Awards Banquet

Over 50 teammates, family members, and friends attended last night's Cross Country Awards Banquet. Receiving the Cougar Awards, voted by their teammates for work ethic, leadership, and total impact on the team, were Sophomore Billy Miller and Freshman Alyssa Imig. The Golden Shoe Award, for personality, camaraderie, and enthusiasm, went to Olivia Coker (pictured). The Coaches Award was given to Brittany Carius, who became the first NJCAA All-American for an ICC cross country team.
Besides all the good food, the highlight of the evening was the viewing of a DVD prepared by Brittany using photos taken thoughout the season and video taken by her Dad. It was choreographed nicely with music and deserves an Academy Award!
A special thanks to all the parents and family members that followed the team throughout the season - all the way to South Carolina in many cases. It was a year with many firsts - the first time we had an All-American, the first time we had eight male runners under 29:00, and the first time four different women had broken into the list of top 10 times ever. With only one sophomore woman and 3 sophomore men on the team, expectations are high for next year, when nationals will be hosted by ICC at Newman Golf Course in Peoria.

History Made at NJCAA Nationals!

It was the end of their ICC cross country careers for sophomores Billy Miller, Darce Knapp, and Michael Donini, but it was a couple of freshmen women that entered the record books at the NJCAA Division I national championships held at sunny, warm Spartanburg, SC.

Led by Brittany Carius, who set a school record of 18:43 and became the first Cougar NJCAA Cross Country All-American, the women's team finished in 11th place and tied the highest finish ever for an ICC women's Cross Country team. Finishing behind Brittany in 29th place was Alyssa Imig, who ran 19:36, the 4th fastest ICC time ever, and earned a Coaches' Association All-American award for being one of the top 25 American citizens to finish the race. Brit and Alyssa become the second and third ICC women to earn this distinction. Not to be outdone, Carrie Bunting ran a PR of 20:24 to finish in 68th place. This was the 11th fastest time ever by a Cougar woman. Backing up the top 3 were Bonni Martin in 103rd place, Olivia Coker in 125th, Elizabeth Isbell in 154th, and Darce Knapp in 171st place. There were 33 teams and 246 finishers.

The men's team, led by Billy Miller's 27:22 in 80th place, finished 20th of the 32 teams. Billy was followed closely by Frederick Kiprono, who ran a season best of 27:31 in 89th place, and Shane Leiby, who clocked 27:43 in 104th. Michael Donini in 133rd, Robert Deatherage in 145th, Kyle Lueken in 172nd, and Cory Shoopman in 182nd completed the team. There were 253 men finishers.

With 6 of the 7 women and 6 of the top 8 men returning next year, expectations are high for a lofty team finish when ICC hosts nationals next year.

Save the date: Saturday, November 14, 2009 at Newman Golf Course. Note: This is one week AFTER the IHSA state meet at Detweiller, so there is no conflict. Alumni: We would love to have you come back to help. Contact Coach Herold (Gherold@icc.edu) if you are able and willing.

Nationals Preview

For the sixth year in a row, both the ICC men’s and women’s cross country teams will be competing in the national meet, being held this year on Saturday, November 8 in Spartanburg, SC. Both teams are coming off second place finishes at the Regional meet, the men behind top top-ranked Rend Lake College and the women behind fourth-ranked Rend.
Both teams will be relatively inexperienced at the national level. Sophomore Billy Miller of Metamora is the only male runner to have run last year, finishing in 82nd place. Darci Knapp of Eureka in the only female with nationals experience, finishing last year in 127th place.
Miller and freshman Shane Leiby of East Peoria lead this year’s men’s team. Leiby led the men at regionals with a seventh place finish. Miller was the early season team leader, but ran into some mid-season injury difficulties. He now appears to be back at full strength and both he and Leiby should be battling for All-American finishes. Behind these two, the team is deep and talented. Frederick Kiprono of Kenya has firmly established himself in the number 3 position and is improving weekly. Sophomore Michael Donini of Henry has been battling leg problems, but has remained in the number 4 spot, ahead of freshman Robert Deatherage of Washington, who has moved up from the number 8 position in the last month. Cory Shoopman of Metamora, Kyle Lueken and Matt McKinney, both from Limestone high school, give the team great depth. Going into nationals we rank 17th and look to improve greatly on last year’s 25th place finish.
The women’s team this year has also been dominated by freshmen. The lone sophomore, Knapp, is coming off of an injury but should be ready to run at nationals. The team leader this year has been freshman Brittany Carius of Morton. She set a school record for the 6 km distance this year and came within 2 seconds of the 5 km record in her 3rd place finish at regionals. The time ranks 16th on this year’s NJCAA performance list. Brit is capably backed by fellow freshmen Bonni Martin of Eureka and Alyssa Imig of Tremont. Martin claimed the 4th best ICC 5 km time at regionals while Imig moved into the number 8 spot. All three have a good chance of attaining All-American status at this year’s national meet. Carrie Bunting of Washington, Olivia Coker of Peoria Richwoods, and Elizabeth Isbell of Elmwood, all freshmen, have been capably holding down the number 3 through 6 positions. Strong finishes by them should help the team to improve on last year’s 16th place finish. The team is currently ranked in the 12th spot.
The national meet is hosted by Spartanburg Methodist College. Race times are 10:00 (women) and 11:00 (men). ICC will be hosting the meet at Newman Golf Course in 2009.

