Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / All in a day’s work for Jake Gillum in Princeton Mile

Transcript

All in a day’s work for Jake Gillum in Princeton Mile · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: All in a day's work for Jake Gillum and Princeton Mile.
• 0:09
  Written by Kevin Hieronymus, This article is being read by
• 0:13
  an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Jake Gillam
• 0:18
  covered a lot of miles Saturday morning. He started his
• 0:21
  day running the Steamboat Classic in Peoria, running a four
• 0:25
  mile race starting at eight o five am. Then he
• 0:28
  made fast tracks to Princeton, where he defended his Princeton
• 0:31
  Mile championship by the narrowest of margins, clocking a four
• 0:35
  oh eight two to edge runner up Dale Johnson of Sterling,
• 0:38
  who came in at four oh eight dot five. That
• 0:41
  steamboat race ended up being on the same day as
• 0:45
  this one. Last year. I had a fun day here
• 0:47
  last year. It just worked out. I think I can
• 0:49
  make it here. I really wanted to be a part
• 0:51
  of it again, said Gillum, twenty seven, who is the
• 0:54
  distance coach at Illinois State University. I had my girlfriend
• 0:59
  drive me over here. We were going a little quick,
• 1:02
  but she got me here about ten minutes before the race.
• 1:05
  The steamboat didn't go super great. Today it's hard to
• 1:08
  get two solid races going. Last year, Princeton's Colin Miko
• 1:12
  was here. We kind of took it out and about
• 1:14
  halfway it was kind of just us two. This year,
• 1:18
  I looked around halfway and there's six guys and I'm like,
• 1:21
  oh boy, we've got a race going. I love the
• 1:24
  direction this is heading. It was cool to be part
• 1:26
  of that. It's fun being a college coach to get
• 1:30
  to talk to a lot of these guys who race
• 1:32
  in college and just hearing some of their stories and
• 1:35
  where they come from and getting to see what they're
• 1:38
  up to training wise. Johnson twenty, who was leading the
• 1:42
  race as the pack ran by the Ace Hardware parking
• 1:44
  lot about the halfway mark, had a much longer distance
• 1:47
  to travel, returning from his college home in Brookings, South Dakota,
• 1:52
  to attend his brother's graduation party in Sterling and run
• 1:55
  in in the Princeton Mile. It happened to be my
• 1:58
  brother's graduation party today happened to be a race man.
• 2:02
  Let's sign up, said Johnson, who runs for South Dakota State.
• 2:05
  I made a move about six hundred meters out. He
• 2:08
  kept with me and ended up beating my two or
• 2:10
  three steps. Sheffield's Elijah House, who placed third in the
• 2:14
  inaugural Princeton. Mile invited two of his teammates from Saint
• 2:17
  Ambrose University, Dylan Grandon of Urbandale, Iowa, and Chris Miserindino
• 2:23
  twenty two of Aurora. They formed a little beehive, with
• 2:27
  Grandon taking third at four one one dot three come
• 2:30
  a good for a five hundred dollars prize, Miss Rendino
• 2:32
  fourth four fifteen point six and House fifth four to
• 2:36
  sixteen point three. Grandon will be running in the FEESU
• 2:40
  Games in Lima, Peru, which is open to any college
• 2:43
  athlete from North, Central and South American and the timing
• 2:47
  was right to come to Princeton to run. I have
• 2:50
  the crazy opportunity to go represent the US in Lima Peru,
• 2:54
  so I'm still training. Elijah brought it up and this
• 2:57
  will be a great race to check my fitness to
• 2:59
  see where I'm at. Grandon said it's once in a lifetime.
• 3:02
  It will be the only time I'll be able to
• 3:04
  have USA on my chest and wanted to go for it.
• 3:08
  Mister Rendino said the Princeton race fits right in with
• 3:11
  his summer training with the upcoming Brady Street Sprints and
• 3:14
  Bicks in Davenport, Iowa. House said the hill on the
• 3:18
  home stretch hit him hard. This year. I felt I
• 3:21
  was still in striking distance until we got to that hill.
• 3:24
  Everybody starting shifting up and I just didn't make a move.
• 3:27
  He said, still a head case. Just need to work
• 3:31
  on it a little bit more. Even though I would
• 3:33
  have liked to have the thousand bucks, it was nice
• 3:36
  to see more people out this year. Claire Foolg, twenty six,
• 3:41
  of Normal, defended her championship in the women's Elite division
• 3:45
  with a time of four fifty nin nine point eight.
• 3:47
  She was happy to return and the one thousand dollars
• 3:50
  winning prize makes it a nice incentive. It's just a
• 3:54
  fun race. It's got great prize money. Definitely an incentive
• 3:58
  for people to come out, she said. Everyone here is
• 4:00
  just super fun and it's a fun event. Overall. The
• 4:03
  Princeton Mile brought out more runners than last year, including
• 4:07
  many family members like Princeton coach Michael Fredericks and his
• 4:10
  daughter Eva eleven. Eva beat Dad. There was also the
• 4:15
  Waka Party of five, with thirteen year old Breckin leading
• 4:17
  the way with a time of six two seven dot
• 4:20
  eight Comma beating out sisters Alexandra six thirty two point
• 4:23
  two and Avery six forty point five and his dad
• 4:27
  Eric six fifty five point one and mom Rachel seven
• 4:30
  oh eight nine. The Shaffners aka the Mullet Brothers participated
• 4:35
  with Blake twenty five pushing his brother Nolan in his wheelchair.
• 4:39
  Nolan was born with spinal muscular atrophy. It's been awesome,
• 4:43
  Blake said. He's got his Toby Dinavox machine voice box
• 4:47
  and making people laugh on the run, saying keep it moving,
• 4:50
  fat Boy. Nolan adds that he was ahead of his
• 4:53
  brother the whole time.