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.