Bank of America’s Chicago 13.1 was the second race in a 3 week long gauntlet of races. The gauntlet setting, the half marathon distance, and the 10,000+ participants at this race was enough to cause some unexpected shake ups.
Across the All Around, Open Men, and Open Women’s category only one incumbent top-3 team was able to secure a podium spot at Chicago 13.1. Extremes also ruled the day in these categories as Nameless, Windrunners, Venados, and CARA Racing Team brought small squads of around 10 runners to face off against a well reinforced Fleet Feet Team of nearly 100 athletes.
The shake ups in this race cast new doubts over who has what it takes to win the 2024 Circuit, as teams well outside the top-3 in their standings stepped up big to challenge the status quo.
Photo provided by Manny, @el_barbudo42 on Instagram
All Around Standings:
(Combined Gender, Age Graded Scoring, Top 5 Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago Results | Season Standings |
Nameless Track Club- 827.9 | Evanston Running Club- 77 |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 795.1 | CARA Racing Team- 73 |
Windrunners- 752.1 | Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 69 |
For the first time this season, Nameless Track club has secured a victory in the All Around category. Previously, the team’s best overall finish was 3rd place in a tight battle at Shamrock Shuffle against Naperville Running Company and DWRunning. This time they were able to secure a dominant victory, led by 2024 Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifier and 2018 CARA Runner of the Year Jane Bareikis. Her time of 1:17:02 scored a solid 837 age graded score, with the rest of her team finishing closely behind with Arturs Bareikis and Camille Blackman tying for the team’s 4 & 5 positions with scores of 820.8.
Fleet Feet brought 92 athletes to party at Chicago 13.1. Fleet Feet’s squad was triple the size of the next largest team’s Evanston and Oak Park, and they used their size to their advantage. Due to age-grading, there’s a strong incentive to field a team with diverse age and gender representation. Although only their top 5 score, their top 10 runners were evenly divided between men and women, with their top scorers ranging from ages 26-62. Fleet Feet was led by Benjamin Mohrdieck’s 1:11 which scored out to an 808. There was then a tight spread between 2023 Veteran & Senior Female Runner of the Year Angelica Guerrero with 801 and Claire Krummenacher’s 799 earned from the elite field. Ander Kaehr and Austin Hendrix kept the team’s spread low, scoring 786 and 779 respectively. Fleet Feet currently sits in 6th place in the division, however, their team average of 795 is good enough to secure them a top-3 finish at most races. If they can find ways to utilize their depth, they still have a chance to secure a top-3 finish.
The All Around category is challenging for small, single gender teams. Despite this, the Windrunners were able to secure their club’s first ever top-3 race finish since joining the Circuit in January! The battle ended up being close between the Windrunners and the eventual 4th place CARA racing team. CARA’s top runner scored a 784 against Veronica Laureano’s 760. However, the podium was secured thanks to a tight 16 point spread from Laureano, to Janessa Juarez’ 755, Susannah McCloskey’s 754, Alejandra Ruales Doyle’s 744.7 and Britney Romero’s 744.7. While a 9 person team for a race of this size is traditionally small it’s clear that everyone has the ability to be a contributor. The Windrunners have shown that they too have what it takes to be a top-3 team in this category. If they can consistently field 5 runners in the back half of the season they could quickly see themselves move out of 11th place and into the top half of the field.
Open Men Standings:
(Top 5 Men Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 1:15:02 | CARA Racing Team- 78 |
Venados- 1:19:59 | Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 77 |
CARA Racing Team- 1:20:42 | Evanston Running Club- 69 |
Fleet Feet Racing Team has secured their first victory of the season, fielding a solid group of men who were able to keep the team average right around 1:15. The team was lead by three of their top contributors to the All Around category, Benjamin Mohrdieck (1:11:45), Andrew Kaehr (1:13:59), and Austin Hendrix (1:14:51), with Adam Wyeth and Brad Swiney finishing 1:16 & 1:18 respectively to lock down their leading position. This victory wasn’t just achieved, it was completely secured. The team’s top 4 had such a strong lead on the field and their team had so much depth, that Fleet Feet had an additional 27 men in the race that could have filled that 5th spot and still given their team the victory. As mentioned in the All Around category, Fleet Feet’s depth is deadly when they use it.