NJCAA Region 24 Meet - Lincoln

Both the men's and women's teams finished second in the regional meet at Lincoln last night. Both races were won by the highly ranked Rend Lake teams. The women gave Rend all they could handle with all 6 runners scoring major PRs and placing 3 in the top 8 and 5 in the top 15. Brittany Carius (3rd) came within 2 seconds of a school record with her 19:04 time and Bonni Martin (5th) became the fourth fastest Cougar ever with her 19:42. Alyssa Imig ran for the first time in a month and recorded a 20:15 PR in 8th place. Completing the PR sweep were Carrie Bunting (20:39), Olivia Coker (20:57), and Elizabeth Isbell (21:32). The ladies are definitely ready for nationals.

Shane Leiby and Billy Miller led the men to a second place finish by medalling in 7th and 9th places, respectively. Rend Lake took 4 of the top 5, and 5 of the top 8 to take the title. Frederick Kiprono scored a season best with 28:07 in 14th, just ahead of Michael Donini with 28:11 in 15th. Bobby Deatherage again secured the 5th spot with a PR 28:21 in 17th place. Seven Cougars ran 28:42 or better.

Running his last race as a Cougar was Nick Reed, who took 51 seconds off his best with a 30:48.

Adam Howe also ran a big PR in his third race with his 35:36

Next Race: Nationals, November 8 at Spartanburg, SC.

Knox College Prairie Fire Invitational

The men's and women's cross country teams tuned up for next week's regional meet by running to overwhelming victories at the Knox College Prairie Fire Invitational. Running against just Knox and Carl Sandburg, the men swept 8 of the top 10 places for a 15-50 shutout of Knox. Shane Leiby was the individual winner in a time of 27:28. He was followed by Billy Miller in second. Huge PR's were registered by Bobby Deatherage and Nick Reed, with Frederick Kiprono and Adam Howe also recording seasonal bests.
Brittany Carius won the women's race in a fine 24:06, with a smiling Bonni Martin running a PR 24:38 in second. Carrie Bunting took the 5th spot and Olivia Coker recorded a personal best 26:10 in 6th. Elizabeth Isbell rounded out the scoring in 11th place. The 25 points recorded by the team easily bested Knox's 41 in second and Sandburg's 59 in third.
Both teams seem primed for a good showing at the Regional Meet, which will take place on Friday in Lincoln.

Benedictine Eagle Invitational - Lisle, IL

Running with 4 healthy bodies and a gutsy Elizabeth Isbell (left), the ICC women were a close second to Beloit College at the Benedictine Eagle Invitational. Despite running with sore achilles tendons, Liz placed 45th of 105 runners. The team's 88 points were just 3 behind the winner's total. Brittany Carius, Bonni Martin, Carrie Bunting, and Olivia Coker were all award winners by placing 3rd, 5th, 16th, and 21st. Two award plaques were brought home by the team - second overall and first in the Junior College division.

Also bringing home the JC award for the second straight year was the men's team that placed 4th overall. They were led by individual award winners Shane Leiby in 10th place, and Billy Miller in 22nd. Frederick Kiprono in 29th, Michael Donini in 39th, and Robert Deatherage in 47th completed the scoring.

