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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congrats to all athletes on your great performances!

Full results of the meet can be found here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congrats to all athletes on their performances!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congrats to all athletes on their performances!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results from Saturday can be found here.

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

Until next time.

On Friday, February 8th, eight of our athletes headed up to Allendale, Michigan for the GVSU Big Meet. This is a very competitive varsity meet which we send only a selective few athletes to every year (except last year because big snow).

Most of our athletes this year found tremendous success:

The women’s 3000m saw Anneliese Schulz and young superstar Grace Gudwien working together throughout the race. Both came out with big PRs of over 10 seconds, with Schulz running 10:40.32 and Gudwien running 10:41.49!

The men’s 3000m featured Ryan Somerfield who had a fantastic race from the back of the pack, running a 14 second PR of 8:49.36!

In the women’s mile, Emma Burkhardt worked hard to run a season’s best of 5:23.78. With it being such a tight race, she was pushed out into lane three for much of the race, making it more impressive that she was only a few seconds off her goal. Julia Schultz ran 5:12.91 and has her eyes set on the club record of 5:05.

On the sprinter’s side, Andy Marszewski went HUGE in his 400 to run a 50.66! This is a PR of nearly TWO SECONDS! Andy showed up big in the 200, too, going 22.87.

Becky Haight had a season best of 1:00.97 in her 400, coming within less than a second of her PR! She also went 25.95 in the 200 and 8.12 in the 60.

Michael Jang competed in three events and performed great in all of them. He PR’d in the 60 with a 7.31, and PR’d in the 200 going 23.47, AND PR’d in the 60H in a time of 8.84!

Hopefully these athletes found their trip up to Allendale worth it, as many of them came away with lifetime PRs in their events. Competition breeds success and these guys proved that!

The next day, February 9th, the club sent 35 athletes to the Athletics & Recreation Center (fancy term for ‘big inflated dome’) in Indianapolis.

Jacob Avenaim had another PR 60m performance, running 7.23. Also in the 60 was Justin Nebel who ran 7.49, John Brandenburg with 7.71, Ben Junkroski ran 7.77, and PJ Coleman in 9.47.

In the women’s 60m hurdles we saw Tatiana Montanez race 11.84 in her first 60H race!

John Brandenburg led the 200 with a time of 24.73. Behind him was Ben Junkroski with 25.58. PJ Coleman finished in a time of 30.12.

President Alex Bienduga placed 8th with his 400 time of 52.75. Also in the 400 was David Young who ran 1:05.98.

Tatiana Montanez came back in the 400 and ran a time of 1:08.69.

The 800m run was full of Illinois athletes. Head coach Keith Lee finished in 2:01.92, taking 3rd overall. Evan Patel raced conservatively due to a recent hamstring strain but still finished in a solid 2:10.15. Justin Ostrem clocked in at 2:14.17, Beau Barber raced 2:15.05, Jarod Meyer came through at 2:16.12. Jake Winter came in next in 2:17.8, with Daniel Engel running 2:18.77, and Matt Dickinson finishing in 2:27.24.

Freshman Katie Sledz finished first for our women in 2:33.17. Clare Oehler was right behind in 2:34.34, and Natalie Maguire finished her race in 3:08.89.

In the mile was Justin Ostrem who finished in 4:41.05. Evan Patel had a strong kick to come through in 4:47.31, just a couple seconds off his collegiate PR. Jarod Meyer ran a collegiate PR with 4:48.77! Patrick Willhalm raced hard to finish in 4:57.93.

Clare Oehler had an amazing mile race to finish in 5:39.13. Noel Brindise was going to be happy with a sub 5:45 performance and she hit that almost right on with 5:45.16. Emily Condic raced 5:58.43, and Lindsey Schmidt was so close to breaking 6 with her 6:00.5. Brianna Legner ran 6:16.17, improving 13 seconds from her performance at IWU last month!

In the 3000, Josh Mollway ran 8:56.18 alone in the second heat. Connor Farrell finished in 9:18.94. Josh Feldman ran 9:28 and Jordan Meyer had a great race to finish in 9:29.85, a 13 second PR in just a couple weeks! Alex Kogen raced 9:55.07 in his first 3k race, and Daniel Engel ran 10:10.74. Matt Dickinson came in at 10:24.57 and Olan Bruyere came away with a PR of 10:25.39!

