PEORIA, Ill. – With a 13th place finish at Friday's NCAA Midwest Regional, senior Ryan Rutherford became the first-ever Illinois State men's cross country runner to earn back-to-back All-NCAA Regional accolades after finishing 20th last season.
Rutherford was also among four men and five women who achieved personal bests in their respective races, as the ISU men finished 11th out of 29 teams, while the women finished 16th out of 32 teams on a clear but cold day – with the temperature peaking in the mid-20s – at the Newman Golf Course.
Led by Rutherford's 13th place finish with a personal-best 10K time of 30:27.2, the Redbird men tallied 315 points. Oklahoma State earned the men's regional title with a team total of 63 points. Rutherford fell just short of qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
"Unfortunately, the pace was slow early, and Ryan got bounced around in that lead pack and wasn't in the right position when things started moving later in the race," Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "Ryan's had a wonderful career here at Illinois State, and I wish we could have had one more race with him at the NCAA meet. The great thing is that we still have him for track and field."
Behind Rutherford, juniors Tyler Morse and Dave Eckhart finished 43rd and 62nd with personal-best times of 30:56.3 and 31:09.8, respectively. In his first-ever collegiate 10K, Jesse Hahne toured the course in 31:30.6, while Ryan Bybee earned a personal-best with his 31:48.3 finish. Marcelo Burbano and Jeff Bajema rounded out ISU's seven with times of 32:48.7 and 32:51.4, respectively.
"Overall, our first three guys gave us a chance to do some good things as a team," Bovee said. "I was really pleased with Tyler and Dave. They ran really strong races and put themselves up there with the lead pack and ran tough from the start."
The Redbird women were led by sophomore Ariel Michalek's 27th place finish – just two spots shy of earning All-NCAA Regional honors – with a personal-best 6K time of 20:55.3. Iowa State captured the women's team title with 66 points, while Illinois State totaled 488 points. All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree Kelly McShea did not race in Friday's regional due to an injury.
"The women performed well," Bovee said. "We had many personal bests. Our women came in a little dinged-up from the MVC Championships, so that affected them a little bit, but I thought they came out and competed really hard. I was really proud of the effort."
Kim Christensen was ISU's second finisher with a personal-best time of 21:04.8 while placing 43rd overall. Haley Goers and Ashley England also set personal records with times of 21:38.2 and 22:27.8, respectively. Krista DeCeault, Kimberly Sanden and Ashley Kamin rounded out the Redbirds with respective times of 22:29.7, 22:30.5 and 22:56.4. Sanden also recorded a personal best.
Friday's NCAA Midwest Regional concluded the Illinois State men's and women's cross country season.
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