On Saturday, February 13, the Saint Xavier men and women’s track and field team went to the Chicagoland Invitational in Naperville, Illinois. The men and women both did exceptionally well, as both sides consistently had runners placing in the top 10 of their respective races. The first race of note was the women’s 800 meter run. In this race, three Cougars placed in the top 45.
Nicole Watkins led the charge, placing in 12 with a time of 2:23.79. After her, Alondra Delfin finished in 32nd place with a time of 2:32.76. Finally, Rachel Koronkiewicz capped off the race by placing in 41st, with a time of 2:44.27.
In the women’s 1000 meter run, the Cougars would once again be well represented as Deandra Stokes would finish in second place with a time of 3:12.26, finishing only behind Ashley Jourdan of Trinity Christian. In the women’s mile run, Jess Wittmayer finished in 20th place with a time of 5:40.19.
For the second time in the Chicagoland Invitational, the Cougars had three racers place in the same race when our women would race in the women’s 3000 meter run. The star of the race was Ellie Willging, as she finished in third place with a time of 10:22.24, marking the second time in this invitational that a Cougar finished in the top 3 of a race.
However, both Courtney Correa and Tiffany Miranda would also have great performances as Correa placed in 23rd with a time of 11:34.57, while Miranda placed in 34th with a time of 12:10.23 to cap off what was a stellar run for the Cougars.
In the Women’s distance medley relay, the women’s team of Watkins, Brooks, Stokes, and Willging looked to repeat last week’s success in distance medley where they placed in first.
History would repeat itself as the Cougars took 1st in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:26.41. What was even more impressive about this relay was the fact that this team, with this performance, cut off five seconds of their nationally qualifying time that they set last week when they placed in 1st in that distance medley relay.
For this race though, Brooks and Stokes ran the short distance portions of the relay with Brooks running 400 meters and Stokes running 800 meters, while Watkins and Willging ran the long distance portions of relay with Watkins running 1200 meters and Willging running 1600 meters.
In the women’s long jump, the Cougars got another top 10 performance out of Alex Lambros, where she finished in 9th place with a jump of 5.06 meters. Lambros finished off the women’s competition when she placed in 20th with a distance 9.84 meters in the women’s triple jump.
With the great performances, the women, as a team, would place in 10th out of 19 universities and colleges at the Chicagoland Invitational. Would the men be able to match or surpass this success?
The men’s day started with a 60 meter dash preliminary where Kyonn Keith finshed in 8th place with a time of 7.09 to qualify for the 60 meter dash finals. In the finals, Keith would place in 6th with an identical time of 7.09 to start the day off well for the men’s team.
In the men’s 200 meter dash, Al Bernal placed in 50th with a time of 24.99. In the men’s 800 meter run, the men got another top 10 finish thanks to the efforts of Rexford Wiafe, who finished in 6th place with a time of 1:56.67. Chase Fisher also placed in the race, finishing in 61st place with a time of 2:29.30.
In the men’s mile run, the Cougars had two racers place inside the top 30 in Alexander Ray and Janis Pastars. Ray placed in 18th with a time of 4:40.16, while Pastars finished in 27th place with a time of 4:46.27.
In the Men’s 3000 meter run, the Cougars had their fourth top 10 finish of the day come from the legs of Abel Hernandez as he dismissed in 10th place with a time of 8:56.96. They also had three other racers place in this event with Alan Guzman placing in 15th with a time of 9:08.46, Victor Solis finishing in 32nd place with a time of 9:39.05, and Ivan Diaz placing in 45th with a time of 10:34.23.
The final event that the men competed in was shot put. In that event, the Cougars had two competitors finish in the top 40 as Anthony Kowalczyk finished in 38th place with a distance of 10.73 meters, while Josh Wallick finished right behind him at 39 with a distance of 10.72 meters.
Overall, the men’s team would finish in a tie for 14th place out of 21 colleges and universities. The next men’s competition will take place on Friday, February 19 at Grand Valley State University while the next women’s competition will take place on Saturday, February 20 at Olivet Nazarene University.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor