KIRKSVILLE, MO – The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) men's cross country team took eighth place in Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Championships.
UIS earned its best placing ever in a conference meet after totaling a score of 184. The Prairie Stars trailed Truman State University by 25 points, the University of Indianapolis by 18 points and Maryville University by six points.
"We were in a good battle for points with Truman State, Indianapolis and Maryville," UIS coach
Mike De Witt said.
Eight Prairie Star runners finished the meet with personal records (PR).
Eli Cook led the Prairie Stars with an 8K time of 25 minutes, 50.23 seconds as the senior from Rochester, IL crossed the finish line 20th for a PR.
"Eli made a strong improvement on his best performance of the season and made a nice jump from his 43rd-place finish a year ago."
Tyler Pasley (26:20.49) raced to 36th and a PR,
Brendan Kroeger (26:33.36) claimed 46th and a PR,
Garrad Straube (26:39.80) secured 51st and a PR and
Elliot Nabatov (26:45.16) finished 56th.
The Prairie Stars were aiming for a 23-second separation between their second and fifth runners and they finished 24.67 seconds apart. Sixth runner
Kenton Wilson trailed Nabatov by just 4.31 seconds, clocking a PR time of 26:49.47 for 60th.
Tyler Hiserote (27:14.20) captured 76th and a PR,
Ryan Stark (27:22.54) took 80th and a PR,
Jake Schwartz (27:59.54) earned 97th,
Layne Hill ran to 103rd and a PR while
Thomas Wuchte (28:28.64) placed 110th.
The University of Southern Indiana (USI) fought off Lewis University, tied for 11th in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division II poll, to take home its 13th consecutive conference title. USI compiled 24 points, finishing ahead of Lewis (43), Bellarmine University (97), Missouri S&T (128), Truman State (159), Indianapolis (166), Maryville (178), UIS (184), Drury University (237), McKendree University (277), William Jewell College (362) and Quincy University (363), which rounds out the team standings.
USI teammates Austin Nolan (24:28.66) and Bastian Grau (24:35.64) put together a 1-2 finish. Lewis teammates Sergio Miranda (24:39.63) and James Fredrickson (24:39.94) finished just .31 seconds apart, charging to third and fourth, respectively. USI's Cain Parker (24:50.45) wrapped up the top five.
Nolan was recognized as the GLVC Runner of the Year. Lewis's Daniel Laskero (25:13.66) secured 10th and was tabbed as the GLVC Freshman of the Year after topping the freshman field. USI head coach Mike Hillyard was named GLVC Coach of the Year.
Cook was the UIS representative for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award.
"We met our goals for the meet with our eighth-place finish and our 184-point total. We are making good progress."
The Prairie Stars close out the season with the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 4 at 11:45 a.m. (ET) in Cedarville, OH.
