WHEATON, IL --- The Prairie Stars completed one of the best races in the history of the short program Saturday morning, taking third place in the 14-team field at the Gil Dodds Invitational hosted by Wheaton College. Eli Cook led the way with a 13^th place finish, while all seven score for UIS were inside the top-45.

Illinois Springfield totaled 116 points in the race as Cook (26:30) took 13^th, followed by senior Garrad Straube (27:02) who took 22^nd. Elliot Nabatov (27:06), a sophomore from Wheeling, IL, finished three-seconds behind his teammate for a 23^rd place finish, and was closely followed by Tyler Pasley (5:28), who took 26^th.

Brendan Kroeger (27:19) finished 32^nd and narrowly clipped teammate Kenton Wilson (27:36), who took 37^th. Tyler Hiserote (27:51) rounded out the scores for UIS with a 43^rd place finish.

Two perennial powerhouses took first and second, as Washington University-St. Louis won the meet with 21 points, followed by North Central with 42 points. The Prairie Stars tied with Grinnell with 116 points but averaged two seconds faster across their seven finishes.

The Prairie Stars will take a week off before racing again when they travel to Bourbonnais, Illinois for the Illinois Intercollegiate hosted by Olivet Nazarene University. The race will begin at 5:00 PM on Friday, September 29^th.