The University of Illinois Springfield men's cross country team tied its best finish in program history on Saturday at the GLVC Championships in Romeoville, Ill. The Prairie Stars were GLVC runner-ups for the second time, and they have now finished in the top-three in each of the last four conference meets.
 
UIS finished with 53 points, 11 behind champion Lewis and one ahead of nationally-ranked Southern Indiana. The Prairie Stars had the top trio in the competition, with three runners in the top seven overall in the race. UIS's fourth and fifth runners came in 18th and 22nd, helping them edge out the Screaming Eagles for that second position.
 
Blake Jones, Cort Ross, Wyatt McIntyre, and Chris Cherry all earned all-GLVC honors. It was the fourth award for Jones, second for Ross and McIntyre, and first for Cherry.
 
Jones won his second straight GLVC Individual Championship after finishing in a time of 23:49, seven seconds ahead of the number two runner in the race. Ross improved on his eighth-place showing last year and came in fifth with a time of 24:11. McIntyre was close behind in seventh with a mark of 24:24.
 
Cherry was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year, the first UIS men's runner to win that award. He finished in a time of 24:58, which placed him 18th overall.
 
Rounding out the team's scoring was Ryan Jones, who crossed the finish line in 25:05. Five other runners had finishes in the top-60. Ryan Stark came in 32nd with a time of 25:17, Gabe Martinez was 41st with a mark of 25:36, Layne Hill was 48th with a time of 25:44, Trevor Dunkel was 51st with a time of 25:50, and Jake Schwartz was 58th with a finish of 26:08.
 
UIS will be in action again in two weeks in Evansville, Ind. for the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championships.