It was a nice cool start to the day with the temps 47-50 degrees and for the most part, sunny. NO wind thankfully!! There were five club teams with about 100 total athletes.
The meet started off with the long jump. The Striders had five boys and three girls competing. Phina Kelley and Trevor Polaniecki were our first time meet jumpers along with our veteran jumpers: Colin McKinney, Mathew Leistensnider, Rosie Burke, Will Glunz, Max Stearney and Ellen Gundlach.
Boys Long Jump:
Colin McKinney – 1st, 15ft 6in – (best=16ft 0in)
Mathew Leistensnider – 3rd, 12ft 9in – (best=13ft 1in)
Trevor Polaniecki – 4th, 12ft 6in
Will Glunz – 5th, 12ft 1in – (best=13ft 3in)
Max Stearney – 6th, 10ft 7in – (best=10ft 7in)
Girls Long Jump:
Ellen Gundlach – 1st, 14ft 7in – NEW Personal Best (prior best=11ft 10in)
Rosie Burke – 3rd, 12ft 8in – NEW Personal Best (best=11ft 7in)
Phina Kelley – 5th, 10ft 1in
Boys Shot Put:
Colin McKinney – 2nd, 21ft 10in (4kg shot)
RUNNING EVENTS (on a 200m outdoor track)
1600m
At 10:00am the running portion of the show kicked off. The mile race was made up of three heats mixed with boys and girls separated by prior race times or estimates. This allowed runners of similar speed to race against each other.
Connolly Nugent was the lone Strider in the first heat. She quickly went into the lead by the third lap and kept that lead to finish in a NEW personal best of 6:20.1 (prior best=6:29).
The second heat of three included Santino Conte, Ellen Gundlach and Trevor Polaniecki. The Striders were led by Santino who was out front early, cruised across the line in a NEW personal best of 5:41 (prior best=5:45.16). Ellen pushed through just missing going under 6 minutes to finish in 6:04 (prior best 5:36.65). Trevor, in his 1600m debut, had an impressive 6:20 race.
The final heat was headlined by Porter Baginski, Gino Arcuri, Abigail Jordan, Sofia Arcuri and Monika Urbaniak. As expected Porter flew out to the lead trying to break his prior best of 4:52. He finished in a strong 4:57. Gino was the next Strider in a very strong 5:18 just a couple seconds off his best of 5:16.61. Sofia was hot on his heels crossing just a couple seconds later in 5:20 (best=5:14.43). Abigail in personal best form broke the tape in 5:26, matching her personal best (prior best=5:26.96). Monika came across in 5:37 (best=5:34.47). Luisa ran well finishing in 5:42. (best=5:32.45)
Hurdles:
An event that looks fun but is harder than it looks! Striders had three runners: Nora McCabe, Ellen Gundlach (first time) and Colin McKinney. With just about 15-20 minutes of hurdle instruction prior to her 1st 100m hurdle race ever Ellen had an impressive performance! She tackled the first two hurdles in very good form sprinting to the lead but faded back as the form broke down over the next unrelenting eight hurdles. Finished in a very strong first time of 19.8. Nora was in the second heat and also had a clean performance of 19.8 seconds.
Colin was heat one of only one heat for the boys. He had a little longer hurdle race at 110m and crossed in first in a time of 21.4 seconds in his debut at this hurdle distance.
4x100m Relay:
The Striders had one boys team and one girls team.
Girls 4×100 – Sophie Halliday, Phina Kelley, Courtney Cook and Rosie Burke. Although they were competing against teams of mostly older girls, the teams performance was solid with a 1:07.
Boys 4x100m – Gus Berlinghof, Max Stearney, Belen Demitropoulos, and Trevor Polaniecki finished in 1:10
400m:
The 400m race included five heats. It was a dominating event for the Striders taking first place in all four heats they had runners!
Heat 1 – girls: no Strider runners
Heat 2- girls: Bella Brauc took the lead early and crushed it to a NEW personal best and 1st place of 1:10.54 (prior best=1:14.96). Rosie Burke picked it up the speed in the last lap to close the gap as much as she could finishing not too far behind in second place with a 1:14.62 in her first 400m race. Connolly Nugent arrived in 3rd place with a time of 1:21.52 (best=1:16.57)
Heat 3 – girls: The gap between the first and fifth place finishers was very small at 5 seconds in the final heat of the girls. Nora McCabe sprinted right away at the start to the lead and passed through the finish line in first place in a 1:06.07 (best=1:04.77). The other Strider in this heat was Lucia Fuentes who completed the distance in 5th in 1:11.10 (best=1:08.03).