Mia Bertaud PR’d by a couple of seconds with her 11:37.38, and Natalie Maguire also PR’d by 8 seconds with a time of 13:43.45!

Jake Aldrich pole vaulted 4.41m. In the long jump, Justin Nebel jumped 5.99m. Chris Rydberg threw the shot put 12.89m, the second best throw in our club history!

Taylor Millsap pole vaulted 3.44m, and Nayeli Lara threw 8.33m in the shot put.

The men’s 4×400 team of John Brandenburg, Beau Barber, Ben Junkroski, and Keith Lee finished in 3:49.74.

The women’s 4×400 relay consisting of Emily Condic, Natalie Maguire, Clare Oehler, and Katie Sledz ran 4:56.5.

Though overall we didn’t see tremendous success in terms of performances, all athletes competed hard and treated this as another step towards the indoor season goal of Club Relays.

Congrats to all athletes on their performances at both meets!

Full results of the GVSU Big Meet can be found here
Full results of the UIndy invite can be found here

The Illinois Track and Field Club competes next at our own Illinois Club Relays in Champaign, IL on February 23rd.

Hope everyone is excited!

Twenty-four members of the Illinois Track Club competed at Illinois College on February 2nd. Four of them were competing for the club for the first time!

Desarae Echevarria jumped 4.34m in the long jump. Andy Marszewski jumped long jump for the first time with 5.78m. Newcomer Brend Hiserote grabbed a mark of 5.64m.

In the 60m hurdles, Desarae Echevarria came out with a time of 10.50. Michael Jang grabbed a PR by 1/100 of a second with 8.87! Eli Decker impressively three-stepped for all 9.95 seconds of his hurdle run.

Once again we only had one thrower compete. This week Chris Rydberg stepped up and oh, did he step up big. He threw 12.54m in the shot put which got him 5th overall in the meet and also placed him at 4th already on our top 10 list!

We again got to see some speed out of Becky Haight as she took 4th overall in the 60m dash with 8.15. Lauren Goodsnyder continued to impress with her PR of 8.93. Michael Jang (7.37), Andy Marszewski (7.40), Jad Karajeh (7.48) all ran the 60 for just the second time, with Marszewski coming away with a .19 second PR! Also in the 60 was Brend Hiserote who ran 7.52. Ben Junkroski set a PR running 7.61. John Brandenburg ran 7.68, with PJ Coleman also running a new PR of 9.12.

Jad Karajeh also jumped 12.56m in the triple jump!

In the pole vault, we saw Taylor Millsap vault a very impressive 3.35m for the W! Kat Leiner hit 3.05m to get second with Ciara Ward getting fourth with 2.6m. Ben Junkroski placed second overall with his 4.4m mark!

Alex Hanskat was the sole distance representative, running the mile in 4:54.45.

We had a 4×200 relay consisting of Ciara Ward, Lauren Grant, Lauren Goodsnyder, and Kaleigh Evans. These girls ran 1:56.76 and got second place!

For the men’s 4×200, Michael Jang, John Brandenburg, Yousuf Ahmad, and Andy Marszewski ran 1:38.63 to take third.

Lauren Grant also showed off in the open 400 with her impress 1:03.68 which got her first place! Alex Bienduga ran a hard 52.17 (his second best time on this club) to take home FIRST PLACE!

The 800 saw Patrick Willhalm run 2:07.34, Zack Fishman run 2:09.91, and Beau “Year 7” Barber run 2:15.32.

Becky Haight returned again to show off in the 200 with her 26.37 and 2nd place finish. Lauren Goodsnyder ran 30.81 to just about match her time from the Titan Open.

On the men’s side, Alex Bienduga finished in 23.7. Behind him was Michael Jang in 24.02. John Brandenburg ran 24.16 for a solid PR. Eli Decker came in at 26.18, with PJ Coleman finishing in 29.9.

