultimate event of Nirca, the 3k Steeplechase run. We had Annie Brunton competing and she ran a 13:01.71, coming in 2nd place earning the girls some points. Then we had Justin Ostrem and Isaac Schifferer run, coming in with times of 10:20.68 and 11:44.75 respectively. Justin came in 3rd place.
Ending up the meet were the 4x400m relays.
The Women who were on hot streak all meet decided to turn it up even more with the 4x4s. They had Katherine Vande Pol, Ibukun Ajifolokun, Ninawa Odicho, and Ella Chambers give it their all as the last race of the meet, and for a good reason too because they placed first with a time of 4:17.22!
For our Men’s, congruent with the theme of fours we had 4 teams of 4 by 4 in 4 different heats.
Team “A” which came in 3rd place had Nic Soto, Kevin Saju, John Burns, and Tyler Klein run with a time of 3:27.37.
Team “D” which had Hector Ramos, Eric Sylvester, Gerardo Porras, and Henry Hornbrook run with a time of 3:38.70.
Team “F” had Ryan Fredericks, Beau Barber, Lane Weber, and Daniel Gutierrez run a 4:02.77 together.
Lastly, Team “C” which had Denver Soekawan, Nathaniel Lenning, Daniel Pogrebinsky, and Gabe Benson ran a 4:19.97.
That concludes the Nirca Nationals meet. Our Women’s team took first place with a score of 142 beating out the second place team by 14 whole points. The Men’s team took 5th which is still no small feat to accomplish. The Women’s team of ITFC surely gave a nationals quality performance at this meet and they should under no circumstances feel their victory wasn’t earned or wasn’t due to their hard work. There isn’t much else to say except next year we aim to take home both trophies of Nirca Nationals.
On March 26th, ITFC ventured out to Vincennes Indiana in order to compete in Vincennes University’s Bill Smith Challenge. It was a small meet and weather conditions were less than optimal with it being pretty cold and windy outside. Nonetheless ITFC still ran and gave it our best so props to everyone who came out to compete that day.
Field Events:
Starting off with the field events, within the Women’s High Jump Annie Brunton jumped 1.44m high and came in first for the Women’s.
In the long jump Khalia Mullin jumped 4.45m far. Khalia came in 2nd overall for the Women’s long jump. For the Men’s Tyler Klein jumped 6.37m far. Tyler Klein came in 2nd place overall for the Men’s long jump.
For the Women’s Triple Jump Khalia Mullin snagged the 3rd place overall spot for jumping 9.14m far.
Track Events:
Starting our day off was the 4x100m race. Our women’s team composed of Rachel Sakwa, Khalia Mullin, Kayleigh Evans, and Ninawa Odicho came in second place with a time of 56.61. Next was the mens, Nic Soto, Adam Adil, Tyler Klein, and Jean Christophe Raymond-Bertrand came in with a time of 44.59 and took first place.
In the Women’s 1500m run, Alyson Ficca competed and ran a 5:53.40.For the Men’s 1500m run, Jeffrey Hesselbein took second with a time of 4:19.07, John Burns ran a 4:38,84, Trevor Glancy threw down a 4:42.35, Norb Nieves ran a 4:49.28, Cade Baker came through with a 4:49.85, and Henry Hornbrook finished with a 5:04.35. Gabe Benson competed and ran a 5:37.10, Gabriel Inojosa ran a 5:03.44, and Daniel Guiterrez finished us off with a 4:59.86.
Next we had the Men’s 400m Dash where Tyler Klein took first place with a time of 54s. Now would be a good time to reiterate that it was very cold and windy outside so our athletes’ times this meet are reflected through that. Gerardo Porras competed and ran a 57.28, and Eric Sylvester ran a 58.16.
Next up was the 100m dash. For the Women’s Ninawa Odicho and Rachel Sakwa ran similar times of 13.45 and 13.68 respectively. Caylee Losch, making her first meet debut, ran a 14.20. For the Men’s 100m dash, Eric Sylvester ran and took first in his heat with a time of 12.38. Adam Adil, Tyler Klein, and Chris Raymond-Bertrand ran in the same heat and had times of 11.57, 11.48, and 11.02 respectively.
In the 800m dash Annie Brunton and Alyson Ficca ran clocking in times of 2:30.24 and 3:00.25 respectively. For the Men’s Henry Hornbrook ran a 2:25.86, Daniel Guiterrez finished with a 2:27.47, Good ole Beau Barber ran a cool 2:16.56, Lane Weber competed and ran a 2:26.87, Nathaniel Lenning ran the race and clocked in at 2:37.75, Denver Soekawan finished with a 2:41.95, and Gabe Benson ran a 2:44.75.
Next was the 400m hurdles, and for the Women’s we had Katherine Vande Pol as the sole competitor representing ITFC run 1:14.66. For the Men’s Nic Soto came in second with a 1:02.74 and Lane Weber finished with a 1:08.99.
For the Women’s 200m we had Ninawa Odicho run a 27.47, Kaleigh Evans ran a 31.02, Caylee Losch came and ran a 30.54, Maria Becerra ran a 29.89, and Rebecca Baez making her ITFC debut ran a 30.53. In the Men’s we had Nic Soto be the only one to run it and he came in with a 29.18. Understandably so because Nic ran a lot of events today before this 200m.
Next was the 5000m run where Vijay Shah competed and ran an 18:40.50.