Venados had a fantastic day, securing their first top-3 finish in a Circuit race across any category since joining mid-year during the 2023 season. For this team, it was only a matter of time before their day would come. Their roster is small, with less than 10 men total, which makes it difficult to complete a team score. But when they do, they’re able to compete with the best team’s on the Circuit. The team was led by Tyler Gabriele’s 1:14:21. However, the team’s strength didn’t fully show itself until their 2-5 runners crossed the line. Bryan Quinonez, Axel Munoz, Ezequiel Amador, and Tony Pereze all crossed the line between 1:20:54 and 1:21:42, a less than 50 second spread. While Venados currently sits in 9th out of the 10 teams in the category, they’re fully capable of finishing in the top half of the Circuit this year. Assembling a top 5 position can be difficult for a team of this size, but they have consistent racers on their roster and a few 0 point races they should be able to erase from their record as the season progresses. If there’s a Cinderella team on the Circuit for an end of season podium finish, it’s Venados.
CARA Racing was not able to match Venados’ tight spread. CARA’s scoring 5 was led by JD Barrett at 1:14:00, followed by James Diamond, Dan Pettitt, Steven Levine, and Ryan Curry Respectively. CARA’s 3rd place finish was enough to reclaim the 1st place position in the season standings against Fast Track. These two teams have been dueling each other all the way up the standings, with the points margin between the two teams never exceeding more than 4 points. This fierce competition has caused these two teams to open a significant point gap on the rest of the field in a category that is full of streaks and droughts.
Open Women Standings:
(Top 5 Women Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Nameless Track Club- 1:19:03 | CARA Racing Team- 80 |
Windrunners- 1:26:43 | Oak Park Runners Club- 72 |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 1:26:51 | DWRunning- 71 |
In no uncertain terms, this was the greatest Women’s half marathon team race in Circuit history. Nameless’ 1:19:03 team average was incredible, and may have been the fastest team average the Circuit has ever seen for a women’s race. Last year, Fleet Feet was able to secure the win with a 1:30:43 team average, and later in the season, DWRunning ran the fastest known team average of 1:20:52 at Hidden Gem.
Nameless’ impressive scoring team was Jane Bareikis (1:17:02), Rachel McCardell (1:17:42), Rachel DaDamio (1:17:44), Camille Blackman (1:18:36), and Emily Akin (1:24:11). Against a field of professional athletes Bareikis, McCardell, and DaDamio were able to finish 6th, 8th, and 9th overall, separately Blackman finished 10th by chip time*. Nameless’s women have now collected two dominant victories this season but remain in last place in the category’s season standings. With 7 races left to go, they’re not completely out of the conversation for a podium finish. It only takes 8 good races to win the Circuit, and they’ve got 2 great ones under their belt. While it’s still a long shot, DWRunning was in 7th place at this point of the season last year and still went on to become Open Women’s Champions.
The battle for second came down to seconds as Fleet Feet’s squad of 45 women faced off against Windrunners’ small but mighty team of 9 runners. Claire Krummenacher acted as Fleet Feet’s low stick providing her team with an initial 5:00 lead on Windrunners’ Susannah McCloskey thanks to Krummenacher’s 1:20:42. Fleet Feet continued to look strong as their number 2 runner Joie Ross ran a 1:26:40, a 19 second lead on Windrunners’ number 2 Rachel Maniola. However, the depth of the Windrunners team brough Fleet Feet’s momentum to an abrupt halt, as Alejandra Ruales Doyle and Britney Romero crossed the line together at 1:27:00, only 1 second behind Maniola. Veronica Laureano sealed the deal for the Windrunners, finishing closely behind at 1:27:07.
This second place finish by the Windrunners represented the team’s highest finish ever since joining the Circuit. For those who think their small roster necessarily holds them back from future victories, their 6th and 7th runners also crossed the line sub-1:28.
The development in the women’s team competition has been incredible. Last year Fleet Feet’s winning team average of 1:30:43 was led by a 1:28:05. This year, Fleet Feet’s team brought 4 women who could run faster or at parity with that time, and still ended up in 3rd place. Of all of the categories, this one probably remains the most wide open. If you check the box score for this race, the top 3 teams for this race are completely different from the top 3 in the season standings. This indicates two things:
There is a lot of talent dispersed across a wide range of teams
Earning a team title will depend as much on strategic point scoring as fast times.
The team that is best able to leverage their roster on the right days will claim the title for this category.
*Note: Elite performances and prize money at large races are decided based on gun time, not chip time.
