After getting the first meet under its belt last weekend, the Illinois State mens and womens cross country teams return to action this Friday at the Illinois Invitational.
The mens meet is an all-Illinois event, featuring Illinois State, Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Bradley and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. The womens competition involves the same teams but also includes Wisconsin.
Were excited for the opportunity to run against Illinois, head coach Jeff Pigg said. Theyre ranked No. 4 in the region. Coach Weineke has been there a long time and always has good teams.
Pigg and his teams are looking forward to running against Eastern Illinois and Bradley, two teams they competed with last weekend at the Bradley Open. EIU was the only team to place higher than the Redbird men in the final standings.
Im excited to see how we do against Eastern this week compared to last week, Pigg said. Our guys are looking very good. Our girls are also looking better. theyre going to get better and better this year.
Junior Kevin Bailey will make his first appearance of the season, but Pigg is uncertain as to whether or not top runner Christian Goy will be back from an ankle sprain.
With Bailey back, well be a little stronger, Pigg said. Christians feeling better and doing well. If Im not 100% sure theres no risk, he wont run. Were not taking any chances.
The Illinois Invitational womens race starts at 5:30 at Savoy Golf Course with the mens race following at 6:00.