In the 4x400m we had two teams of men run. “A” team consisting of Hector Ramos, Nic Soto, Jeffrey Hesselbein, and Henry Hornbrook ran a 3:47.62. For the “B” team we had Eric Sylvester, Gerardo Porras, Beau Barber, and Denver Soekawan run a 4:06.79.
Last, but not least we finished off this meet the 3000m Steeplechase. For the Women’s Annie Brunton crushed it, running a 13:16.08. On the Men’s side of things Justin Ostrem and Issac Schifferer ran 10:24.21 and 12:04.11 respectively.
That concludes The Bill Smith Challenge. Next week we are looking at a very early nationals meet from NIRCA, I am sure we are going to compete well like usual so just stay tuned for the next write-up!
The Spectacular return of Club Relays and one for the history books!
On Feb 26th, the golden gates opened once again and after a 1 year break due to covid, ITFC hosted Club Relays yet again. This meet was incredible and the team as a whole put their blood, sweat, and tears to make up for lost time and let me tell you all right now. There was indeed payoff. I remember the meet vividly so let me all tell you the tale of Club Relays 2022.
Field Events:
Starting with the field events, within the Women’s High Jump Annie Brunton jumped an amazing 1.40m high and Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jumped only .10 below that coming in at 1.30m.
For the Men’s our very own Nicholas Hartmann came in second place with a jump of 1.85m, up next was Derrick Stokes and Jad Karajeh who both jumped 1.65m. Returning alumni known as Illinois Elite also competed as well, Ben Junkroski and Andy Marszewski showed that their bones aren’t brittle yet as they jumped 1.49 and 1.54 respectively.
In the long jump Ellie McAuley jumped 4.75m far and Khalia Mullin jumped 4.03m far. Ellie came in 3rd overall for the Women’s long jump.
For the Men’s Tyler Klein jumped an extraordinary 6.13m far and Jad Karajeh jumped 5.81m. Andy Marszewski jumped 5.51m, Srinjoy Das jumped 5.19m, Ben Junkroski jumped 5.04m, Derrick Stokes finished it up jumping 4.84m. Tyler Klein came in first place overall for the Men’s long jump!
For the Women’s Triple Jump Khalia Mullin grabbed the 2nd place overall spot for jumping 9.96m far and Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jumped 8.69m. In the Men’s Jad Karajeh jumped 12.55m and Nicholas Hartmann jumped 11.61m. They grabbed 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Derrick Stokes jumped 10.79m.
For the Women’s Shot Put coming in 1st place for ITFC is Tayla Schwarz, who in the process of coming in 1st also broke a meet record of 10.34 with a throw of 11.29m. Tayla came extremely close to breaking the club record of 11.30 with this throw but she was only just a little bit off. Next up, Carley Polan threw an amazing throw of 9.24m coming in 3rd for this meet. Diana Whitfield and Jenna Homan threw 8.72m and 7.50m respectively. Kara Cannon threw 7.30m to finish us out for the day.For the Men’s Christoph Rydberd and Matt Bilek snagged 1st and 2nd place exclusively with throws of 12.83m and 12.06m respectively.
Track Events:
The Women’s and Men’s 60m hurdles were both insane at this Club Relays. When I said previously as a team we made up for the missing Club Relays, I mean it. For the Women’s not only did Ari Afolabi come in 2nd overall she broke the previous meet record of 9.64s with her time of 9.46! Not only that she broke her previous CLUB record of 9.59 that she set earlier this year! Georgia Reed came in with a 9.99 and Khalia Mullin came in with a 11.01. Illinois Elite athlete Desarae Echevarria ran 10.52 and Maria Becerra came in with a 11.01.
In the Men’s Josh James came in 2nd overall with a 8.84 and Illinois Elite Michael Jang ran 8.96. Matas Carmichael ran 10.33, Piotr Biel ran 11.35, and PJ Coleman ran 11.94.
Next in the amazing 60m dash we absolutely crushed it as a team. For the ladies, Ari Afolabi and Ninawa Odicho took 1st and 2nd place respectively with times of 8.28 and 8.29. Rachel Sakwa ran a 8.53 and Ibu Ajifolokun ran 8.61. Diana Whitfield and Chaitra Niddodi ran 9.04 and 10.06 respectively.
In the Men’s we had Christopher Raymond-Bertrand (who will be referred to as Chris for the rest of this write-up) run a 7.16 and Tyler Klein ran a 7.20. Michael Jang (Illinois Elite) ran a 7.24 and Adam Adil came in with a 7.31. Thomas Harris (Illinois Elite) showed up and ran a 7.35 along with Nic Soto who ran a 7.36. Jalen Frazier ran a 7.41 and Jad Karajeh ran a 7.55. Mason Rosenberg (Illinois Elite) and Jimmy Hoffman ran a 7.64 and 7.69 respectively. Andre Ells came in with a 7.72 and John Bradenburg (Ilinois Elite) ran 7.76. Ethan Mullen, Sanyu Kumaran, and Ben Junkroski ran 7.86, 7.89, and 7.91 respectively. Matas Carmichael and Eric Sylvester ran 7.99 and 8.04. Sandin Cuturic ran 8.21, Srinjoy Das ran 8.38, and Yifan Cao ran 8.45.