The teams next compete in the Knox College invite in Galesburg on Saturday, October 18.

Brissman/Lundeen Invitational - Augustana University

Shane Leiby and Brittany Carius led the men's and women's teams to 15th places (of 28 teams) at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island Saturday. Brittany set a school record of 23:54 on the 6km course to finish in 31st place while Shane edged into the top 10 all-time on the men's side with 26:53 for 8km and 36th place. Against just Junior Colleges, the men were 4th of 7 full teams and the women were 2nd of 5.
Also setting PR's for the women were Bonni Martin, who ran a fine 24:40 in 63rd place, Alyssa Imig (25:10, 87th), and Carrie Bunting (25:24, 100th). Rounding out the placing were Elizabeth Isbell, (27:58, 188th) and Darce Knapp (28:37, 207th). A total of 315 women started the race.
Finishing behind Shane for the Cougars was Michael Donini, who missed his PR by 2 seconds with his 27:57 in 89th place. Personal bests were earned by Frederick Kiprono (28:26, 126th) and Matt McKinney (28:39, 144th). Cory Shoopman finished next with 28:52 in 153rd place and Robert Deatherage set a PR as our 6th finisher when he ran 28:57 for 157th place. Nick Reed and Matt Young also set personal bests with 31:46 and 34:04, respectively. Six of the nine Cougar harriers finished in the top half of the field of 343.
After a week off of competition, the teams will travel to Lisle, IL to defend their Junior College titles in the Benedictine Eagle Invitational October 10.

Teams finish 3rd among colleges at Illinois Intercollegiates

Both the men's and women's teams finished 3rd among the college teams at the Illinois Intercollegiates Friday in Normal. Overall, the men were 15th of 26 teams and the women were 14th of 25. Leading the way for the men was Shane Leiby, who finished 96th overall with his 27:38, but 20th among college runners. He was capably followed by Michael Donini, Kyle Lueken, Frederick Kiprono, Matt McKinney, and Robert Deatherage in 26th, 29th, 35th, 38th, and 46th respectively. Dropping huge chunks of time from their PR's were Frederick and Robert. Only Rend Lake and Olivet Nazarene bested the Cougars among the 10 college division schools.

The women were once again led by Brittany Carius, who came close to her PR with a 20:12 in 62nd place, 11th among collegiates. Following her were Bonni Martin, Alyssa Imig, Olivia Coker, Carrie Bunting, Darce Knapp, and Elizabeth Isbell in places 14, 19, 24, 25, 27, and 37. Alyssa's race was her first as a Cougar. Bonni showed improvement in her second, and Olivia, Carrie, and Elizabeth had solid races. Darce is rapidly rounding into shape after a summer in California. As a team in the college division, the women were third behind Rend Lake and St. Xavier.

Next Race: Saturday, September 27 in the Augustana University Invitational, Rock Island, IL.

Teams finish 6th at Bradley Open

Both the men's and women's teams finished sixth of 12 teams in the college division of the Bradley Open. The women easily handled the other junior college teams and were very competitive with teams such as Monmouth, Lewis, St. Mary's and Greenville. For the second week in a row, Brittany Carius led the Cougars, finishing 8th among college runners with a fine time of 20:09. Despite the mud, only one other ICC woman has run faster on the Detweiller course. She was followed by Bonni Martin, making her debut with 21:08 in 16th, Carrie Bunting (21:36, 26th), Olivia Coker (21:46, 33rd), Elizabeth Isbell (22:24, 48th), and Darce Knapp (22:45, 58th). Olivia made a huge improvement over her performance last week and earned the photo above.

Five of the seven men who ran last week at WIU had time improvements in the quagmire of Detweiller. Matt McKinney (above) took no less than 3 minutes off his time with a 28:45 in 47th place. He becomes the sixth Cougar to break 29:00 this year. Billy Miller again led the pack with 26:51 in 12th place among college runners. He was capably backed by Cory Shoopman (28:07, 33rd), Shane Leiby (28:09, 34th), Kyle Lueken (28:36, 44th), Robert Deatherage (30:02, 73rd), and Nick Reed (32:56, 112th). All but Billy and Shane improved times from last week. Making their ICC debut were Cody Roeder (29:19, 59th), Frederick Kiprono (30:31, 82nd), and Matt Young (35:26, 120th).