Lastly, in the 4x4s, Lauren Grant, Desarae Echevarria, Kaleigh Evans, and Becky Haight claimed first place with their 4:15.82. The men’s relay of Beau Barber, Michael Jang, Zack Fishman, and Patrick Willhalm finished with a time of 3:46.61.

Congrats to all the great performances by every athlete!

The Illinois Track Club competes next at the UIndy Invitational/GVSU Big Meet on February 9th.

We headed back to the Shirk Center in Bloomington for the Titan Open on January 26th. We brought close to 40 athletes with to compete, our most ever for that meet!

Kicking off the meet for us was Ryan Somerfield in the 5000m run. He ran 15:51 which is a PR and put him at NUMBER TWO for all-time indoor 5ks on the club!

Becky Haight brought the heat with her 8.17 in the 60m dash, with freshman Lauren Goodsnyder also impressively running 9.04.

On the men’s side, Jacob Avenaim ran 7.25. Michael Jang ran the 60 for the first time and came out with an impressive 7.33. Mason Rosenberg followed in 7.43, with Thomas Harris hitting 7.47. John Brandenburg ran 7.59 and freshman PJ Coleman went 9.24.

Our only thrower at the meet was Kelvin Cross who threw 8.76m in the shot put. Way to represent, Kelvin!

In the women’s mile, Julia Schultz shone big with her 5:15.3, which is only 6 seconds off her PR and 10 seconds off the club record! Brianna Legner ran 6:29.08, with Natalie Maguire (6:50.67) and Sarah High (7:19.18) running strong, too.

Seven of our men competed in the mile. Josh Mollway ran a 4:30.1 alone, with John Kellum running very strong to finish in 4:34.27, an 11 second improvement from the week before! Freshman Alex Kogen ran 4:51.94, and Daniel Engel broke five for the first time in college with his PR of 4:58.88! Matt Dickinson was so very close to breaking five, running 5:00.12. He ran 5:10 at this meet last year, though, then went on to run 4:59 at Club Relays. This was Jake Winter’s first track meet in nearly seven years, and he came out with a 5:17.15 mile! Robert Chun ran 5:23.95.

Jumps coach Justin Nebel leaped 6.32m in the long jump.

Michael Jang returned in the 60m hurdles and ran a PR of 8.88!

Malorie Moore ran an excellent 1:07.47 in the 400m.

For the men, Andy Marszewski led the 400m charge with 52.6 with President Alex Bienduga right behind in 52.96.

Lauren Grant went OFF in the 800, running 2:22.77 which is a mere 2 seconds off the club record! Emily Condic debuted her collegiate 800 with 2:42.49.

Keith Lee is one of our strongest 800m runners, and he showed it on Saturday running 2:00.41. This is very impressive for an indoor meet this early. Jeffrey Hesselbein ran 2:08.68, which is going to come down more throughout the season, and Alex Kogen ran 2:17.55.

Sprints coach Becky Haight returned in the 200m and ran 26.82. Malorie Moore came back and raced 30.4, and Lauren Goodsnyder ran 30.77.

Andy Marszewski led the men with his 23.57. Alex Bienduga ran a strong 23.77, and Michael Jang ran a PR 23.83. Mason Rosenberg ran 23.97, John Brandenburg finished at 24.59, and Nicolas Perez raced 26.48.

Jad Karajeh jumped 12.82m in the triple jump in his second meet with the club!

The women’s 3000 was quite an exciting race to watch. Up front were Emma Burkhardt (10:49.36), Anneliese Schulz (10:52.3), and Grace Gudwien (10:53.25). This pack of ladies pushed and challenged each other and they all ran better because of it. Mia Bertaud ran 11:39.73 for her first 3000 race! Natalie Maguire also ran her first 3000 race and finished in 13:51.77.

The men’s 3000 also saw many racers. Connor Farrell ran up front and finished with 9:25.02. Jordan Meyer ran an impressive 9:42.95 in his debut in the event. Leonel Rodriguez dug deep and ran 9:45.07. Jarod Meyer ran within 10 seconds of his PR with 9:48.51, and Nathan Saltzman raced his first 3000 in 10:14.53.