Heat 1 – boys: Will Serafin (5th grade) had a great start getting out to the front and held off the Palatine runner to a near four second victory in 1:21.2 and a NEW personal best! (prior best=1:22.67). Belen Demitropoulos just edged out a NEW personal best of 1:32.3. (prior best=1:33.38).
Heat 2 – boys: Colin McKinney, Will Glunz and Mathew Leistensnider highlighted the final heat of the boys. As soon as the gun went off Colin and the Palatine runner Jerry moved to the front. Both were running near each other on a fast first lap. Colin pulled away just after the first lap to a 1st place win and a NEW personal best of 1:05.1 (prior best=1:06.98). Will Glunz crossed in 4th in 1:18.6. Mathew Leistensnider came in just behind with a 1:21.4 (prior best=1:19.55)
800m:
There were seven Striders competing in this race that was mixed with girls and boys.
Heat 1 : Courtney Cook was the only Strider in this heat. This was the first time she raced the 800m distance. She finished in 5th place in 3:28.3.
Heat 2: Gus Berlinghof had a very good day racing to a NEW personal best of 2:36.20 (prior best=2:37.30) and a second place. Ellen Gundlach improved upon her performance from last week by a couple seconds in a time of 2:46.90 (best=2:39.98). Bella Brauc crossed the line in 2:59.7 (best=2:49.94)
Heat 3: This was quite a competitive heat with the top six finishers within six seconds of each other. Sofia Arcuri was the first Strider to finish in a NEW personal best time of 2:29.7 (prior best=2:29.99). Abigail Jordan was just behind her in 2:33.7 (best=2:31.13). Luisa followed ABigail into finish with a time of 2:46.1 (best=2:32.98).
200m
Heat 1 – girls: Sophie Halliday went out early with the Palatine girl Sabrina but couldn’t quite match the speed into the finish line. Nonetheless she smashed her way to a NEW personal best of 34.9 seconds (prior best=36.94) and a second place. Courtney Cook was close behind in a time of 36.9 seconds and a NEW personal best (prior best=38.44) and a third place.
Heat 2 – girls: Rosie Burke was the only Strider but represented the team very well, blazing out of the gate and to a very fast 31.1 seconds to a NEW personal best, obliterating her prior best of 34.75!!
Heat 3 – girls: Lucia Fuentes was the sole Strider in this heat. It was a VERY competitive final heat with the top five finishers within 2.5 seconds of each other. Lucia battled it out with the Deer Path runner crossing the line in second place in a NEW personal best of 30.5 seconds (prior best=30.77)
Heat 1 – boys: Max Stearney ran to his fastest 200m race in 35.6 seconds, a NEW personal Best (prior best=37.22) and a second place finish. Belen Demitropoulos crossed in third place in a time of 37.7, his first 200m race.
Heat 2 – boys: Trevor Polaniecki flew by all the competitors in his heat for the win in his first 200m race in a time of 32.5 seconds. Will Serafin just edged out to a NEW personal best of 36.25 (prior best=36.54).
Heat 3 – boys: Mathew Leistensnider completed his race in 33.10 seconds. Will Glunz ended up close to his best in a time of 33.20 (best=32.72).
4x400m Coed Relays
Striders had two teams:
Team A: Colin McKinney, Lucia Fuentes, Gino Arcuri, Nora McCabe
Team B: Ellen Gundlach, Abigail Jordan, Luisa Arcuri, Sofia Arcuri
Striders A team dominated right from the start as Colin gave the team a comfortable 20m lead and was increased with each runner on the team. They finished the mile in 4:23.94, that was 12 seconds faster than the second place Rabbits team! That is an average of less than 1:06 per 400m per runner.
Striders B team of all four girls had a strong performance with the other coed teams crossing the finish line in third place in 4:38.16, an average of just over 1:09 per runner!!
4x200m BANANA relay – last event of the day
All relays had to be a mixed group of teams (could not have four Striders on the same team) and be coed. It was a great idea that forced the runners to talk to other teams to create relay teams.
The race rules were:
Baton was a banana
Last person on each team to cross the finish line had to open the banana and eat it all and then whistle with your mouth (not blow a whistle). The first team to accomplish this was the winner. Crossing the finish line first did not guarantee a win unless you could get to the whistle sound.
Colin and his teammates from Deer Path crossed the finish line first AND was able to whistle first to win the relay!!
The final prize of the day was a pinata filled with candy to the overall Male and the overall Female athlete of the meet.
The overall athlete winners were Colin McKinney from the Striders (taking first in five events) and Emily Witle-Deer Path
It was a very fun day. CONGRATS to all Striders!!
Coach Murphy
