The UIS men's cross country team placed 15th of 24 teams at the Lucian Rosa Invite on Saturday morning, finishing with 375 total points. The Prairie Stars edged out Midwest Region opponent Cedarville, which took 16th with 408 points.

The meet featured several regionally and nationally ranked programs. No. 2 regionally ranked Saginaw Valley State finished fourth overall, trailing only nationally ranked powers Colorado School of Mines (No. 2), Adams State (No. 3), and Lee (No. 6). UC-Colorado Springs, ranked No. 14 nationally, rounded out the top five.

Tiffin, ranked No. 9 in the Midwest, took 10th, while regional No. 10 Wayne State edged UIS for 14th place with 340 points. Cedarville, No. 8 in the region, followed UIS in 16th.

Junior Joey Karlesky paced the Prairie Stars with a 54th-place finish in 25:52. Colin Graham (71st, 26:08) and Noah Tegeler (89th, 26:27) followed as the next two scorers. Freshman Charlie Borlin (102nd, 26:36) and junior Daniel Giacomini (103rd, 26:39) completed the scoring five.

Additional depth came from Owen Whelan (118th, 26:50), Matt Padilla (151st, 27:21), Ryan Kries (156th, 27:27), and Finn Loken (176th, 28:02).

"Today was a real test to see where our team was and how we stacked up against some of the best in the nation. We had some underclassmen step up into scoring positions to help our team finish strong. Going into the crossover in two weeks, we know what we need to work on to compete with some out-of-region competition," said head coach Emmons King.

Open Race
Five Prairie Stars competed in the men's open race. Garrett Wagoner led that group in 15th place with a time of 27:47, followed by Charlie Serrahn in 19th at 28:05. River Derby also finished strong in 31st (28:35). Chase Cooley crossed in 53rd (29:51) and Logan Iott rounded out the group in 60th (30:20).

Up Next
UIS will return to action at the Lewis Crossover on Saturday, Oct. 11, one of the largest Division II meets in the country with similar postseason implications.