The last event of the day was the 4×4, in which we only had a men’s squad. John Brandenburg, Jeffrey Hesselbein, John Kellum, and Justin Nebel ran 3:41.22 to win their heat.

Congrats to all athletes on their great performances!

Club Relays is February 23rd. It’s coming. Be hyped.

We compete next at Illinois College on February 2nd.

The success of a cross country meet is not measured by the performance of a few girls or guys in one race. Sure, it is the top 5 who contribute to the team score. But you will greatly miss out if you believe that those 5 are all that matter. On Saturday, November 10th, the Illinois Cross Country Club showed its depth at NIRCA Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky, and secured a spot in the minds of other clubs as a team to fear.

Our runners found success at Masterson Station Park in various ways. Some saw enormous PRs. Some tried something new and saw it pay off. Some found themselves running with people they never thought they could run with. Some found the All-American honor. Some ran their last cross country meet. However each runner found his/her success, each one raced with heart and grit and contributed to the overall success of the team.

Alrighty. Strap in. This’ll be a long one.

The first race of the day was the Open 5k. Representing Illinois was Abby Ludwig, Maia Haworth, Riley Maloney, Leah Ziolkowski, Adam Bruyere, Gaby Aguilera-Ripley, and Evelyn Hughes (as well as alumni Michael Frintner). Some of these runners weren’t sure if they wanted to come race, but we are thankful they still did and hope they enjoyed their race. Adam was able to close out his senior season strong. Leah ran her fastest 5k since high school, and Riley had a great race despite the cold and a hip injury early in the season which hindered her training. We are very grateful these runners came along and raced and cheered on their teammates throughout all the other races!

Next up was the men’s Jr/Sr/Grad 8k race. Coach Richard Skogsberg fittingly led the charge with a season PR of 26:59 to take 3rd. He has put an enormous amount of effort into setting up everyone on this club to improve and building a strong team culture and for that we all owe him our thanks. Eli Walker wasn’t far behind in 27:15 to come in 6th place. We are very grateful for Eli’s cheerfulness and how much he smiles 🙂 Matthew Beckerman finished in 27:30 solidifying a personal best in a race that he was rightfully very proud of. Evan Patel ran a 4 second PR with 27:35 after not getting much sleep the night before. #nappingisntanoption. Cody Lund ran 27:37 which was his first non-Aurora sub 28 performance in a race that he calls his favorite XC race of all time. “Hugged Evan, hugged Beckerman, said congrats to Coach and Eli. It was just an unbelievable feeling seeing how the five of us worked together to dominate a race like that,” Cody says in his log. This level of comradery is what is so beautiful about this sport. Those first 5 guys all finished among the top 15 which secured the Jr/Sr/Grad victory for our men.

Coming in next was Jarod Meyer who finished in 28:15 and suffered from some hypothermia during the race. He’s very proud of his teammates and thankful for such a fun weekend. Sean Frintner raced another huge PR with a 28:58. He challenged himself early on and went out there and took what he wanted in the cold. He has had one of the biggest success stories this season, for sure, and it’s exciting to think about where he can be next season. Daniel Engel finished his race in 29:50 after a quick start. He also has next season to look forward to seeing how strong he can finish off his time on the club. Matt Dickinson ran 30:14 and crossed the finish line completely wiped which is something he should definitely be proud of.

Muneeb Ansari finished in 30:21, but there’s way more to say about this man than just what he ran in his last cross country race. Too much to say about this man. He found it hard to fit in freshman year. But he didn’t give up and walk away. He invested his time and effort more and more in this club each year. When he became President his junior year, the club instantly became the welcoming, inclusive home for growing as runners and friends that it is now. It was Muneeb. A personalized, heartfelt note card for every. single. runner. at nationals. I can guarantee you that is not done across other clubs. Despite being so involved on campus, Muneeb still makes the time to always make someone’s day on the club. He constantly checks up on us through our logs to make sure we know we’ll always have his support. I just don’t think we can thank him enough for all he’s done for this club. But we better try. Muneeb, thank you for the love. Thank you for all you’ve provided. Thank you for all you’ve taught. Thank you for all of your heartfelt words. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the impact you’ve had on this team. I truly believe your mark will be left for years to come. Your efforts and accomplishments far transcend those before you, and will continue to transcend those that come after you. And for that, we all truly love you.