In the 4x800m the Women’s performance was quite literally unmatched in any shape or form. We took first place with a time of 9:42.77. This team consisted of Annie Brunton, Ella Chambers, Gina Kowalewicz, and Katherine Vande Pol. Ok, now get this. Not only did these four break the meet record for this event. They absolutely crushed the previous club record and meet record of 9:45.4! 2-3 whole seconds is a sizable difference. Which is why you will be shocked to hear that the closest team that came close to beating our A team came in with a time of 10:23.74! Our A team absolutely mopped the floor with everyone in this event! The B team consisting of Kyla Wolski, Alyson Ficca, Clare Oehler, and Kaleigh Evans came in with a good 10:54.92. The D team which included Mikeelie Jensen, Wilma Rishko, Adelina Garcia, and Laine Hackmann came in with a time of 12:07.90. All teams did great in this event and all of the events prior and after this one.
For the Men’s 4x800m we placed 3rd. Now just to clarify this was not due to a lack of speed. There was a misfortunate hand-off which caused a baton drop. If that didn’t happen I fully believe we would have blown the 1st and 2nd place out the water. The A team consisting of Jeffrey Hesselbein, Spencer Nelson, John Burns, and Eldon Warner came in at a time of 8:07.96. The C team which included Ben Baltz, Daniel Gutierrez, Henry Hornbrook, and Denver Soekawan clocked in at a time of 9:23.25. Lastly, the B team came in at a time of 9:38.36 which included Lane Weber, Spencer Robieson, Gabriel Inojosa, and Charley Hoppis.
Next up in the triumphant return of Club Relays was the Women’s 4x200m Relay. If you’ve been paying attention so far you already know what is coming next. Yup, you guessed it. We broke another Club and Meet record! The A team consisting of Georgia Reed, Ninawa Odicho, Ari Afolabi, and Ibu Ajifolokun beat out the previous record of 1:49.40 with a time of 1:48.30 and secured the first place spot! The B team who by the way came in 2nd place with a time of 1:53.78 included Ciara Ward, Ellie McAuley, Maria Becerra, and Des Echevarria! The C team which included Diana Whitfield, Erin Haslett, Kaleigh Evans, and Katie O’Hara came in with a time of 2:03.48.
For the Men’s 4x200m… we did it again! This race was widely anticipated by the sprinter’s because in order to not mince words, there was a lot of smack talk between the current team and the alumni (Illinois Elite). So it made for a very tension heavy race, but ultimately that tension is what propelled our A team consisting of Adam Adil, Nic Soto, Tyler Klein, and Chris Betrand to new heights to beat the Club and Meet Record (and Illinois Elite A team) with a brand new time of 1:30.92! The previous record being 1:31.91 for information’s sake. The Illinois Elite A team which included Michael Jang, Andy Marzewski, Alex Bienduga, and Thomas Harris flew in with a time of 1:35.65. Illinois Elite Racing B which had John Bradenburg, Mason Rosenberg, Ben Junkroski, and Steven Kataba came in with a time of 1:41.89. The C team for ITFC had Piotr Biel, PJ Coleman, Sanyu Kumaran, and Yuto Kibe on it coming in with a time of 1:43.15.
In the 3000m run for the Women’s we had Brisa McGrath coming in with a 10:52.16 making that her indoor season PR for 2021-2022, beating out her time at the start of the season which was 11:06.85. Annie Brunton, being a complete slugger, ran in the 3000m on top of her other races and came in with a 11:41.18. Natalie Maguire came on in and ran a 12:50.78 to finish this off for the ladies. In the Men’s we had Stephen Barretto run a 8:57.91, Justin Ostrem came in with a 9:17.73, Trevor Giampa came and ran a 9:35.23, Jacob Fleck flew in with a 9:39.08, Vignesh Ravibaskar ran a 9:44.32, Kyle Kenmotsu ran a 9:53.38, and Vijay Shah ran a 10:41.42.
Next up was the SMR, the sprint medley relay, which consists of runners doing a 200-200-400-800 in a relay fashion. For the Women’s in the A team, who came in first, it had Rachel Sakwa, Ninawa Odicho, Ibu Ajifolokun, and Katherine Vande Pol. They had a combined time of 4:26.25. Our B team had Ellie McAuley, Maria Becerra, Ciara Ward, and Wilma Rishko, they had a combined time of 4:49.31.
For the Men’s SMR for the A team it included Kevin Saju, Jalen Frazier, Hector Ramos, and Nolan Enright. They came in second place with a time of 3:43.62. The B team which included Josh James, Andre Ells, Drake Heisterkamp, and Patrick Willhalm. They came in with a time of 3:55.07. The E team consisting of Sandin Cuturic, Daniel Pogrebinsky, Patrick Sarad, and Beau Barber had a time of 4:09.34. The C team composed of Adam Adil, Eric Sylvester, Trevor Glancy, and Ben Baltz had a time of 4:21.63 due to athlete injury during the race. The D team had Matas Carmichael, Yifan Cao, Gerardo Porras, and Denver Soekawan had 4.37.84 together.
For today in the mile at this Club Relays Ella Chambers ran 5:35.01, Brisa McGrath did 5:36.46, Kyla Wolski ran 5:40.43, Bridget Brokaw slid on in with a 5:52.18, Maddy Feehan came on in with a 5:55.26, Mikeelie Jensen ran a posh 5:59.84. Marybeth Feeley came through with a 6:08.45, Brianna Legner ran a 6:16.14, Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley ran the mile with a 6:24.14, Claire Casiello had a 6:33.81 mile run, Natalie Maguire ran a 6:36.27, Lauren Bartels came and ran a 6:39.35, Grace Gudwein came with a 6:40.59. Finishing the Women up was Gabriela Arribas with a 7:20.60.