Masters Men Standings:
(Top 3 Men Ages 40+ Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
CARA Racing Team- 1:36:23 | Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 83 |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 1:36:37 | Evanston Running Club- 79 |
Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 1:37:02 | CARA Racing Team- 69 |
The masters men’s category has typically been a category of blow outs. When a team wins, they win big. Before this race, the closest competition was a 30 second difference in team average between Fast Track and Evanston last week at Run For The Roses 5k. Now, for the half marathon distance, the team averages from 1st to 3rd were less than 40 seconds. With CARA’s Masters men securing their first team victory of the season. Each team was close to evenly matched as CARA and Fleet Feet’s top 3 runners all offered responses to each other. Fast Track on the other hand had an uncharacteristically wide team spread as they used 2023 Vertan Runner of the Year Volker Rose as an effective low stick, finishing almost 7:00 ahead of Fleet Feet’s Justin Samaniego.
The head to head showdown looked like this:
1:22:35- Volker Rose- Fast Track
1:29:24- Justin Samaniego- Fleet Feet
1:30:02- Ryan Curry- CARA
1:37:59- Adam Dabrowski- CARA
1:38:55- Robert Gibson- Fleet Feet
1:39:26- Ian Jan Funtilon- Fast Track
1:41:07- Rob Fleenor- CARA
1:41:31- Matthew Schmidt- Fleet Feet
1:49:05- Ramji Kothai Nayagam- Fast Track
There are a few key takeaways from this race.
CARA Racing Team is capable of winning races when it is able to field a full masters team and their background as a marathon club keeps them in the competition for longer distance races.
Fleet Feet has laid low this season, with a lot of 0 scores remaining on their record. When their full roster is assembled they’re a strong team with podium potential. They currently sit in 9th place but have now finished in the top 4 twice this season.
Fast Track’s masters men are now 1 of only 5 teams across all 9 categories to have a podium finish for every race they’ve competed in so far. If they continue this trend at Race Against Hate and 4 on the 4th, they’ll have a point total of 109-113, almost certainly securing a podium finish before their low scores get dropped over the course of the final 7 races.
Masters Women Standings:
(Top 3 Women Ages 40+ Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 1:37:53 | CARA Racing Team- 83 |
Oak Park Runners Club- 1:41:26 | Oak Park Runners Club- 76 |
CARA Racing Team- 1:45:17 | Evanston Running Club- 70 Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 70 |
This race caused major shake ups in the team standings as DWRunning did not field a team. This led to drastic changes for the team standings, dropping DW from 2nd into 6th place, moving Oak Park from 3rd into 2nd, and Evanston and Fast Track from 5th and 4th respectively into a tie for 3rd place.
Fleet Feet was led by a 1:30:54 by Columba Montes, followed by a 1:36:35 from Melissa Au, and a 1:46:07 from Angelica Guerrero. This was Fleet Feet’s first win of the season after a second place finish to DW at Shamrock Shuffle. While the team certainly has talent, deciding when to use will be key. The team currently sits in 5th place, not a bad place to be at this point of the season. This was a large race that was on every team’s radar that currently sits at the top of the podium. Fleet Feet hasn’t yet shown they have the firepower to deal with DW full strength head on…but they’ve demonstrated to have the firepower to deal with everyone else. If they can mobilize their team at meets where DW does not bring their full strength, Fleet Feet would have the chance to chase not just a podium place but a category championship.
Oak Park was once again led by Kristen McPhee, with her 1:31:16 coming close to matching Fleet Feet’s Montes. McPhee was supported by Heather Carr at 1:46:03 and Kristin Otto at 1:46:59.
CARA was led by Wendy Curry at 1:40:50 and received enough support from Miriam Tamayo and Libby Harvey-Hill to hold Evanston off with a 5:00 lead. CARA Racing Team remains at the top of this division due to being another 1 of the 5 teams to maintain a 6 race podium streak.
Veteran Men Standings:
(Top 3 Men Ages 50+ Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Elmhurst Running Club- 1:40:44 | Evanston Running Club- 81 |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 1:44:49 | Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 77 |
Oak Park Runners Club- 1:48:31 | Oak Park Runners Club- 75 |
This was Elmhurst’s first victory of the season. After three 4th place finishes in a row, this team was finally able to click over the half marathon distance. Their victory moved them out of 5th place, and they now sit in 4th place in the season standings, 1 point behind Oak Park. Elmhurst was won by senior runner Carlos Viramontes, 1:36:45, with support from Sean Hayden and Carlos Guillien at 1:42 and 1:43 respectively.
While Fleet Feet’s Robert Gibson and Oak Park’s David Schaub weren’t too far off of Elmhurst’s Viramontes, the deciding factor was each team’s depth. Elmhurst’s 3rd runner was able to finish ahead of every other team’s number 2 runner.
