Recruits quick in 800 and 4 x 8

ICC Cross Country recruits are showing their speed early in the track season as they are well represented in the boy's 800 PJS honor roll and the girl's and boy's 4 x 8 squads. Shane Leiby of East Peoria leads the list with his 1:59.8, while Kyle Lueken, Nick Leiby, and Cory Shoopman also made the honor list. Limestone, with Kyle leading off, heads the 4 x 8 with their quick 8:11.6 clocking. East Peoria's team, that includes both Leibys, also makes the list.

The girls are well represented on the 4 x 8, with Bonni Martin's (pictured) Eureka squad leading the pack with 9:51.3. Also making the list are Tremont, with Alyssa Imig, and the Peoria Richwoods squad, that includes Olivia Coker. Improving on her honor roll time in the 1600 was Morton's Brittany Carius, who clocked a 5:42.0 in less than favorable conditions.

With the competition, and, hopefully, the weather, heating up this week in some major invitationals, look for times to continue to drop.

ICC Recruits well represented in first PJS Honor Roll

ICC Cross Country recruits are running fast in their final season of HS track, as shown by the marks listed in the first Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll of the season.

Brittany Carius of Morton (pictured) has the area's fourth fastest time with a 12:04 in the 3200 meter run and also makes the list with a 5:47 1600. Bonni Martin of Eureka is on the list with a 2:32 in the 800 meter run.

On the guy's side, four recruits make the 800 list, led by the 2:03 of Kyle Lueken of Limestone. Also on list are Shane Leiby and Nick Leiby of East Peoria, and Cory Shoopman of Metamora. All are at 2:06.4 or better. Cory and Shane also made the 1600 meter list with 4:46 and 4:47, respectively.

Watch for the times to plummet when the warmer weather returns and conditioning reaches its peak. Keep up the great work!

Billy and Darce to lead 2008 Team

Right now it looks like this year's teams will be the largest ever! Committed to the men's team are returning sophomores Billy Miller, Michael Donini, Maris Mednis, Nick Reed, and Ansel Wachter. Joining them will be Kyle Lueken and Matt McKinney from Limestone, Cody Roeder from Peoria Woodruff, Cory Shoopman from Metamora, Robert Deatherage from Washington, Eric Hill from Pekin, Shane Leiby, Nick Leiby, and Brock Kingsland from East Peoria, Andrew Marshall from Streator, and Adam Howe from Mount Pulaski. That's 16 for those of you that didn't have your calculators handy! Another 3 or so are also possibilities.

The women will return just Darce Knapp and Liz Koch, but they will be joined by a host of freshmen. Committed to making this the largest and best team ever are Elizabeth Isbell from Elmwood, Carrie Bunting from Washington, Alyssa Imig from Tremont, Bonni Martin and Stephanie Fellner from Eureka, Brittany Carius from Morton, Katie Drendel from Petersburg, Olivia Coker from Peoria Richwoods, and Alyssa Doerr from Chillicothe. Another 2 have shown interest, but have not yet confirmed.

Though the weather has not been conducive to fast times this spring, you can be assured that the recruits have been working hard in their last year of high school track and will post some great times before long. Not to be outdone, the returning group has been gradually increasing their distances and tempos in the spring running class, and will be poised to lead the rookies this fall.

Stay tuned for further updates.