As a team, the Cougars beat fellow JC teams Lincoln, DuPage, Morton, and Carl Sandburg, along with 4-year schools Greenville and Edgewood. Ahead of them were Division III powers North Central, St. Xavier, Lewis, Monmouth, and Illinois Wesleyan.

Next week: Illinois Intercollegiates at the ISU Golf Course.

Success Comes in 3rd's at WIU Invite

Both the men's and women's cross country teams came in third at the 6-team Western IL University Early Bird Invitational Friday. The men scored 53 points and were edged by Bradley University with 51 and WIU with 31. They soundly defeated rival Lincoln College, which had 108 points, Knox with 127, and Carl Sandburg with 162. Another third was posted by winner Billy Miller, who posted the third fastest time ever by an ICC runner with his 26:13. Four other runners finished under 29 minutes, the first time ever by an ICC men's team. They were Shane Leiby (8th, 27:25), Michael Donini (13th, 27:55), Cory Shoopman (17th, 28:34), and Kyle Lueken (19th, 28:41). Bobby Deatherage posted a 30:23 in 34th place, Matt McKinney had 31:57 in 41st, and Nick Reed equalled his PR from last year with 33:08 in 47th.

The women's team scored 102 points to take third behind Bradley and WIU, but ahead of Knox and Lincoln. Brittany Carius ran the third fastest women's 6km time with her 24:22 in 10th place. Also running well were Carrie Bunting (23rd, 26:20), Elizabeth Isbell (30th, 27:11), Olivia Coker (31st, 27:24), and Darce Knapp (32nd, 27:32).

Next up: Bradley Open - Friday, September 12 at Detweiller Park.

Season Opener

Sophomores Billy Miller and Darci Knapp will lead the freshmen-dominated ICC cross country teams in their season opener Friday, September 5 at Western Illinois University. The teams have been practicing for a month now and are anxious to get the first race under their belts.

Billy has been leading the men in practice and has been looking good following a summer of increased mileage. Darci is just starting to round into shape, having spent the summer at a camp in California. Following Billy is redshirt freshman Michael Donini who seems to be completely recovered from foot surgery last fall. Maris Mednis and Nick Reed are the only other returning sophomores. A pack of promising freshmen follow, including Cory Shoopman, Shane Leiby, Matt McKinney, Kyle Lueken, Nick Leiby, Cody Roeder, Frederick Kiprono, Bobby Deatherage, and Matt Young.

Leading the women at this point are Freshmen Brittany Carius and Bonni Martin. Also running well are frosh Elizabeth Isbell, Carrie Bunting, and Olivia Coker. Alyssa Imig is slowed by an injury right now but should return back to form shortly.

Results will be posted on this web site shortly after the race.

Go Cougars!

Steamboat Results

Sunny and relatively cool weather greeted the 4000+ runners at the 2008 Steamboat Classic and ICC runners took advantage of the situation to post some fine results. In Illinois' toughest 15k, Alyssa Imig was the 19th female finisher and 4th in her age group with a 1:09:39. Matt McKinney also achieved a top 25 finish with his 57:09, which placed him first in his age group. Also competing in the 15k were Nick Leiby (40th in 59:10), Cory Shoopman (68th in 1:03:20), and Cody Roeder (80th in 1:04:09).
In the women's 4 mile, Brittany Carius placed 27th over all and 9th in her age group with a time of 27:10. Olivia Coker was 89th with 31:16, and Alyssa Doerr finished 103rd with 31:58. Recent grad Marissa Menke placed 30th with a 27:19 time.
Billy Miller snuck into the top 25 in the men's 4 mile with a time of 21:36. He was followed closely by Michael Donini in 27th (21:52) and T.J. McMorrow in 40th (21:59). Robert Deatherage also ran the 4 and placed 72nd in 23:42. 2007 grad Kevin Martin was a stride ahead of Billy in 24th place and a time of 21:35. Coach Herold ambled home in 26:46, finishing 4th in the geriatric age group.
Congratulations to all finishers and keep up those important summer miles. My apologies to any team member that I omitted from these results (please let me know).