For the Men’s mile we had Eldon Warner with a 4:13.35 in doing so he broke a meet record and club record of 4:16.33. He also placed first. John Burns had a 4:24.38, Jeffrey Hesselbein scooted on in with a 4:28.70. Spencer Nelson had a 4:33.96, Stephen Barretto came with a 4:34.65. Cadyn Grafton had a 4:37.37, double 37s is nice. Alex Kogen ran a 4:42.49, Nolan Enright came in with a 4:55.50, Jeffrey Lu ran a 4:55.77, Norb Nieves ran 4:55.95, Henry Hornbrook came and ran a 4:57.53. Phillip Hu rode on through with a 5:00.27, Max Hartmann ran a 5:01.59, Ryan Fredericks was next with a 5:06.29, Daniel Grossenbacher and Isaac Schifferer ran nearly identical times with a 5:08.17 and 5:08.62 respectively. Alex Wang came and ran 5:11.59, Jason Palafox had a 5:16.21 under his belt, Griffin Rhode came through with a 5:20.77. Gabriel Inojosa had a 5:20.98, Bryan Himmel was running and finished with a 5:22.82, Nathaniel Lemming finished with a 5:23.69. Brennan Taylor had a 5:24.43. Evan Patel (Illinois Elite) finished with a 5:27.08.
Jacob Rubin finished his mile with a 5:38.38 and John Feeley finished with a 5:54.84, Gabe Benson finished our club off with a 5:54.89. Did you know the 1 mile run for Men’s had over 192 participants? Quite a crazy number!
Last but most certainly not least, the ultimate event at Club Relays. The 4x400m relay, one that tests every athlete’s competitive running and in Club Relay’s case, creativity to the max. In honor of it, I’m going to switch up the format a little
A Team:
1st place winners: 4:10.36
1) Gina Kowalewicz
2) Annie Brunton
3) Katherine Vande Pol
4) Ninawa Odicho
E Team:
2nd place winners: 4:31.29
1) Ciara Ward
2) Susan Whelton
3) Georgia Reed
4) Rachel Sakwa
G Team: 4:41.02
1) Ella Chambers
2) Khalia Mullin
3) Kyla Wolski
4) Maria Becerra
B Team: 4:45.83
1) MaryBeth Feeley
2) Brianna Legner
3) Maddy Feehan
4) Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley
F Team: 5:19.90
1) Lauren Bartels
2) Natalie Maguire
3) Alyson Ficca
4) Clare Oehler
D Team: 5:27.44
1) Brisa McGrath
2) Claire Casiello
3) Laine Hackmann
4) Anna Winnicki
C Team: 5:28.37
1) Mikeelie Jensen
2) Bridget Brokaw
3) Wilma Rishko
4) Grace Gudwien
For the Men’s-
A Team:
1st place winners: 3:28.23
1) Kevin Saju
2) Nic Soto
3) Eldon Warner
4) Tyler Klein
B Team:
3rd place winners: 3:36.08
1) Jalen Frazier
2) John Burns
3) Hector Ramos Jr.
4) Jean-Christoph Raymond-Bertrand
M Team: 3:46.77
1) Ben Baltz
2) Josh James
3) Stephen Barretto
4) Jimmy Hoffman
H Team: 3:53.30
1) Beau Barber
2) Lane Weber
3) Ryan Fredericks
4) Trevor Glancy
D Team: 3:54.60
1) Norb Nieves
2) Justin Ostrem
3) Spencer Nelson
4) Jeffrey Hesselbein
F Team: 3:54.84
1) Sandin Cuturic
2) Gerardo Porras
3) Eric Sylvester
4) Patrick Sarad
K Team: 3:57.65
1) Cadyn Grafton
2) Nolan Enright
3) Max Hartmann
4) Kyle Kenmotsu
B Team: 4:01.00
1) Spencer Robieson
2) Jonathan Wallk
3) Drake Heisterkamp
4) Patrick Willhalm
O Team: 4:07.57
1) Jeffrey Lu
2) Griffin Rhode
3) Sanyu Kumaran
4) Gabriel Inojosa
J Team: 4:13.33
1) PJ Coleman
2) Matas Carmichael
3) Andre Ells
4) Derrick Stokes
G Team: 4:14.48
1) Jason Palafox
2) Jacob Rubin
3) Henry Hornbrook
4) Ethan Light
E Team: 4:15.61
1) Tristan Taylor
2) Thomas Tran
3) Isaac Schifferer
4) Brennan Taylor
C Team: 4:16.02
1) Philip Hu
2) Nathaniel Lenning
3) Vijay Shah
4) Alex Wang
N Team: 4:19.07
1) Evan Patel
2) Vignesh Ravibaskar
3) John Feeley
4) Alex Kogen
L Team: 4:24.02
1) Yifan Cao
2) Gabe Benson
3) Daniel Pogrebinsky
4) Srinjoy Das
That officially concludes the meet write up for ITFC Club Relays, the most exciting collegiate indoor meet of the year. This meet was a long time coming and we passed expectations for it in every way possible. I’d even say we passed it’s expectation of us seeing as we brought our A game and smashed a lot of records. We strive to exceed these results next year and host an even more successful meet. You might ask what’s next after such an event? The answer is simple. Outdoor season.
ITFC had a great time competing at the University of Indianapolis Gerry England Invitational meet.
On Feb 12th, ITFC had a great meet. We ran fast and traveled far. Our payoff for this meet was not only training and experience but being fully ready to head into our own meet. The long awaited Club Relays.
