The Illinois State womens cross country team defended their turf on Saturday, as they picked up a first place finish in the Redbird Challenge, held at the Illinois State Cross Country Course.
The women had a team score of 23, which was 20 points lower than second place finisher Western Illinois, who had 43. Northern Iowa finished third with 64.
The Illinois State men finished second, behind preseason Valley favorite Northern Iowa. Northern Iowa finished with 23 points, the Redbirds had 35 in second, and Western Illinois was third with 74.
In the womens 4K, Lauren Ritt took home first place with a time of 14:52.47, nearly 14 seconds better than Sarah Swain of Western Illinois, who took second with a time of 15:06.40. Illinois State also took third through fifth places, as Diana Ainsley was third (15:06.66), Laura Kennedy fourth (15:08.24) and Leah Smith fifth (15:11.80).
Lauren ran a great race, said head coach Chris Bailey. She ran smart, she ran tough, and by finishing first, its great to see that all her hard work has paid off.
Also running for the women were Maureen Nelligan (10, 15:51.16), Ashley Boller (12, 16:09.58) and Liz Callham (13, 16:15.45).
Our women have one goal in mind, added Bailey. They want to win the conference championship, and they all know that it starts on the first day. They all believe in this goal and I was very impressed with their effort today.
On the mens side, Jeremy Doherty was the top Redbird finisher with a time of 19:03.99, which was good for third place in the 6K. Walter Ogola started off his senior with a fifth place finish and a time of 19:06.16. Mike Estlund and Dan Tripp also finished in the top ten of the meet. Estlund was seventh in the with a time of 19:22.40, while Tripp was ninth with a time of 19:26.46. Rounding out the scoring for the Birds was Nate Swartzendruber with a time of 19:35.80, good for eleventh place.
Half of our guys ran a pretty good race, but the other half needs to improve, Bailey said of his mens team. All of our guys ran a gutty race today, but some of them didnt run a very smart race. Thats what this part of the season is for though. Well learn early and well be ready to compete for the conference title in a couple months.
The cross country team will next be in action Friday evening, as they participate in the Bradley Invite in Peoria.