Hannah Griffin Committed to Mars Hill College

Hannah Griffin will become the first ICC female runner to compete at the 4-year level this fall when she toes the line for Mars Hill College. The Division II school from North Carolina is located 18 miles north of Asheville at an elevation of 2330 feet in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The Baptist liberal arts school was founded in 1856 and competes in the South Atlantic conference. Last year, both the men's and women's cross country teams were conference champions, and with just one women graduating, prospects are even better for 2008. Hannah will be graduating from ICC at the end of summer school and intends to major in Religion at MHC.

Four Student-Athletes Earn Distinguished All-American Honors

Three graduating sophomores plus one precocious freshman earned Distinguished Academic All-American honors from the NJCAA. To achieve the distinguished honor, you must maintain at least a 3.8 GPA with at least 45 credit hours taken. The group is led by Samantha Conlee of Dunlap, who graduated with a perfect 4.0. The Elementary Education major will be attending The University of Illinois - Urbana in the fall.

Marissa Menke, an alum of Peoria Manual, graduated with a 3.822 average. She is a nursing major and will be attending Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville this fall. Justin Phillis of Morton is graduating with a 3.831 GPA. He was an undecided Arts and Science major at ICC but will be studying Youth Ministries and Digital Media at Greenville College in the fall.

The precocious soph-to-be is Darci Knapp of Eureka. With a year to go, she has already completed 46 credit hours while maintaining a 3.935 GPA.

Congratulations to all four and best wishes to the graduates!

Honor Roll Meet Results

Results from the Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll Meet:

Boys:
800 meters Kyle Lueken 4th 2:03.69
Cody Roeder 5th 2:04.26
1600 meters T.J. McMorrow 2nd 4:32.54
Cody Roeder 11th 4:52.00
4 x 800 meter relay Limestone 1st (Kyle Lueken)
East Peoria 2nd (Nick Leiby, Brock Kingsland)
Pekin 4th (Eric Hill)

Girls:
1600 meters Alyssa Imig 9th 5:46.16
3200 meters Brittany Carius 4th 11:59.98
4 x 800 meter relay Tremont 3rd (Alyssa Imig)
Richwoods 5th (Olivia Coker, Kim Luebcke)
IVC 7th (Alyssa Doerr)

Bloomington Pantagraph Honor Roll Meet:
800 meters Andrew Marshall 4th 2:02.5

Nice Job Cougars! (Now that you've graduated from HS, you are officially ICC Cougars.)

4 x 8's Rule at Girl's State

Three future Cougars brought home medals from the state finals of the 4 x 800 relay last Saturday. Bonni Martin ran a spectacular 2:26 on the third leg to move her Eureka team into striking position, and then Olivia Klaus finished off the gold-medal race with a 2:10 anchor. Not far behind in 4th was the quartet from Tremont, with Alyssa Imig running a leg. Also medalling in 8th was the team from PORTA, led by Katie Drendel. Katie and Alyssa had qualified individually in the 800 and 1600, respectively, but scratched to concentrate on the relay team effort.

Next up: The Peoria Journal Star and Bloomington Pantagraph Honor Roll meets Tuesday. Boys State on Friday and Saturday.

Not to be outdone by the frosh-to-be, Billy Miller won the 5000 meters at the Augustana Twilight meet last Friday with a PR time of 16:08. He's been putting in a good base this spring and looks forward to a great fall.

Future Cougars shine at Sectionals

Five future members of the ICC women's cross country team excelled in their track sectionals last Friday and three of them will extend their high school careers one more week at state. Alyssa Imig of Tremont won the 1600 meter run at the Macomb class A sectional with a time of 5:42.5. She also helped her 4 x 800 team to the title and a state meet berth. At the Beardstown sectional, Katie Drendel topped the 800 field with a 2:33.3, and, like Alyssa, was on the winning 4 x 8. One of the favorite 4 x 8 teams at state will be the one from Eureka, where Bonni Martin carries the batton. Her team won the Bloomington class A sectional with a fine 10:10 clocking. In the AA sectional at Bloomington, Brittany Carius lowered her PR in the 3200 meter run with an excellent 11:53.4, but unfortunately it was not enough to make state. The time, however, moved her into sixth place in this week's Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll. Three of the five ahead of her are state cross country champions. Also running well on a 4 x 8 team was Kim Leubcke of Peoria Richwoods. Her team ran 10:12.1 at the Bloomington sectional, but that too was not enough to make state in the tough AA field.