The scores in this category remain tight through 6 races, due to the fact that 4 separate teams have already collected victories, with the only consistent podium team, Oak Park, not yet securing a team victory.
Veteran Women Standings:
(Top 3 Women Ages 50+ Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Oak Park Runners Club- 1:53:21 | Oak Park Runners Club- 84 |
Evanston Running Club- 1:56:56 | Evanston Running Club- 83 |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 1:57:08 | CARA Racing Team- 75 |
The battle between Evanston and Oak Park continues to heat up as Oak Park claimed victory over Evanston. These two have been constant fixtures in podium position, with Oak Park maintaining a top 3 finish at every Circuit Race so far this season, and Evanston only finishing out of the top 3 once. These teams’ scores of 84 and 83 represent some of the highest scores across all categories. Between these two teams, there has never been more than a 2 point gap between them in the standings, with each team going having a Win/Loss record of 3-3 against each other. Between the two teams, no one team is dramatically better then the other regardless of event distance, geographic location of the race, or plain depth of roster. If these two teams continue as they have, this category will remain contested well into November.
Fleet Feet has now secured their second podium finish of the season thanks to performances from Angelica Guerrero, Kayoko Hamamura, and Berkley Cameron. While Guerrero is a fixture in Fleet Feet’s scoring squad, this was Hamamura’s first team race since Shamrock Shuffle in March. Despite the hiatus, she was able to make a major impact with her 1:54:03. The Fleet Feet team was only a :12 team average away from toppling Evanston. If they can continue to find back up for Guerrero, Fleet Feet could find itself fighting for a podium spot at the end of the season.
Senior Men Standings:
(Top 3 Men Ages 60+ Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Oak Park Runners Club- 1:49:14 | Oak Park Runners Club- 85 |
CARA Run Crew- 2:17:54 | Elmhurst Running Club- 83 |
Elmhurst Running Club- 2:52:50 | Evanston Running Club- 77 |
Only two teams brought a complete scoring trio to compete at this race. The biggest beneficiary of which was Oak Park who has been going back and forth against Elmhurst all season. Elmhurst has benefited greatly from Carlos Viramontes’ move into the senior category. While Elmhurst’s senior squad is mighty, it is often smaller, which leaves gaps for Oak Park to take advantage of.
Oak Park was led by David Schaub 1:37, Rainer Schochat 1:43, and Perry Veitti 2:03. Veitti’s contribution was significant, as this was his first time scoring for Oak Park all season. Their squad was also backed up by Terrence Keleher and Donald Jensen, both strong enough runners to support a team victory in case of disaster with one of the top 3.
CARA Run Crew also benefited from the smaller senior field. This team competes in the Division II category in all around, open men, and open women, so it often flies under the radar. However, Sid Anderson, Lynn Crim, and Niko Nicholson delivered the team their highest finish of the season. While a large point gap remains between this team and 3rd place Evanston they’re not out of podium contention yet. Evanston is in 3rd but has yet to secure a single team victory. It’s likely that the 3rd place finish in this category will not need any victories to earn a podium spot due to the crowding out caused by Oak Park and Evanston.
Senior Women Standings:
(Top 3 Women Ages 60+ Score Per Team)
BoA Chicago 13.1 Results | Season Standings |
Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 2:56:01 | Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 77 |
Xtra Mile Fast Track Racing Team- 3:29:12 | Fleet Feet x New Balance Racing Team- 72 |
CARA Racing Team- 4:01:18 | Oak Park Runners Club- 71 |
No team was able to complete a team score in this category. Victory was determined by each team’s number 2 runner, Fleet Feet’s Hamamura at 1:54 and Fast Track’s Karen Sersen at 2:44.
CARA Racing Team did not have a number two runner to support their top runner Libby Harvey-Hill, who finished closely behind Fleet Feet’s Angelica Geurraro at 1:48:09.
Final Thoughts
The Gauntlet continues to produce unexpected results. Bouncing from short distance to long distance has allowed a lot of new teams the opportunity to shine in the top 3. The question remains whether these performances will remain a flash in the pan or an indicator of what the end of the season will look like.
Preview:
Scores for Race Against Hate are currently being finalized, where DW’s women, Evanston, and Fast Track brought large contingents to fight for wins.
4 on the 4th is still in the process of being scored out. This race saw fierce competition between nearly every Division I team.
Upcoming:
Chi Town Miles is the next Circuit Race, representing the back half of the season.
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