2013 Midwest Distance Festival meet moving to Lisle
The 2nd annual Midwest Distance Festival will have a new home in 2013.
I am pleased to announce that the Midwest Distance Festival will take place on June 8, 2013 on the campus of Benedictine University at the Village of Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex in Lisle, IL.
After the 2012 meet was completed, I evaluated how the meet went along with feedback from athletes, coaches, parents, and fans. The conclusion that I came up with was the best prospect for this meet to grow was to move it to the facilities at Benedictine University. It has nothing to do with the Joliet Memorial Stadium track. I would like to thank the staff of St. Francis University, the City of Joliet, and the Illinois Track & Cross Country Coaches Association for the hospitality for the meet last June.
Another change is the meet day is being moved from Friday night to Saturday night. For the 2012 meet, I did receive some concerns that the meet was on a Friday night and people were having trouble getting to the meet site by the first race. The other concern that I had last year is that the meet lost at least 10 athletes who could not compete on Friday night because they were involved in ACT testing the next morning. ACT testing will be held on the morning of the meet. I am hoping that the change of date will work for more athletes that may have the same conflict.
I was pleased with the fields that we had for the meet considering there was only 3 weeks to organize the meet. I was happy with the quality of the boy’s races last year. I was happy with the quality of the girl’s races, but not the size of the fields in those races. As the meet director, that is my fault. One of my big goals for 2013 is to have high quality fields in any of the girls race that we will be holding.
Nine states were represented last year in the inaugural meet. We are looking for more states to be represented at the Midwest Distance Festival this June.
As of now, the events for the meet will remain the same.
Boys: 2k steeplechase, Freshman mile, 800 meters, 1 mile run, 2 mile run
Girls: 800 Meter Run, 1 Mile run
All: Open 5k
If you have any suggestions for additional events, you can e-mail me at midwestdistance@gmail.com.
Future announcements will be forthcoming as we get closer to the meet. The meet website we hope to have running by the beginning of February along with the meet entry standards. There is a Facebook page (Midwest Distance Festival) where you can watch for future announcements.
I look forward to seeing you all in Lisle on June 8, 2013 for the 2nd running of the Midwest Distance Festival!
Michael Newman
MDF Meet Director
Posted on December 15, 2012, in Meet Openings, Uncategorized and tagged Benedictine University, Illinois, Illinois Prep Harrier, Lisle, Midwest Distance Festival. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Illinois Prep Harrier 
Mike – it was a great meet last year!! Looking forward to it again. I would suggested you could add a Jr. High Mile or 800, maybe a 1200M run, a DMR, and maybe a sophomore Mile, possibly a Freshman 800M.
Steve Arrivo
Thanks for your suggestions Steve. We did have a jr high runner in the freshman mile last year. At this point, I can’t see adding junior high races this year. We tried the DMR last year but had to cancel it. I am looking at adding one more event. I should have the standards for the meet out on February 1.