Happy weekend to all of our Orange and Blue! Last weekend, we took our annual trip to Indianapolis for the UIndy Invitational! The Illini took on the Greyhounds and other teams within the state of Indiana to show who’s the best midwest “I” state around! Many of the distance runners also got some rust busted, as well as some of our sprinters getting the gears turning once again. Let’s get into the results and see how we fared against the state of Indiana!
The meet started strong with a hot start from our hurdlers and sprints crew. Both Jumps Coach Derrick Stokes and Ari Afolabi advanced to the 60m hurdles finals, running times of 10.55 and 9.32 respectively in their finals. The amazing part about Ari’s performance is, not only was this a club record, but her time came immediately after finishing the 60m dash finals! Sprinting full speed, walking right back to the start, and breaking a club record immediately after, that’s a feat like no other! Awesome job, hurdlers!
Next on the track was the 60m dash. Tyler Klein got off to a quick start, winning his preliminary round in a time of 7.01, as per usual. Andre Ells was back in action as well, running a time of 7.75 in his heat. The comeback is just starting with Andre! Rounding out the men was Sprints Coach Adam Adil, who got it done in 7.40. Things are starting to click for Adam as he has improved since the Gately meet early in the season! Tyler advanced to the finals, bringing the silver medal home in a close race, finishing in 7.00 exactly! Strong performances for the 60m runners right out of the blocks!
The women were next, headlined by our lightning quick duo of Ari Afolabi and Ninawa Odicho. Ari advanced to the finals with a time of 8.22 in a quick heat. Ninawa’s strong start in her first of three events this evening resulted in a time of 8.34. Ari advanced to the finals, finishing with a very solid 8.21! Once again, this was immediately after a hurdle final. Stellar sprinting to our 60m runners!
Let’s bump up the distance a bit for now. The mile saw lots of action as distance brought their A-game. Diane Makovic set the bar high for the field, coming in third overall with a time of 5:23.96. Diane fought hard (almost literally) through a hectic first quarter and made smart moves to end up in a fast time and great race overall! The sophomore pair of Claire Casiello and Alyson Ficca ran together extremely well in the next heat, coming in first and second in times of 5:54.09 and 5:54.92 respectively! XC GMC Anna Zlatic was close on their tail, running a great starting time of 6:03.97. Anna ran a gutsy race, working well with the two up front all throughout the race. Our final entries in the women’s mile were brought home by Allison Kokal and Suhani Peramanu, busting the rust in some very solid times of 6.57.48 and 7:02.58 with a great kick by both of them to finish up their day! This would all be a tough act to follow for the men.
Inspired by their teammates’ performances, the men did not back down from the challenge. In his long awaited ITFC debut, John Wiser led the charge, with Distance Coach Spencer Nelson right on his back. John took control late to run a very strong final quarter, finishing in 4:30.77 to take his heat. Spencer didn’t let him off easy, as he closed hard for a 4:34.08 finish. Right behind them were ITFC President Cade Baker and new distance addition Percy Moser, both finishing in exactly 4:37.30! That brought the Illini the top 4 finishes in their heat! Close behind was freshman Simon Hildy, starting his track career off with a 4:44.67 finish of his own! ITFC Elite and current member Alex Kogen rounded this heat out with a 4:51.10 finish. Grad school and running fast isn’t easy, but Kogen makes it happen. The last heat of the mile featured eight men, and what a run it was! This heat was led by the towering figure of Henry Hornbrook, using his signature second half strength to earn him a 4:56.47 finish, this early in the season. Henry’s mile shape is looking fierce! Close behind were Adam Lupatkin and Antony Rizk, racing hard together for the entire run, finishing together in 5:10.89 and 5:11.78. Jose Ocegueda Zuniga was close behind, finishing up in 5:17.13, holding off a finish from an incoming UIndy runner! Freshman John Bledsoe was close behind in 5:18.4, a strong start for our second John of the meet! Thomas Tran ran a sound starting mile in 5:31.47, with more in the tank than he thought. This means the times will only drop for Thomas! Our final two milers of the night were Ryan McClowry, making his ITFC debut as well in 5:52.83, a great starting point for him! Gabe Benson brought us home, running a tough mental race in 6:01.36. Even in no-man’s land, Gabe pushed hard and that extra effort will give him an extra competitive edge in the next one! Great job to all of our milers!
