The University of Illinois Springfield Men's Cross Country team finished in sixth place their first Nationals race as a team. They finished nine places above their highest USTFCCCA National Ranking of the season.
Wyatt McIntyre earned his first career All-American honors with his 26th place finish. He has been honored All-GLVC three times, All-Region twice, and is now an All-American for the Prairie Stars. McIntyre qualified for the National Championship in 2021 but did not finish the race.
Noah McIntyre was one of six Prairie Stars to run a personal best time at the National meet. His 30:35 10k is the third best Prairie Stars cross country 10k all-time. McIntyre finished 43rd in his first cross country National Championship as a Prairie Star, just three places from All-American.
Chris Cherry's 31 minute 10k landed him fifth on the UIS all-time list for the distance.
Results
*Denotes a personal record cross country 10k time
Wyatt McIntyre,
Noah McIntyre,
Chris Cherry,
Cort Ross,
Ryan Jones and
Gabe Martinez ran their personal best times in the cross country 10k. N. McIntyre, Cherry, Ross, Jones, Martinez and Moler were first-time qualifiers for the NCAA DII Cross Country Championship. "We all came to UIS wanting to do something as a team," said
Gabe Martinez, "We were told that if we worked for it we could win conference and potentially go to nationals. The entire team worked hard this season, winning conference and qualifying for nationals for the first time in program history. Placing 6th, we blew the polls out of the water. This is a statement for the entire team and all of UIS Athletics, it's only up from here for UIS cross country and track!"
"I couldn't be more proud of how this group competed today." Said Head Coach
Emmons King, "Their whole season has been a huge success and finally seeing it unfold at the national level is a really special moment.
Wyatt McIntyre earned his first All-America award,
Noah McIntyre was just a few spots off and
Chris Cherry had a great season after missing the first month.
Ryan Jones really stepped up for us today. It's challenging to have your best race at the national meet but that didn't stop him. It has been a historic season for us and again, I couldn't be more proud of them. It was truly a team effort this season." The Prairie Stars ran some of the top cross country 10k times in program history and had five of their seven runners in the top half of the 257 runners in the race.
Wyatt McIntyre was just five seconds from the cross country 10k school record set by
Blake Jones at the NCAA DII Midwest Regional Championship in 2021.
Top Cross Country 10k Performances All-Time
UIS Men's Cross Country finished fourth place or above in all regular season meets in Fall 2022. Their second place finish at the Lewis Crossover and 4th place finish at the UAH invitation were key for their National rankings this season. The Prairie Stars won the program's first GLVC Championship and had their best NCAA DII Midwest Regional finish as well. The team had six All-GLVC athletes, three All-Region athletes, and one All-American.
Stay tuned on uisprairiestars.com and @UISAthletics on social media for the 2023 UIS Track and Field Schedule.
