Wetzel, Mitchell Lead Illinois State in Redbird Invite

NORMAL, Ill. – On an extremely hot Friday evening, sophomores Charlie Wetzel and Ailey Mitchell notched top-15 finishes to lead the Redbirds to a fifth-place team finish on the men's side and a fourth-place team finish on the women's side at the Redbird Invite at the Weibring Golf Club.

Wetzel paced the Redbird men with a 11^th place finish in the men's 8k race, clocking in with a personal best time of 24:48.40, a full 16 seconds better than his previous best at ISU.

A pair of traditional mid-distance runners were the next to cross the finish line for the 'Birds, as Joseph Morrison and Riley Wells finished 23^rd and 38^th, respectively. Sophomore Tyler Polak finished 42^nd overall in a time of 25:42.20. Wells and Polak both ran personal bests.

Freshman Charlie Kistner was the final scorer to cross the finish line for ISU, finishing 46^th overall in his debut 8k race. The men finished fifth overall with a total of 153 points.

In just her first 6k race in an ISU uniform, Mitchell was the first runner to cross the finish line for the 'Birds, finishing 14^th overall in a time of 21:39.80. The Redbird Invite also marked Mitchell's first race of the 2021 campaign.

UMKC transfer Claire Fuhlhage finished as the second runner for the ISU women, placing 28^th overall in a time of 22:06.70. Seniors Rachel Hickey and Caroline Meyers were the next to score for ISU, finishing just seconds apart in 33^rd and 34^th, respectively.

Freshman Lauren Schulze notched a top-50 finish in her debut 6k race, placing 44^th overall in a time of 22:35.90. The ISU women finished fourth overall with 134 points, finishing ahead of MVC foes Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Drake and Valparaiso.

UP NEXT

The Redbirds have a weekend off before traveling to South Bend Indiana to compete in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. The action is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 1.

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