Illinois State cross country seniors Stacia Beste and Robert Briet finished their cross country careers with 41st and 80th-place finishes, respectively, at the NCAA Cross Country Championships held Monday at Furman University.
Missouri Valley Conference champion Beste clocked 21:32 over the 5K course, one minute and eight seconds behind NCAA champion Tara Chaplin of Arizona. Beste, a native of Shorewood, Wis., placed third at the Midwest Regional meet and was the third runner to cross the line from the Midwest Region at the NCAA race.
Stacia had a great season and ended on a high note, head coach Jeff Pigg said. She had a solid day. She feels a little down and is disappointed that she did not place higher, but she has had a great year.
Breit, a native of Skokie, Ill., started the race near the back of the pack but moved forward throughout the race to finish the 10K course in 30:46 and 80th out of 244 runners.
Robert did a great job and ran a really smart race today, Pigg said. It was an unbelievable race with tremendous runner and Rob did a great job. Hes had a great season. Last year he was our fifth man and finished 183rd in this race. Hes worked hard and just gotten better and better this year. He is really a success story.
Breit is the highest finisher coached by Pigg in his 12 years as a head cross country coach.
Im really pleased with how well they ran, they both did a great job, Pigg added. Tomorrow is day one for track season and this sets high expectations for the season. Its exciting to think about whats around the corner.
