MAXWELL OPENERS

The Titans finally laced up for competition at Maxwell Park on a warm and steamy Saturday, September 1, and came back with some record performances for their efforts.
In rare fashion, the boys started off the day at 9:20am with their quest to earn their Top Ten Preseason Ranking against Bloomington, Normal Community, U-High, and Class A rival, Olympia.  We knew Bloomington would be good, and they were, sweeping the top three spots by a healthy margin.  The Titans were led by Senior Noah Smith, who opened with a 5:18 mile before settling in to a 16:40 overall time.  Asa Smith was nine seconds back, finishing in 16:49 as our #2 as a freshmen.  Bo Halvorsen and Nathan DeMarb both intentionally stopped their race at the two-mile mark and both looked and felt great with their truncated performances.  Mason Ringger finished well under his 2017 time, clocking 17:20 over three.  Matt Ingalsbe was our #4, with a 17:33, also well ahead of his 2017 time.  Noah Ludy, our second freshman in the top five, ran a 18:41 to finish out our scoring five.  While we knew Bloomington was going to dominate the meet; Normal Community and U-High were also able to beat us as did Olympia.  Olympia put their #1 ahead of our #1 by 1 second and we put our #2 ahead of their #2 by one second.  Olympia's #3 and #4 both came in before our #3, and then their #5 and #6 came in before our #4.  We see Olympia several more times this fall, it will be fun to work with and against them to see how much we can improve.
Another highlight of the boys race was Aidan Mann.  Aidan set a lifetime PR in his first meet of the season, running 21:02 to break his old time of 21:41 by 39 seconds!  Monte Gregory wins the award for even splits, running 7.04, 7.05, and 6.57 for a 21.06 debut.  Lane Dohman wins the award for "saved a bit too much" for dropping a 7.05 after averaging 7.40 for his first two miles of the race.
The girls race started at 10am.  Led by seniors Cate Atkins and Sophi Allen, the girls had their fastest Maxwell Park team average by 45 seconds!  This girls' team is going to break a lot of program records this season if they continue working together and pushing each other to improve.  Cate moved up the field all race to finish second overall in 19:15.  Sophi was our #2 in 20.12.  Our three freshmen finished 3-4-5 for the Titans in their debut, with Ruby running 20:27, Charlie running 20:44 and Jenna running 21:57.  Our lone sophomore, Tori Witzig, overcame some hip soreness to run 22.43, and Allison Kelly took the final spot in our top seven with a 23.33.  Mya Gramm crushed her time from last year, dropping 60 seconds down to a 23.54.  Molly Holt ran a 24.14 to finish off the EPGXC effort on the day.
It was a great starting point for EPGXC, but there are miles to go before we rest and some great times just ahead.