BOURBONNAIS, IL --- The Prairie Stars took sixth place in the 16-team field at the Illinois Intercollegiate which included the top-ranked division III program in the country and #2 ranked NAIA team in the country.
Eli Cook paced the Prairie Stars with a 19
th place finish as all seven scorers for UIS placed inside the top-52 in the 244 runner field in the scoring placements.
Cook (26:10.7) took 19
th place in the 8K race and was followed by sophomore
Elliot Nabatov (26:45.0) who picked up 32 points for UIS and finished 51
st overall.
Tyler Pasley (26:50.6), a freshman from Shelbyville, Illinois turned in the third best time for UIS and was followed by
Kenton Wilson (26:55.9).
Brendan Kroeger (26:56.9),
Garrad Straube (26:57.4), and
Tyler Hiserote (27:28.0) rounded out the top-seven for the Prairie Stars en route to their sixth place finish.
"The team did a great job tonight, by far the best of the season so far," said head coach Mike DeWitt. "
Tyler Pasley had the best improvement on the team and in a field with some of the best teams in the country, we ran a good race."
Jake Schwartz (27:31.8),
Thomas Wuchte (27:41.0),
Ryan Stark (27:54.7), and
Layne Hill (28:13.8) are all freshman who competed in the race. UIS was rounded out by
Preston Henze (28.18.1),
Alex Phelps (28:35.3), and
Charlie Lotspiech (31:04.3).
The Prairie Stars will race again at the conference crossover on October 7
th, where there will be over 30 Division II teams, including over ten of the top-25 ranked in the national poll.