Illinois State womens cross country runner Laura Kennedy took home first place honors to lead the Redbirds to victories over Illinois and Northern Iowa during Saturdays Redbird Challenge.
Kennedys first place time of 14:56.81 was followed by teammate Betsy McDonalds second place time of 15:10.34, while Maureen Nelligan was fifth at 15:24.06. The Redbird women won with a total of 29 points, followed by Illinois (42 points) and Northern Iowa (51 points).
On the mens side, Illinois State placed second overall with 30 points, while Illinois won the race with 20 points. Northern Iowa was third with 68 points.
Head coach Chris Bailey was pleased with the effort his runners gave and is excited about where both teams stand at this early point in the season.
Were going strictly by fitness right now, Bailey said. We havent done any really hard training, so this gives us a good gauge of where everybodys at and Im pleased with what we accomplished today.
Bailey has been particularly impressed with the training of Kennedy. Her hard work during the summer months is starting to pay off according to Bailey.
Laura was especially tough, and it shows how hard shes been working, Bailey said. Ive been saying for the past two weeks that Laura is a great contender for the conference championship. I dont see any reason why she cant be up there. If she stays healthy and keeps training the way she has, she is going to do great things for us.
The top Illinois State finisher for the men was Jeremy Doherty, who finished third with a time of 19:55.27, while freshman Nick Dunn was sixth (20:06.21). Mike Estlund was seventh with a time of 20:08.87.
Mike Estlund had a good race, Bailey said. He put in a great summer and this race was a testament to what hes done over the last three months.
Both the Redbird men and women return to action next Friday, September 10, when they take on Bradley in Peoria.