Field Events:
Within the field events, starting with the jumps, Derrick Stokes scored a 1.64m in the Men’s High Jump, doing better than his attempts in a previous meet of 1.5m.
In the Women’s Long Jump, Khalia Mullin jumped 4.27m and Ari Afolabi jumped 4.11m.
In the Men’s Long Jump, Jad Karajeh jumped 5.74m and Derrick Stokes jumped 4.65m.
In the Women’s Triple Jump, Khalia Mullin jumped 10.06m.
Today the throws team joined us for a meet and they did exceptionally well like always.
In the Women’s Shot Put Carley Polan threw 9.71m and Kara Cannon threw 7.09m.
For the Men’s Matt Bilek threw 13.07m and Chris Rhydberg threw 12.43m.
Track Events:
For today in our Women’s 60m hurdles. Ari Afolabi ran a 9.74 and Khalia Mullin ran a 11.23. For the men’s Derrick Stokes and PJ Coleman ran a 10.60 and an 11.99 respectively.
Moving onto the Women’s 60m Dash, we had Ninawa Odicho, Khalia Mullin, and Rachel Sakwa run a 8.32, 9.25, and 8.53 respectively. All three of these runners did better than previous meets in this race. Chaitra Niddodi competed and ran a 10.16.
For the Men’s 60m Dash we had, like usual, a line up of sprinters. Jean Christophe Raymond-Betrand (who will be referred to as Chris for the rest of this meet write-up) ran a stunning 7.18 and Tyler Klein ran a 7.19. In addition, Nic Soto and Kevin Saju ran 7.33 and 7.36. Jad Karajeh ran his first 60m of the season putting in a 7.59, Andre Ells ran a 7.77, and Sandin Cuturic ran 8s.
Today’s miles for the Womens was chock full of improvements. Maddy Feehan went running to clock in a 5:55.33 doing better than her season PR of 6 minutes. MaryBeth Feeley did exceptionally well as well, running 6:10.53 beating her previous time of 6:20.7. Brianna Legner, ran a 6:17.13. Wilma Rishko, ran a 6:01.43. Natalie Maguire ran 6:37.27 and Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley ran 6:31.06 marking yet another improvement from the previous time of 6:35.22. Brisa McGrath ran a time of 5.38.96 doing better than her season PR of 5:42.52 so far.
In the Men’s mile, Eldon Warner came in with a 4:19.43 and John Burns ran with a 4:31.19. Cade Baker competed and ran a time of 4:40.10 and Phillip Hu ran a time of 5:07.04. Henry Hornbrook ran well with a time of 5:09.03 doing better than his seasonal PR of 5:29.03. Isaac Schifferer ran a 5:11.06, Charley Hoppis ran a 5:20.84. Brennan Taylor and Gabriel Inojosa ran a 5:23.62 and 5:24.28 respectively. Gabe Benson came in running a 6:08.92.
Next up our team did great in the 400m dash. For the women in the 400m dash, Ninawa Odicho ran a 1:02.52, and Maria Becerra ran a 1:09.51. Ninawa came in 3rd overall in the meet for the 400m dash. For our Men’s Tyler Klein ran an amazing 51.70, Cameron Reedy ran 54.58, and Gerardo Porras ran 57.26. Tyler came in second place for the 400m in the entire meet.
Next up we get into the 800m dash, starting off with the Women’s, Katherine Vande Pol ran 2:20.49 this meet, however recently she beat the previous club record of 2:20.37 with a 2:19.57 in a meet hosted by the University of Illinois! So congrats to her on that. Bridget Brokaw ran a 2:36.52, Wilma Rishko came in with a 2:42.32, Mikeelie Jensen finished with a 2:43.99, and Maddy Feehan finished the women’s race with a 2:44.50. On the Men’s side of things we had Cade Baker run 2:07.01 doing better than a previous time of 2:07.91. Spencer Nelson went on to run 2:02.06, coming in 3rd place overall for the meet. Nolan Enright ran a 2:03.70, John Burns came in to run a 2:09.83. Kevin Saju, running an 800m for the first time this season, ran a 2:10.20. Trevor Glancy ran a 2:12.20. Charley Hoppis and Lane Weber ran a 2:21.47 and 2:25.26 respectively. Gabe Benson ended it off by running a 2:46.96.
After the 800m, next up was the 200 meter dash, which as you all know by now is my personal favorite. For Women’s Ninawa Odicho was running solo in the event today and ran her personal best so far in this meet coming in at a 27.29. For Men’s 200m dash we had Nic Soto run a 23.40, Kevin Saju ran a 23.70, Jalen Frazier and Sandin Cuturic ran a 23.98 and a 27.34 respectively. PJ Coleman came in and ran a 29.61.
In the 3000m run we had Brisa McGrath and Natalie Maguire run 11:08.10 and 13:10.97 respectively. For the guys, Will Gravelle and Jeffrey Hesselbein ran 9.05:07 and 9:07.86 respectively.
Last but not least we have the coveted 4x400m run. For our Women’s team, Claire Casiello, Katherine Vande Pol, Wilma Rishko, Rachel Sakwa ran and got a time of 4.42.62. They took second place overall. With the Men’s in the A team Jalen Frazier, Cameron Reedy, Hector Ramos, Tyler Klein ran and took first overall with a time of 3:38.83 and in the B team we had Spencer Nelson, Eldon Warner, Trevor Glancy, Nic Soto run a 3.44.29 and come in 3rd
That spells the end of the UIndy meet, the last meet we had before Club Relays. There were a lot of time improvements so things are looking brighter than the sun for Club Relays.
