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Joliet Central Steelmen 2025 Invite Results
September 13, 2025
Today our Lions really shined since every member of the team who ran the full three miles ran their fastest time of the season, even when converting today’s three-mile times into 5K equivalents. While the weather delayed things and saw the varsity boys finishing their race in a driving rainstorm with hail, our Lions ran with pride and showed great effort.
Girls FS Race - Results
The girls had to warm up twice since lightning that started during their first warmup run delayed the start of the races by 45 minutes. When Madi, Rose, and Violet lined up they were all smiles as they prepared to race at Community Park in Channahon. Freshman Madi Madsen took off fast, but more controlled than she did two weeks ago at HCA. Her first mile in 7:03 was slower than her first mile of 6:53 at HCA, but the key was her second mile of 7:32 and final mile of 7:05. Madi ran second and third miles of 7:58 and 8:34 at HCA so she clearly has started to figure out how to pace in a three-mile race. Her 14th place finish in 21:40 earned her a second medal of the season and also was the fastest time for any Lisle girl on the day. Sophomore Rose Helderle had one of the biggest improvements on the team as she went from a 28:32 5K at HCA to a 26:21 at Channahon. That would be equivalent to a 27:17 5K so Rose set a P.R. by over a minute. Freshman Violet King continues to work on running a full three-mile race. She ended after two miles with a time of 24:52, but continues to work hard during practice and she will see that work pay off soon.
Boys FS Race - Results
With all freshman boys in the FS race, what could possibly go wrong? Almost missing the race is what could go wrong. The boys made it to the line with four minutes to spare, but luckily the late arrival didn’t affect their races. Cayden Denhart started out incredibly fast with a 6:41 first mile that was faster than all but two runners on the team. That too-fast start so him fall to 7:57 in the second mile, but Cayden finished with a solid 7:24 in the final mile to finish with a 22:02. Adjusted for a 5K, this time would have been 22:51 which eclipsed his time of 23:20 from HCA. Blake Madsen ran a controlled race with splits of 7:03, 7:32, and 7:05 and he nearly caught Cayden at the end of the race with his finish time of 22:04. Liam Marquez, who like Violet has been trying to run a full three-mile race, succeeded today. He ran his first mile in 9:36, under 10-minute pace ran his second mile in 11:07, but came back in the final mile in 10:34 to finish his first three-mile race with a time of 31:17. Congrats, Liam!
Girls Varsity Race - Results
Junior Dani Erickson and sophomore Jennifer Duban ran together for much of the first mile with Dani running a 6:42 and Jen running 6:53. Dani stayed strong through a 7:47 second mile and a 7:12 final mile to finish in 21:41. Her adjusted 5K time of 22:27 eclipsed her HCA time by over 30 seconds. Our lone senior Anya Kutkoski ran solid splits of 7:17, 8:03, and 7:15 and used her speed to pass Jen in the final stretch and finish with a time of 22:38 while Jen finished with a time of 22:41. Adjusted to a 5K time of 23:29, Jen beat her HCA time by nearly a minute! Junior Molly Martin ran 7:45 and 8:59 for the first two miles, but rolled her ankle in the final mile and finished in 26 minutes flat. Despite rolling her ankle, Molly’s time still eclipsed her HCA time when converted for a 5K.
Boys Varsity Race - Results (Team)
The boys ran against some of the top teams in the state (York won the meet with 39 points) as our only official team, they stayed strong and actually beat one of the larger 3A teams. Junior Simon Klein, who had a mediocre race at HCA after being sick the week leading into it, showed he is the class of our boys team by running three individual miles that were as fast or faster than everyone on the team. Simon’s race splits of 5:50, 6:30, and 5:57 to finish with a time of 18:17. Junior Aiden Slehofer ran a solid first mile of 6:30 to separate himself from the rest of the boys on the team. Aiden ran consistent splits of 7:24 and 7:15 to finish in 21:11. Adjusted for a 5K the time would be 21:54 and eclipse his time from HCA two weeks ago. Sophomore Liam Newton and juniors Jimmy Mullen and Lincoln Calfo ran together for the first mile and were all under seven minutes. Liam once again showed his skill at pacing for three miles and ran splits of 6:52, 7:16, and 6:40 to finish in 20:48. This beat his time from last year’s Steelmen Invite by one and a half minutes! Jimmy Mullen ended the race in 21:55, which not only outperformed his race at HCA but was also the only lifetime P.R. run by a Lisle upperclassman. Lincoln finished with a time of 22:32 (23:20 5K), which is better than his HCA time by nearly a minute.
Lion of the Meet
On the bus, I noted that just about everyone could have been Lion of the Meet. Rose saw a huge time drop from HCA and ran with a smile on her face. Blake ran a consistent race and has shown massive improvement since he started running with the team over the summer. Jimmy was the only runner on the team (other than new runners) who ran a lifetime P.R. Liam Newton ran incredibly consistent splits for the second meet in a row. Simon bounced back after HCA and ran faster every mile than anyone else on the team. Liam Marquez finished his first-ever three-mile race. Our Lion of the Meet has to be Madi Madsen, though. Madi won a medal for the second meet in a row and ran fairly consistent splits of 7:03, 7:32, and 7:05. Her growth from the first meet to the second meet is nothing short of extraordinary and she also ended up running the fastest time of any of the girls on the team. Madi took our mascot Bonito home for the week and we’re looking forward to what else she can do this season. Congrats, Madi!
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