Elmhurst, Ill.— With just a week until the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks head up north to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) track and field championships, they just keep getting faster, jumping farther, and throwing harder. At the Elmhurst Twilight Invitational on Friday night, multiple Hawks set season bests, all-time bests, and even a few school records—per usual.
On the women's side, two school records were bested. First-year Annaelle Mukash reclaimed her title in the 100-meter dash, running a time of 12.76 to win her heat outright and take 10th out of 43 competitors. In the next race on the track—the 800-meter run—senior Amelia Moseman set a new school record with a time of 2:17.17, placing 1st overall. In their respective races, Moseman tops the NACC outdoor performance list and Mukash moves up to fourth overall.
In the long jump, first-year Kailey Nicholas tied the current school record with a jump of 4.99 meters. This distance earned her 6th place overall in the meet.
Sophomore Isabelle Pullen also won her heat in the 400-meter dash, running a personal best time of 1:04.02—nearly 3 seconds faster than her previous time. To close out the night, junior Sophia Halama set a personal best in the 3000 meters, running 11:18.98.
On the men's side, two new Illinois Tech top 10 marks were recorded. Freshman Rishi Patel just 11.75 meters in the triple jump, moving up to #4 all time, while junior Finn Poulin ran 20.24 in the 110-meter hurdles for a personal best and #3 all-time. Enoch Asare also ran a solid personal best in the 100-meter dash, just a tenth of a second from breaking into the top 10.
The Hawks were pleased with this weekend's performances but quickly look ahead to next week's conference championships. Said Head Coach Tyler McQuality: "We now get ready for the NACC championships next week. We have put so much work in the last 4+ months, and I cannot wait to see what our team showcases and crowns what has been an amazing season already!"
Jumps coach Sai Valluri had good things to say about the jumpers as well, many of whom had personal bests this meet: "Our jumpers delivered strong performances as we head into outdoor conference next week. Despite challenging weather conditions, they were able to apply the technical work we've focused on all season, resulting in some excellent attempts and PR's!"
Up Next:
As mentioned, the Hawks will travel to De Pere, Wisconsin for the NACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship. The championship meet will take place across two days, Friday, May 2nd – May 3rd. With multiple Scarlet Hawks ranked in the top 10 competitors in their respective events, it's sure to be an exciting meet.
