IOWA CITY, Iowa – Illinois State cross country juniors Caroline Meyers and Lucas Capistrant led the Redbirds in their respective races at the NCAA Midwest Regional on a cold Friday afternoon from the Ashton Burke Cross Country Course.
"For the men and women, we had a lot of freshman and sophomores running their first NCAA Championship race," Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee said. "With some of that inexperience comes some ups and downs and a little bit of inconsistency."
On the women's side, four runners posted top-100 finishes, led by Meyers who finished 66th overall with a time of 21:49.77, six seconds off her personal best. Rachel Hickey was the second Redbird to cross the finish line, placing 84th with a time of 22:04.69.
Following Illinois State's two leading runners were juniors Claire Fuhlhage and Maddi Exline, who finished 92nd and 96th respectively. With a time of 22:13.93, Exline shaved 10 seconds off her previous personal best.
"Caroline had a great day and Claire as well," Bovee said. "Maddi Exline really bounced back from conference. We just have to really work on our consistency from one meet to the next, and I think that something we'll be better at next year with a more mature and experienced team."
To round out the scoring for the women, freshman Ailey Mitchell finished 118th overall with a time of 22:32.85.
The Redbird women finished 16th out of 32 teams with a score of 451.
Capistrant was the leader for the ISU men, crossing the finish line in a time of 32:09.49 in just his second-ever 10K on the cross country course. With his time, Capistrant shaved a minute and 40 seconds off his previous personal best that he set in 2019.
"Really happy with Lucas Capistrant's race today," Bovee said. "He's been dealing with a nagging injury, and you could tell he wasn't thinking about that at all. He just went out and competed and had one of his best races on the year."
The remaining Redbird men all made their debut in the 10-kilometer race on the cross country course. Junior Matt Blanco (94th) and freshman Charlie Wetzel (99th) each posted top-100 finishes in the race, with times of 32:25.84 and 32:31.76, respectively. Freshman Zack Loomis placed 113th in a time of 32:48.00, fourth among the ISU men.
In his final cross country race as a Redbird, redshirt senior Jake Gillum finished fifth for the men, placing 115th overall with a time of 32:49.23.
"On the men's side, we had four out of our six starters that had their first 10K and first regional meet," Bovee said. "I thought the guys were pretty solid throughout. We didn't necessarily close the last two kilometers very well, but I think a lot of that is just getting our guys stronger aerobically as they mature. We'll be right where we want to be."
The ISU men finished 18th out of 28 teams with a score of 497.
For all the latest news on Redbird track & field and cross country, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
