The University of Illinois Springfield cross country teams competed in the Loyola Lakefront Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning in Chicago. Due to the weather, the teams had to run through wet and muddy conditions, with the men's team finishing 11th in two different races, and the women's squad coming in 17th.
 
The men's team had entries in both the Maroon and Gold Division races. In the Maroon race, UIS finished 11^th out of 15 teams, and in the Gold Division, UIS was 11^th out of 31 squads.
 
In the Maroon Division, Blake Jones led the team with a 15^th-place finish as he finished the 8,000m course in a time of 25:38. The rest of the team's scoring runners finished between 26:09 and 26:34 in Tyler Hiserote, Wyatt McIntyre, Ryan Stark, and Tyler Pasley. Rounding out the team were Brendan Kroeger and Jake Schwartz, with times just above 27 minutes.
 
In the Gold Division, Spencer Mauch led the team with a time of 27:25 on the 8,000m course. He finished 47th overall. Thomas Wuchte and Alex Phelps also finished in under 28 minutes, and Preston Henze had a time of 28:07. Isiah McCune (28:24), William Formea (29:01), and Jacob Landon (30:01) rounded out the squad for UIS.
 
The women's team, which was missing its top runner, competed in the Maroon Division. It scored 473 points and finished 17th out of 18 programs.
 
UIS was closely packed together with its top six runners finishing with 71 seconds of each other. Savannah Brannan led the way with a time of 19:17 on the 5,000m course, just three seconds faster than teammate Gloria Esarco. That duo finished 68th and 70th overall, respectively. Morgan Suttles was the third Prairie Star to break 20 minutes, and Kelsey Cleary, Alexa Thomsen, and Sarahi Porcayo were just over the 20-minute mark. Libby Price rounded out the squad with a time of 21:17.
 
UIS will head north again in two weeks when it competes in the Lewis Crossover in Romeoville, Ill.