ITFC returned to Olivet-Nazarene University with a bigger force than last time. Every single one of us performed amazingly.
On Feb 5th, ITFC went back to Olivet-Nazarene University, some races were run, and some club records were established. All in all we had a great time.
Field Events:
Within our field events, starting with the jumps, Annie Brunton scored a 1.40m in the Women’s HIgh Jump. She jumped the same height from last meet, and like I previously said she is only 5 inches from beating the club record!
In the Women’s Long Jump, Khalia Mullin jumped 4.42m.
In the Men’s Long Jump, Derrick Stokes jumped 4.90m and Tyler Klein jumped 5.93m, farther than his previous attempt of 5.63m at the last ONU meet.
In the Women’s Triple Jump, Khalia Mullin jumped 10.17m, less than a meter away from breaking a club record.
Track Events:
Starting the day off with track events was the 5000m run. Will Gravelle took second place in the 5000m run with a time of 15:34.59. Faster than his performance last week which got him first place with a time of 16:11.48. However, not only that, Will now has the club record for the 5000m run! He beat the previous time of 15:40.10!
After the 5k as per usual is the 60m hurdles! This time at ONU we had three female hurdlers compete. Maria Becerra ran an 11.49, Georgia Reed ran a 10.01, Ari Afolabi ran a 9.70! Ari actually broke the previous club record for Women’s hurdles which was 9.77s! Get this though, Ari competed in the finals for the 60m hurdles and she managed to break her own record, in the same meet! Ari Afolabi is now the 60m hurdles record holder with a time of 9.59.
For the men, PJ Coleman ran a 11.77. This was PJ’s first time competing this semester in the hurdles.
In the Women’s 60m Dash, Chaitra Niddodi ran a 10.18. Rachel Sakwa ran a 8.65, doing better than her first 60m dash at ONU last week. Same with Ninawa Odicho, she ran a 8.35, faster than performance last week.
For the Men’s 60m Dash we had Jean Christophe Raymond-Betrand (who will be referred to as Chris for the rest of this meet write up) run a very impressive 7.18. Following up, Tyler Klein ran a 7.31. Jalen Frazier ran a 7.41, Andre Ells ran a 7.82, and Adam Adil ran 7.27s. Kevin Saju competed in the 60m this week and ran a 7.31. Jimmy Hoffman also ran his first meet this season today and threw down a 7.56. Anthony Stewart ran a 7.78 and Nic Soto competed and ran 7.40.
Next we had the 4x800m relay in which we had two teams of girls competing this time around. Both teams competed in the same heat, we had Katherine Vande Pol, Kaleigh Evans, Ella Chambers, Annie Brunton on one team. They ran a 10:18.90. On the other team consisting of Mikeelie Jensen, Clare Oehler, Wilma Rishko, and Kyla Wolski they ran a 10:47.93.
Up next we had the mile and had 5 women representing ITFC today. Starting off, we had Maddy Feehan run 6:00.34, a major improvement from her time last week of 6:12.18. Brianna Legner ran 6:16.11. Natalie Maguire ran a time of 6:35.62 and Lauren Bartels ran 6:35.50 improving her time last week of 6:40.86. Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley went on to run a 6:35.22. Finishing up, Bridget Brokaw ran a time of 6:26.71.
For the Men’s Mile Run: Charley Hoppis ran a cool 5:28.77 and Gabe Benson ran 6:24.08. Henry Hornbrook, ran 5:26.75. In the same heat we had Justin Ostrem run a 4:49.65, Alex Kogen ran 4:47.16 and Quinn Born a 4:55.55.
Next up, two girls crushed the 400m dash. Ninawa Odicho ran a 1:01.75 not only did she come in first place in the 400m dash in the entire meet, she also did better than her time last week of 1:03.63. Ciara Ward also competed, running a 1:09.21.
For our Men’s 400m we had a lot of ITFC members running together in pairs. In the first heat Derrick Stokes and Gerardo Porras ran their first 400m in a while. Together, they ran neck and neckand put down 57.62 and 57.87, respectively. Patrick Wilhalm and Trevor Glancy also were together in a heat, along with Eric Sylvester. They ran 54.51, 56.20, and 58.19, respectively. In the final heat featuring ITFC, we had Kevin Saju run 53.49 and Cam Reedy go 54.91. The third heat actually would have gotten a faster time, but unfortunately there was an ignorant athlete standing in lane 1 while the two were competing. They had to slow down so as not to cause a collision.
This meet we had a 1000m run, where Katherine Vande Pol ran 3:22.07 and Natalie Maguire ran 4:01.68. Mikeelie Jensen also ran in this event, putting in a time of 3:37.71. According to the current records since we do not have anything for the women’s 1000m run, Katherine Vande Pol is now officially the record holder for that event. For the fellas, Vignesh Ravibaskar and Beau Barber ran times of 2:53.21 and 2:56.06 respectively.
In the 600m Run, Annie Brunton ran a time of 1:43.92. Better than her previous time of 1:45:11, and she inches closer to besting the club record of 1:41.81. We had Henry Hornbrook run a 600 for the men’s today and he put up a time of 1:37.40.
In the 800m we only had the dudes compete today. Gabriel Inojosa ran a 2:26.79. We had Ryan Fredericks run 2:11.97 doing better than his last week’s time of 2:16.69. John Burns actually bested his insane time of 2:00.26, running a 1:58.52 this week. Nolan Enright went on to run a 2:05.56 and Jeffrey Hesselbein ran a 2:00.57.