As you wipe those tears away, let’s talk about Zach Scheffel who ran 30:51. As he continues to learn more about himself as a runner and racer, he will continue to see improvement. Alex Hanskat wrapped up our men in the Jr/Sr/Grad race with a 31:10. A huge thank you to Hanskat for all the organizing he did to make this weekend a success.

Next to toe the line were the Jr/Sr/Grad women. Leading our women in this race were Emily Condic (25:10) and Tiffany Yathaputanon (25:12). Both of these women had fantastic races. Emily ran a nearly 30 second season PR, and Tiff got pretty close to her PR despite having to deal with some health issues in her final season. Lindsey Schmidt came in next in 25:52, which is more than a whole minute faster than her debut at Regionals! Brianna Legner PR’d by a couple seconds running 27:38 and Samantha Gonski ran a PR of 27:48! Adriana Milkto also posted a personal best and got under 30 for the first time with a 29:25 after training alone nearly the entire season. Congrats on all the PRs!

As the temp started to finally warm up a bit, it was time for the Men’s Championship race. Josh Mollway decided to push it early on in hopes that it would pay off in the end which led him to a time of 25:59 and 9th place. Ryan Somerfield had the race he knew he could have, running 26:11 for 17th place. Being All-American has been on his mind since 2015 and he finally accomplished it. He should be very proud of his season. Jean Rasmusen was a little worried leading up to Nats that he overtrained, but if 26:35 and 35th place was him overtrained, I’d love to see what he could do trained just right. Jean will be dearly missed and we appreciate the time he has spent with us this semester.

Josh Feldman closed out his last cross season strong with a time of 26:59. A four time Championship racer and an All-American his sophomore year, Josh is a very hard worker who embodies the idea that you get out of your training what you put into it. He also used to love beets. He will be missed. Closing out the scoring five for the men was Justin Ostrem in 27:02. This freshman has shown what he’s capable of and it’s exciting to think about what he can accomplish in the club running scene. He also writes fire raps so don’t cross him. Brian Butcher finished his race in 27:07 which he knows wasn’t his best performance. He looks to learn from this season and improve upon it next year where he’ll be looking to truly show what he’s got.

Coming in at 28:34 was Leonel Rodriguez . Chronic bronchitis can really interfere with aerobic exercise sometimes. But Leonel refuses to give up or quit because of his love for this sport. With his family and closest friends cheering him on, he put on a pure grit performance in which he dug his absolute deepest in order to cross that finish line. Despite the unimaginable pain, he never once doubted he would finish and never once had thoughts of fear. The amount of strength he has cannot be taught or even explained. Leonel is a one of a kind runner and a true testament to the notion that success isn’t found purely through places and times, but rather effort and resiliency. I want to personally thank Leonel for the impact he has had on his teammates. He is an honor to run and interact with. He now sets his sights on what he can accomplish in track, and I wish him the best of luck.

The Women’s Championship race proved to be the best performance from our women since 2013 with four All-Americans in Emma Burkhardt (11th, 22:18), Julia Schultz (17th, 22:32), Anneliese Schulz (20th, 22:37), and Grace Gudwien (30th, 22:55). ALL of these women ran personal bests and did an amazing job of working off each other throughout the race. A tremendous showing of teamwork leading to success. The last time Emma Burkhardt was at this course, she was unable to finish and had to be carried off the course. No doubt that was in her mind as she returned this year, but she was not afraid, she was excited. She went on to PR by almost an entire minute which is practically unheard of when you get to her talent level. Her time of 22:18 is also the second fastest 6k time EVER by a woman on our club! Julia wasn”t quite having the races she wanted earlier in the season, but this fearsome runner focused harder and trusted in herself to have her best performance in the last race of the season. Anneliese is another four time Championship racer who became an important leader on the club as she became Women’s Captain. Her PR of over 40 seconds came from trusting in the process and winning the tough mental battle down the stretch of pushing your body to the limit and finishing on empty. Grace has showed all year that she runs with confidence and isn”t afraid to run with the most elite women. She might be our first freshman All-American ever, and I”m sure she”ll be looking for that honor for each year that she”s here which would be a feat truly unheard of and remarkable. Mia Bertaud raced strong to finish in 23:51. This is a PR for her by over 30 seconds! Look out for what she can do as she steps into more of a leadership role on the team next year. Noel Brindise had her best race yet with a 24 second PR of 24:12. What a great way to end off her XC career with Illinois! Vicky Dent also brought home a PR with her time of 24:20, which means that all seven of the women in the Championship race ran lifetime PRs in the 6k. The goal for these women going into the race was to have them all under 25. Well, they smashed that and all ran 24:20 or under.

