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.