Oak Forest HS Preps for Annual Colonel Madden Mad Dash

The Oak Forest High School cross country team is prepping for their annual Colonel Madden Mad Dash which will take place on October 6th and they need your support.

The race is named for Colonel Kevin Madden who is a 1977 graduate of Oak Forest High School and served as a United States Army Cavalry and Foreign Area Officer with a stellar military career. He is loved and respected at Oak Forest High School being the first coach of the girl's cross country team and inducted into the Oak Forest Hall of Fame in 2016 for his service to our country and his contributions to the many students he guided and coached over the years.

This 3 mile race will take place on the roads of Oak Forest and brings the intensity of a cross country meet to the community. The atmosphere is one of comradery and competition being held on the grounds of Oak Forest High School with other high school teams coming out to compete and volunteer.

Kim Reif, the mom of Mike Reif, a varsity member, along with Coach Mike Brown and a group of dedicated parents, spear headed this community race which doubles as a fundraiser for the team, starting in 2017. Mrs. Reif has created a facebook page to keep all the cross country team members and their parents connected for this event and the team in general.

"It is a great event for runners and community members and just a really fun day", she commented. Dave Neuman who is the Oak Forest City Clerk agrees. He is an alumni of Oak Forest High School and was a member of the cross country team in his day. He helped Mrs. Reif get this event off the ground and ran last year in the race donning his old cross country team uniform. "Dave Neuman was instrumental in getting this event going and everyone loved his spirit when he wore one of the uniforms to run the race." Mrs. Reif said.

The monies raised by this event supports the team in many aspects. From uniforms to equipment, this event is important to the students who love their school and to run cross country.

The course will take runners through the streets of Oak Forest and starts at Oak Forest High School. It ends with a lap around the OFHS track, running through the goal posts, and through the finish line smack dab in the middle of the football field. As fans and supporters watch from the stands, they cheer on each person who crosses the finish line with a volunteer dad up in the control booth announcing the finishers.

The day is divided up into 3 races. The first race starting at 9:00 is for high school boys. The second race starting at 9:30 will be for high school girls and the final race starting at 10:00 will be for the community. They divided the race up into three segments because of the number of runners and make it competitive and fair for everyone.

The bracket for the community race are divided up into male/female age groups; under 10, 11-14, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and over 60. The first 3 participants in each group will receive a medal and of course, there will be an award for the overall winner in both the men and women divisions.

After the race, medals will be given for all the different age groups divided up between male and females. And of course the overall male and female winner will be celebrated and awarded. In the men's division, the time to beat comes from Mr. Artus Bareikis of Oak Forest, who ran the 3-mile course in 14:42 to win last year. In the women's division, Maggie Kucek of Midlothian won the honor of 1st place with a time of 21:55.

The cross country team began their season with a strong start with several meets already under their belts. The Boy's varsity team is coached by Gary Andruch and Mike Brown and is comprised of Seniors: Raj Patel, Zachary Maher, Ben Howe, Juniors: Mike Reif, Nick Lahey, Tim Moran, Mo Murrar, and Shams Rehman, and Sophmore: Guiseppi Smith.

The girl's varsity teams is coached by Donn Hamrin and Arturs Bareikis and is made up of Seniors: Rachel Biggs, Marisa Toschi, Juniors: Emily Cummings, Grainee Giblin, Allison Griffin and Sophomores: Sabeen Barakat, Nikki Gedrimas, Mackenie Griffen and Haliegh Martin. This sport is competitive and these kids put in a lot of time to practice and compete while maintaining their school work and grades.

If you would like to participate in the race, you can sign up at raceroster.com. If you sign up by Wednesday 9/27/2018, you will be guaranteed a t-shirt, after that t-shirts will be supplied as available. They are also still looking for volunteers to help on the day of the race. If you are interested in helping out, go to raceroster.com and click the volunteer tab.

The Colonel Madden Cross-Town Mad Dash is a great event to support a great team in Oak Forest. Even if you don't run, just come out and cheer on your fellow Oak Foresters in their endeavor to cross that finish line.

You can find Melanie Gangolf on facebook.