Moving onto the future of the club. The Men’s Fresh/Soph race was led by Connor Farrell who finished 13th place in 27:22. Nikita Smyrnov followed in 28:04, with John Kellum running hard to finish in 28:16. As these guys continue to gain experience and put in hard work, they are bound to see the results they want. Freshmen Jordan Meyer (28:24) and Liam Bots (28:25) both bested their Regionals performances, with Bots running a PR of 30 seconds! Nathan Ehrenhofer was able to just get under 29 with his 28:59 for another PR of about 10 seconds. Blake Duncan improved on his time from Regionals running 29:18. Patrick Willhalm (29:32) and Alex Kogen (29:34) came in next, both also improving on their Regionals performances with Patrick running a PR of 17 seconds!

Nathan Saltzman finished in 30:08 which is over a minute of a PR. Bryan Himmel was dealing with some knee troubles but still finished in 30:35 which is almost a minute faster than his race at Regionals. Nick Schuster had a breakout race, running 31:38, a 50 second PR! Olan Bruyere wasn’t far behind in 31:50 and Derek Engelbrecht won biggest PR with his 2 minute and 8 second PR of 32:05! Wow! With an opening cross country season like that, Derek could see himself under 30 minutes next year.

David Creger had a strong race to finish in 32:21. John Feeley cracked out a 33:08 for another minute PR. John has gone from 36:17 to 35:06 to 34:04 now to 33:08! Amazing progress! Speaking of progress, Nate Sun also had an enormous Nationals race to end his first cross country season with a time of 34:04, almost a whole 150 seconds faster than his Regionals race! Sean Norris dropped 20 seconds with his 35:42 performance, and Robert Chen finished his first Nationals race in 36:38. The improvement in these men is thrilling. I look forward to seeing how they all come back and do next year.

The final race of the day was the Women’s Fresh/Soph 6k. We ended up only having three women racing in this, which meant they each got a whole lot of cheering directed right at them. Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan ran a monstrous PR with her 24:31 performance to finish in 10th. A promising future on the club awaits this freshman who moved up 7 places in the last kilometer of the race. Grace McDonough was stricken with serious shin splints after Regionals and was unable to run any serious mileage for the weeks leading up to Nationals. Instead of dismissing her season as over, she grinded out hours and hours on the Elliptical to set herself up for as much success as she could for Lexington. Her time of 25:25 just barely missed being a PR and was almost two minutes faster than her Regionals time. Never give up. Always keep working. Natalie Maguire finished her race in 28:12 which was a PR by over a minute! She improved at each race she ran this season!

The Illinois Cross Country Club left NIRCA Nationals 2018 with two All-American men, four All-American women, 5th place in the Men’s Championship, 4th place in the Women’s Championship, 3rd place in the Men’s Fresh/Soph, 7th place in the Women’s Jr/Sr/Grad, and 1st place in the Men’s Jr/Sr/Grad. They also left with roughly 25 personal bests, and (hopefully) some great memories from a fun weekend.

Great job to everyone that raced this season.

A very warm thank you to all the seniors/grad students that will not be returning next year. We wish you luck in all your pursuits.

Have a wonderful off season, and good luck to all athletes in track.

Until next season.

This Friday, IXC will arrive at Masterson Station Park in Lexington, Kentucky for the Nationals race on Saturday. We will have nearly 70 runners spread throughout the Open 5k, Fresh/Soph, Jr/Sr/Grad, and Championship races. We have historically done very well at Nationals and are excited to continue that pattern as we come in with very talented girls and guys squads. Let’s take a closer look at who each race will feature….