After the 800m, next up was the 200 meter dash, my personal favorite as always. When it came to the 200m dash, the meet had some scheduling issues that they needed to get sorted out, causing some stress for our athletes. So I just want to give a shout-out to everyone that competed in this event for being resilient and sticking with it. You all are the best.
For the Women’s Maria Becerra ran a 30.19, Ciara Ward came in and ran a 31.72. Ninawa Odicho ran 27.33 along with Georgia Reed who ran 28.15. Ari Afolabi was in a heat with Kyla Wolski and they ran a 27.75 and a 31.33 respectively.
For Men’s 200m dash starting with Jimmy Hoffman he ran a 24.29 in his heat. Anthony Stewart came in next to run a 25.47. Eric Sylvester was with Derrick Stokes and PJ Coleman. They ran 25.64, 26.11, and 29.35 respectively. Eric and PJ both ran faster than they did in the last heat. Andre Ells was in a heat by himself and ran a 25.93. Nic Soto went on to place first in his heat, running a 23.54 marking a new PR for the athlete. Adam Adil was in a heat by himself and ran 23.37. Next we had another Illini filled heat like last week with Jalen Frazier, Kevin Saju, and Tyler Klein all running together. Jalen ran 23.92, Kevin ran 23.84, Tyler ran 23.23. Chris Betrand did amazingly well and broke 23 seconds, running a 22.92.
In the 3000m for the Women’s, Brisa McGrath took up a solo gig and ran 11:06.85.
Nathaniel Lenning ran a 11.15.46 and Vignesh Ravibaskar ran a 10:24.34. Spencer Nelson ran a 9:25.55, Alex Kogen put in a time of 9:42.09, and Cade Baker went on to run a 9:28.29. Will Gravele ran a 9:06.89 and Vijay Shah ran with a time of 9:56.71. Gabe Benson competed with a time of 12:14.43.
Once again, last but not least we have the coveted 4x400m run. For our Women’s team, Wilma Rishko, Ella Chambers, Annie Brunton, and Katherine Vande Pol ran and got a time of 4.34.44.
With the Men’s we had 4 teams of 4x400s. The “D” team composed of Eric Sylvester, Gerardo Porras, Gabriel Inojosa, and Beau Barber came together to run a 3:58.64. Our “A”, “B”, and “C” teams all ran in the same heat, so be prepared for some rapid name drops incoming. On the “A” team we had Adam Adil, Kevin Saju, Cam Reedy, and Tyler Klein. On the “B” team we had Jeffrey Hesselbein, John Burns, Spencer Nelson, and Patrick Willhalm. Then we had the “C” team which had Justin Ostrem, Nic Soto, Ryan Fredericks, and Trevor Glancy.
The “A” team took first in the heat with a time of 3:38.59, all respect paid to Tyler Klein with a split time of 52s, he had to pick up the slack of Adam who was not only tripped during the race but his shoe came off as well. Tyler tried his best and his efforts were enough for the “A” team to place first in the heat. The “B” team was not far behind at all with them running a 3:40.81 and the “C” team came in with a time of 3:53.97.
This meet was really fun and although we had steeper competition this time around, ITFC always seeks to try their best and we always perform well no matter the odds. We have another meet at UIndy that we ran on 2/12, so like always expect another meet write up in the future
ITFC had an amazing second meet at Olivet-Nazarene University, and we have many more to come.
On Jan 29th, ITFC had a great meet to mark down in the history books, we came down to Olivet-Nazarene and ran our hearts out.
Field Events:
Within our field events, starting with the jumps, Annie Brunton scored a 1.40m in the Women’s HIgh Jump. I personally am not too well versed in High Jump statistics but she is actually only 5 inches from beating the club record! Maybe she will break it by the end of the season, anything is possible for our club members. In the Men’s High Jump, Nick Hartmann jumped 1.81m, the athlete noted that this was his first time jumping in a bit so he will surely soar in the future.
In the Men’s Long Jump, Nick Hartmann jumped 5.72m and Tyler Klein jumped 5.63m.
In the Men’s Triple Jump, Nick Hartmann jumped 11.34m, and Jad Karajeh, current triple jump club record holder, jumped 12.47m. Not yet usurping the current record of 13.91m, but since he did it before we are sure he can do it again and bring the rest of his jumpers with him.
Track Events:
As per usual at track meets starting us off for the day is the 60m hurdles! We only had one female hurdler this time around but she still brought the heat. Maria Becerra, who ran an 11.43 managed to break her own PR! For the men’s Matas Carmichael ran a 9.89. This a mass improvement from his last meet time which was 10.42. So today was the mark of improvement for the Hurdles Team.
You all let me tell you right now, and I should have mentioned this beforehand, but you are going to see the Women’s names a lot in this meet write up, because let me tell you. They went absolutely insane this meet. They really showed up and showed out.
In the Women’s 60m Dash, we had Ninawa Odicho, Katherine Vande Pol, and Rachel Sakwa run a 8.36, 8.62, and 8.67 respectively. Not only did all three of these runners go to the 60m finals, but Ninawa Odicho came in first in the 60m in the women’s in the entire meet. As a freshman by the way.
