NORMAL, Ill. – Following a successful cross country and indoor track & field season, senior distance runner Kevin Koski is making his 2021 outdoor debut on Friday, April 16 in the 10,000-meter run invite at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia. Koski's race is set to begin at 8:45 p.m. central time at Lannigan Field.
The Park Falls, Wisconsin native is one of 21 competitors from 15 different schools in the men's 10,000-meter invite race and will face opponents from Charlotte, Eastern Illinois, Florida State, Georgetown, Iowa State, Iona, La Salle, UMass-Lowell, Ole Miss, NC State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia and Wake Forest.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Live results will be available at Flash Results or on Twitter @redbird_trackxc.
CROSS COUNTRY & INDOOR SUCCESS
Koski enters his first outdoor race of 2021, coming off of a successful dual cross country and indoor season. In cross country, Koski was crowned the MVC individual champion, leading the 'Birds to their first conference cross country team title since 2002 and earning the Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA Cross Country Championships. With his win at the MVC Cross Country Championships, Koski was named the Valley's Athlete of the Year and earned All-Valley honors for the first time in cross country. He is one of only five Redbirds in school history to place in the top-100 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing 99th overall with a time of 31:32.5 in the 10K race.
On the track, Koski ran just one race indoors, competing in the 5,000-meter run at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet. Koski fell just short of the Illinois State school record in the event, clocking in at 14:00.40 for the No. 2 time in Redbird indoor track & field history.
UP NEXT
The full Illinois State track & field squad will return to action at the Drake Relays (April 22-24) and at Louisville's Lenny Lyles-Clark Wood Invitational (April 23-24) next weekend.
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