Open Race (5k) – 8:00am
This year will see Abby Ludwig, Maia Haworth, Riley Maloney, Leah Ziolkowski, Adam Bruyere, Gaby Aguilera-Ripley, and Evelyn Hughes racing in the Open 5k. Go kick those parents’, alumni, and hobby joggers’ butts!

Men Jr/Sr/Grad (8k) – 9:00am
There are certainly at least a few key guys to look for in this race. The first of which being Coach Skogsberg as he hopes to prove he still has a great 8k race in him. Another is Alex Hanskat who looks to have a race without stomach problems. Muneeb Ansari is determined to break 30 this season and Lexington is where we’re gonna see that happen. Make sure you cheer your President on! Daniel Engel is ready for a breakout performance after lower mileage as he looks to go under 29 again. Jarod Meyer has gotten oh so close to breaking 28 and is excited to do that in Kentucky. After having his calves tighten up during Regionals, Matt Beckerman looks forward to pushing his limits as he shoots for sub 27 this weekend. Lastly, but not leastly, keep your eyes on Matt Dickinson as he aims for breaking 30 alongside Muneeb. This is a deep squad that will do damage on Saturday.

Women Jr/Sr/Grad (6k) – 10:00am
This race will feature strong ladies packing up and taking down other clubs, no doubt. Tiffany Yathaputanon will be giving it her all after chest pain has hindered some of her performances this season. Brianna Legner looks to improve even more after running a nearly 90 second PR at Regionals. Lindsey Schmidt ran an impressive debut 6k at Regionals, so look out for what she can do on Saturday. Maggie Madden looks at running a strong Nationals race after a consistent Regionals performance. Emily Condic will be aiming to get under 26 to best her performance at Regionals. Lastly, Adriana Miltko, like all of us, is just very hyped to race Nats and race as well as she can. Go get it, ladies!

Men’s Championship (8k) – 11:00am
This race will include Ryan Somerfield, Justin Ostrem, Josh Mollway, Brian Butcher, Jean Rasmusen, Leonel Rodriguez, and Josh Feldman. These guys have been grinding out tough workouts all season and working hard together. They plan on showing NIRCA why they should be feared.

Women’s Championship (6k) – 12:00pm
This race will feature Anneliese Schulz, Julia Schultz, Emma Burkhardt, Grace Gudwien, Mia Bertaud, Vicky Dent, and Noel Brindise. These women have incredible talent and potential. They smashed Regionals and are ready to prove they’re an elite group of runners.

Men’s Fresh/Soph (8k) – 1:00pm
We loving seeing so many underclassmen racing Nationals. Connor Farrell is definitely someone to look out for as he heads into this race as a favorite to do very well. Nikita Smyrnov and John Kellum are also people to watch for in this race. Jordan Meyer and Liam Bots have had strong seasons and will be looking to go under 29 in Lexington. Bryan Himmel looks at having a stronger race than he had at Regionals. Robert Chun and Sean Norris are coming off their first races and will be looking to drop times at Masterson Station Park. We have a deep group of young men that can do damage when they work together.

Women’s Fresh/Soph (6k) – 2:00pm
The last race of the day will feature our talented young women. Clare Oehler will be aiming at getting close to 25. Grace McDonough hopes to run free of pain. Zoe Jacquat looks to best her 32:57 performance from Regionals, and Natalie Maguire will be looking to get back under 30. Three of these four women will be running their first Nationals race! Yay for youth!

IXC will arrive in Kentucky ready to show off its experience as well as its depth. Our athletes are poised to run strong races at every level and prove why the Illinois Cross Country Club is a force to be reckoned with.

Seniors, enjoy the final hurrah of your time in the club. Enjoy the car rides, enjoy every moment with the team, enjoy the pain. You’ll be surprised how quickly you miss all of it.

Newcomers, take some time to look around and recognize how wonderful it is that such an event can be held for club teams from all over the country to come together and enjoy racing.

Come prepared Friday morning for an eventful weekend. Oh, and get plenty of sleep this week.

Until next time.

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.