For the Men’s 60m Dash we had a full line up of men’s sprinters who were raring to go. Jean Christophe Raymond-Betrand (who will be referred to as Chris for the rest of this meet write up) ran a stunning 7.19, maybe he can break under 7 seconds by the end of the season? Following up, Tyler Klein, Joe Lian, and Matas Carmichael ran 7.24, 7.95, and 7.88 respectively. Jalen Frazier ran a 7.34, Andre Ells ran a 7.74, and Adam Adil ran 7.24s. Nandil Patel ran 9s and unfortunately injured himself, we wish him a speedy recovery. Yifan Cao ran a 8.53 and Sanyu Kuraman ran a 7.89. In the end Chris Betrand wound up coming in 3rd for the Men’s 60m Dash.
In the 600m Run, Annie Brunton ran a 1:45:11, which is pretty good considering she placed 4th in this event.
Next up was the mile and like I said before the Women’s performance this meet was phenomenal, just like any other to be fair, but it is always worth mentioning. Starting us off we had a heat of Maddy Feehan running 6:12.18, MaryBeth Feeley running 6:20.71, Natalie Maguire running 6:35.35 and Lauren Bartels running 6:40.86. In the third heat Brisa McGrath was by herself but she didn’t let that scare her because she went on to run a 5:42.52 and place overall second in the Women’s Mile Run.
For the Men’s Mile Run in the first heat, Phillip Hu ran a nice 5:05.55, Norb Nieves ran 5:06.20. Henry Hornbrook, who hadn’t ran a mile since High School, ran 5:11.62. Issac Schifferer and Gabriel Inojosa ran 5:22.43 and 5:24.85 respectively. Wrapping up the first heat, Gabe Zeller ran a 5.35.33. In the second heat of the multitudinous distance we call the mile, Alex Kogen ran 4:43.57 and Vignesh Ravibaskar a 5:02.05. In the third and final heat, Jeffrey Hesselbein ran 4:32.20 and Spencer Nelson came in with a 4:41.41. Overall, Jeffrey Hesselbein placed 3rd in the Men’s Mile.
Next up, the Women absolutely dominated the 400m dash. Ninawa Odicho ran a 1:03.63, Annie Brunton came in with 1:05.27, Rachel Sakwa with a 1:08.92, and Ciara Ward followed up with a 1:09.26. Katherine Vande Pol finished up with a 1:10.86. These 400m runners placed 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th, respectively. For our Men’s we had newcomer Eric Sylvester run a 58.35, and Kevin Saju ran 53.49 to snag a third place.
Next let us double the distance into the 800m dash, starting off with the Women’s we only had 2 runners, Kyla Wolski and Ella Chambers. Kyla ran a nice 2:33.11 and netted 3rd place overall at the meet, and Ella was not far behind, running a 2:34.41. On the Men’s side of things we had Ryan Fredericks run 2:16.69, Cade Baker ran 2:07.91, next up was John Burns who had a monstrous comeback in his race, running 2:00.26. Cadyn Grafton ran 2:04.59. John Burns took overall 3rd in the Men’s 800m as well.
After the 800m, next up was the 200 meter dash, my personal favorite. For Women’s Maria Becerra ran a 30.32, Ninawa Odicho ran 27.40, and Katherine Vande Pol ran a 29.17. Niniwa Odicho managed to take overall 3rd in the Women’s 200m dash. Really impressive because she placed either top 3 or first in every event she ran today.
For Men’s 200m dash we had some of our athletes run it for the first time this season, more notably Sanyu Kumaran, Eric Sylvester, and Joe Lian. They ran 26.15, 26.21, and 26.37 respectively. Joe Lian went on record to say his shorts were falling down during the race. Yifan Cao ran in a heat with PJ Coleman and they ran 29.69 and 30.31. Adam Adil was in a heat by himself and ran 23.53. Next we had an Illini filled heat with Jalen Frazier, Kevin Saju, Tyler Klein, and Chris Betrand all running together. Jalen ran 23.79, Kevin ran 23.94, Tyler ran 23.74, and Chris ran 23.50. In the end Adam Adil took 3rd place overall and Chris Betrand took 2nd place overall, only slightly losing to a competitor of 23.0, which both are looking to blaze past that time in the next meet.
In the 3000m run Nathaniel Lenning ran a 11.14.62, Justin Ostrem ran 9:27.02, Jeffrey Hesselbein was right behind him, running a 9:29.56, and Quinn Born went on to run 9:42.47.
Can I just say that I have full respect for anybody running over 400 meters? Personally I couldn’t do it. So the fact that so many of our Mid-D and Distance runners have the courage to do this is honestly quite astounding.
There was also the 5000m run and the Mixed Distance Medley that took place. Will Gravelle took first place in the 5000m run with a time of 16:11.48. In the MDM our team of Clare Oehler, Mikeelie Jensen, Bridget Brokaw, and Wilma Rishko came together and ran a combined might of 14:30.98.
Last but not least we have the coveted 4x400m run. For our Women’s team, Clare Oehler, Kyla Wolski, Ninawa Odicho, and Rachel Sakwa ran and got a time of 4.34.44. With the Men’s in the first heat we saw Henry Hornbrook, Cade Baker, Ryan Fredericks, and Matas Carmichael run 3:50.00. In heat 2 Eric Sylvester, Cadyn Grafton, John Burns, and Tyler Klein ran to a 3:38.0. Thus wrapping up this as a successful meet for us.
This meet was exciting, showed even greater promise from our last meet at IWU. Let me just say for the record, that based off these performances and future ones to come. Man, am I excited for Club Relays. We will be running at Olivet again on 2/5/22. So expect another write-up some time soon in the future.
