Walter Ogola and Kelli Schulte paced the Birds with first-place finishes in the mens and womens races respectively as Illinois State won both team competitions at the Early Bird Cross Country Invitational hosted by Western Illinois in Macomb, Ill., at Spring Lake State Park.
The men won the meet with a score of 15 points, while Western Illinois finished second with 59 points. The ISU women had 24 points as a team with MVC foe Bradley coming in at second with 55 points.
I felt that both teams did a great job in the first race of the season, said assistant track and field coach Chris Bailey, who handles all cross country responsibilities for Illinois State. We knew going into the race that we had some experienced runners and that we had a chance to be dominant. You expect good performances from your veteran runners, but I was impressed today with a number of the freshman performances.
The 2001 Missouri Valley Conference runner-up and fastest returning league cross country runner Christian Goy was expected to win the mens race, but Ogola, a junior from Eldoret, Kenya, stole the spotlight with a time of 19:03.11. Goy finished second with a time of 19:03.39.
The Redbirds claimed the top seven slots in the mens 6K race with junior Walker Eye finishing third (19:03.73), freshmen Jeremy Doherty (19:04), Mike Estlund (19:16), and Dan Tripp (19:22) finishing fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively. Allan Kipchoge, a junior also from Eldoret, Kenya, snagged the seventh spot with a time of 19:31.
Matt Kaplan, a freshman from Schaumburg, Ill., and Miklos Konkoly, a sophomore from Veszprem, Hungary, also competed for the Birds with times of 20:01 (12th) and 20:57 (18th) respectively.
We knew that Walter, Christian and Walker were going to have a good race, but when you see four new faces running with the older guys, it is a very good sign, added Bailey.
On the womens side, Schulte, a freshman from St. Peters, Mo., turned in the winning time of 14:19 in the 4K race in her first-ever collegiate cross country meet. Diana Ainsley, a sophomore from Palatine, Ill., claimed second place for ISU with a time of 14:27. Illinois State claimed five of the top eight spots in the womens race.
I was real impressed with Kellis race today, said Bailey. To win the first collegiate cross country race that you have ever participated in is an amazing feat.
Jen Klostermann, a junior from Highland, Ill., finished in sixth with a time of 14:43, while sophomore Laura Kennedy (14:54) and junior Lauren Ritt (15:02) were seventh and eighth respectively. Also, participating for the Birds were sophomore Leah Smith at No. 12 (15:22), sophomore Liz Callham at No. 21 (15:32), junior Andrea Black at No. 25 (15:52) and sophomore Angela Bartsch at No. 27 (16:06).
Next weekend, Illinois State will serve as host for the ISU Cross Country Challenge on Saturday, September 14, at the ISU Trail at University Farm.