The boys will run their sectionals this week, but many of the future Cougars rank high on this week's Honor Roll. Shane Leiby of East Peoria ranks second in the 800 with his 1:56.5, which he ran in the Mid Illini Conference meet last Thursday. By the way, no less than eight soon-to-be Cougars ran in this meet! Brother Nick Leiby also makes the Honor Roll with his 2:01.6. Add a third ICC recruit, Brock Kingsland, and you have three fourths of the leading 4 x 8 team which ran an awesome 8:02.9 at conference. Also making the honor roll 4 x 8 teams are Kyle Lueken of Limestone, and Eric Hill of Pekin. Not yet making the list, but winning the Mid state 6 conference 800 was Cody Roeder of Peoria Woodruff.

Good luck to all of these runners at state and sectionals this week!

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.

Quote to Live By

"When you seek to lead a life of integrity and to make a difference in the lives of others, it's incredible what you can accomplish - and we have that opportunity every day."

- Bart Starr, MVP Super Bowls I and II

Brittany Carius commits to Women's Team

Brittany Carius of Morton became the seventh high school senior to commit to the ICC women's cross country team for this fall's season. She was the number one runner on the Morton team that qualified for Sectionals last fall and had a best Detweiller time of 19:15. An honor student, she plans on getting her Associate's degree in Arts and Science at ICC, with the ultimate goal of attaining a Bachelor's degree in Nursing. Future teammates may be interested in noting that her parents have a vested interest in the Morton Dairy Queen and she has a younger sister who makes great cookies and the best PB crispy treats ever tasted by your's truly. She (the sister) is not a bad photographer, either!

Mid-Illini Rivals Become Teammates

Two standouts from the Mid-Illini conference, Cory Shoopman (pictured) of Metamora and Kyle Lueken of Bartonville Limestone, have signed on to run for the Cougars this fall. Usually just a few seconds separated the two through their senior season, which should make for some excellent team running this fall.

Cory was fifth at conference, 14th at sectional, and ended his high school cross country career with a 55th place finish at state. He recorded a best time of 15:44 at Detweiller. Cory's major is as yet undecided.

Kyle was just a few strides behind Cory with his 9th place finish at the tough conference meet, 22nd at sectional, and a 64th placing at state. Kyle posted a best of 15:40 at Detweiller. He intends to join the fine architecture program at ICC. Both Kyle and Cory are excellent students and will represent ICC well both in the classroom and on the athletic field.

Seniors commit to ICC

Carrie Bunting of Washington (shown at left with her Mom), and Cody Roeder of Peoria Woodruff are the most recent to commit to the 2008 team roster. Carrie has been a standout at Washington for four years with a best Detweiller time of 19:20. She plans on studying nursing at ICC and to become a registered nurse. Carrie loves to run and chose to pursue that sport in college, despite also excelling in soccer.

Cody split his time this fall between soccer and cross country, but feels that by concentrating on running at ICC, he can improve greatly at the most pure of sports. He missed qualifying for state this year by 2 seconds with his 16:14 at sectionals. Earlier in the season he posted a best of 16:11 at Detweiller. He has also shown good speed on the track by clocking a sub-2:00 800. Cody's educational interest is Special Education.

Both of these runners should help our 2008 teams to be the best ever.

We're #1, and #2!!

Led by the perfect academic performances of Sam Conlee and Darci Knapp (shown cheek to cheek at left), the ICC men's and women's cross country teams ranked 1st and 2nd among ICC athletic teams for the fall semester. The men led the way with a team GPA of 3.218, with the women close behind at 3.205. When cumulative GPA's are considered, though, the women lead the way with 3.390 while the men are second at 3.286. Sam and Darci make the President's list for the semester, Marissa Menke, Hank Stickelmaier, Ansel Wachter, and Justin Phillis make the Dean's list, and Carl Pflederer, Scott Perry, and Maris Mednis make the Athletic Director's list. Also notable is Nick Reed, who came within .02 of making the Athletic Director's list. In addition, Sam, Marissa, and Justin are on track to become NJCAA Academic All-Americans when they graduate in May. Nice job team! How about a repeat performance this spring?