All that mile talk made me tired, so let’s go back to the shorter but sweeter sprints. The 60m squad ran it back in the 200m, with Tyler and Adam doing double duty in the sprints. Tyler got redemption in the 200m with a big margin of victory, bringing the gold home in 22.21! Once again, light work for TK. Coach Adam was up next with a blazing 23.77 over the 200m distance, finishing out his day strong. One more addition to the 200m squad was the distance runner Isaac Schifferer, doing a bit of speed work. Isaac started his 200m career with a very solid 25.11 in his first sprint race. Could we be seeing an event switch sometime in the future? Only time will tell!
Once again, the 60m women brought it back to the track for the 200m. Ninawa and Ari continued showing off their speed, with Ninawa running 27.38 looking very strong, and Ari winning her heat in 27.55 with quite a busy day for both of them. Both women secured top-8 finishes in the 200m, with each tripling on the day. Talk about strength for both of them! Very well done for all those who conquered the one-lap sprint!
Onto my favorite event, the 800m was packed full of action. Starting us off with a very tactful race was Michael Rizk, sensing the pace was off, charging home to a 2:04.56 start to take 3rd in the meet! What a great debut for Michael! The Mid D dominance continued with Ryan Fredericks, hanging on tough for a 2:14.91. Ryan raced well despite some nerves, so when he’s running calm, the nerves will be on everyone against him. John Burns comes next, feeling a bit of the burn (this was unintentional when I first wrote it) to finish in 2:16.25. John made a smart choice by taking care of his health by turning the race into a workout, and don’t even get me started on what happens when he’s seriously ready to roll. Nobody will stand a chance. Henry completed a very hard double, finishing his 800m in 2:25.46 not long after the mile. That double builds some massive strength in the lungs, so future doubles will look like a cakewalk to him. Our distance doublers Ryan McClowry and Gabe Benson bring us home once again for the 800m.
Bridget Brokaw held her own and was our solo representative in the women’s 800m. Bridget ran a great starting time of 2:31.48, much faster than her seed time. Bridget ran a smart rust buster that will drop undoubtedly throughout the season!
Let’s cut that distance in half and check out how our 400m runners did. Our quarter-mile powerhouse Ninawa completed her triple for the day by running a quick 63.09, beginning her quest for #phase42. This effort scored her third overall in the event, ending a solid day of speed work! Awesome day for our treasurer, money in the bank as always. Mikeelie Jensen also took to the quarter-mile to begin her indoor season, running a well-paced 76.02. With that rust busted, be on the lookout for faster times coming to a track near you!
Once again, our lone 3k runner of the day was none other than Gabriel Inojosa. While his heat had a huge range from top seed to bottom seed, Gabe ran a strong mental race to improve upon his last result, running 10:36.36. The effort shows more than the time, and with proper competition, I can see that time dropping like a fly.
Of course, what’s a track meet without the final event of the day in the 4x400m? Our women led us off strong with a team composed of Hurdles Coach Maria Becerra, Mikeelie Jensen, Allison Kokal and Bridget Brokaw bringing us home in a time of 4:52.20. These women ended on a great note, as well as many great rust busters for all of them as we continue our indoor season!
Unfortunately, no other teams wanted to race our fierce men’s 4×4’s, so they raced against each other and put on a show for everyone else to see. In the orange corner, we have team A composed of Tyler Klein, John Burns, Michael Rizk, and Ryan Fredericks. In the blue corner, team B stands tall with Henry Hornbrook, John Bledsoe, Thomas Tran and Isaac Schifferer. The race was fierce between the Orange and Blue, but ultimately team A came out on top with a time of 3:40.50 to team B’s 4:03.09
…but wait! It seems that not far away, we had another one of our own taking a shot against another Indiana school at Indiana State University. Kat Vande Pol, as per usual, cannot be stopped. Kat took on some high calibur runners in the 600m at the John Gartland invitational, running a blistering 1:39.38, taking almost a full 2 seconds off of her club record and PR! No words, as per usual, putting Illinois on her back (literally) against the rest of the midwest. Great running as always, Kat!
Nothing short of amazing performances all around from our Illini as always! Next week, find out how our Illini do, as we change opponents from the big dogs to the big cats at the ONU Invitational, back at Olivet Nazarene! As always, thank you for reading, and we’ll see you soon!
-Norb 🙂