Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | TechNews

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NATHAN MCMAHON

      

      

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Women's XC takes on Brooks Invitational

April Wanagas
TECH N EWS WRITER

The Scarlet Hawks Cross Country
Team took their first multi—day trip this season
last weekend on their travel up to the Brooks
Invitational hosted by UW— Oshkosh in
Winneconne, Wisconsin. In the biggest race of
the season, the lady hawks arrived to the 2.5 loop
course Saturday morning; to be greeted with
nearly perfect racing weather conditions again,
and even better —an all flat course. Racing only
their second 6k of the season, and having four
weeks of training since their first one, there was
a lot of room to make great Personal Records
(PRs).

Getting off the bus, the lady hawks
saw just how big the field of competition was.
They would be competing in a field ofjust over

40 teams, placing exactly 509 girls at the starting
line. With only siX of these girls wearing the
Illinois Tech Uniforms, they knew it was a leave—
it—all—on—the—course kind of day. With that many
girls at the starting line, the girls knew everyone
would be trying to get out fast to avoid getting
stuck in a slower pack of runners.

When the gun went off, everyone did
just that. Runners took off faster than any other
race of the season, and being in a middle box,
the lady hawks saw themselves surrounded on
both sides by jerseys of all colors and schools.
The girls took off and each settled into a fast
pack, hearing a first mile split of at least 20
seconds faster than their normal pace.

Without panicking, they knew their
legs would be getting tired faster with this out of
the gate pace, but there were also more runners
to chase and tuck in behind so they could still

reach astounding PRs. With just over two miles
down, their legs became heavier, and the large
packs of runners started thinning out, meaning
it was time to start picking off people rather than
maintaining speed, and to begin passing girls to
earn every point possible. The lady hawks used
the remaining 1.7 miles and the large stretches
of flat course to pick up momentum.

With even more fans than runners,
the entire course was filled with lines of parents,
coaches, and loved ones, yelling splits and
motivation to reach the very last point of the
finish line with an empty tank. Therefore, with
all this energy built up before and during the
race, and after sprinting across the finish line,
five of the siX lady hawks saw new PRs flash
beside them on the clock.

Anne Crotteau finished first for the
team, a new spot for her this season, with a time

of 23: 13 in 66th place. Courtney Rouse was only
four seconds behind her, finishing in 75th place.
Sara Glade was the third lady hawk to cross, in
24:58 and 169th place, followed by Greta Zola in
20 1st, April Wanagas in 205th , and Ellen Ween
in 210th , finishing in 26:04, 26:23, and 26:37
respectively. This gave them a 25th place team
scoring, beating other Chicagoland schools such
as Benedictine, Lake Forest, and Concordia
University. First place was captured by Calvin
College, followed by the University of Chicago,
and Washington University of St. Louis.

The cross country team looks forward
to having three weeks off for only training and
recovery, before they look to race again. Their
neXt and final race will be at Valparaiso in
Indiana for the Conference Championship on
November 9th.

 

Photos by April Wanagas