PEORIA, Ill. – In the largest meet of the season for each of the Redbird cross country squads, the Illinois State men's squad placed ninth of 35 schools in the "Red" race while the women placed 15th of 38 schools in their "Red" race.
Between the two squads 11 personal bests were set, including eight coming on the men's side with its top six runners each racing under the 25-minute mark for the 8,000-meters, and a seventh finishing a fraction of a second over the mark. On the women's side, Caroline Meyers' 21:17.4 is not only a new personal best, but also moves her to eighth on the school's all-time 6,000-meter record book.
In the women's race, a pair of Big Ten schools took the top two honors as Northwestern and Illinois went first and second with 68 and 84 points, respectively. Bradley (105), Grand Valley State (122), Augustana (201), North Dakota State (220), Loyola (221), Miami (Ohio) (236), Cincinnati (265), South Dakota State (270), Drake (348), Wichita State (424), Xavier (435), and Milwaukee (455) finished just ahead of ISU's 462. Rounding out the field behind the Redbirds was a group of 23 other schools, including six other MVC opponents.
In the men's race, only Loyola (82), Wichita State (84), Grand Valley State (96), Illinois (!45), Bradley (159), Miami (Ohio) (165), and North Dakota State (204) finished ahead of the Redbirds' 283 points, while IUPUI (308), Eastern Illinois (359), and Louisville (393) round out a slew of schools behind ISU including seven from the Missouri Valley Conference.
Newcomer Baptiste Tardiveau finished in a time of 24:17.0, a spectacular time that was three seconds off his personal best set two weeks ago at the Gans Creek Classic, as he placed 43rd overall in the field of 289 runners. Zack Loomis topped his previous career-best when he placed 50th in a time of 24:21.6, 27 seconds better than the time he put up two weeks ago and over a minute faster than his PR from last season – set at the same meet as today.
"It was a really good men's performance," said director of track and field/head cross country coach Jeff Bovee. "It didn't go perfect, but definitely there was a lot of improvement there. Zack Loomis and Yusuf Baig made big improvements, and Tyler Klouda is coming around – this was certainly one of our better top-five and top-seven performances in a while. I was really pleased with where we are heading for the men, but I still think there is a lot of room to grow too."
Mathis Chavand continued to lower his times, and for the third time this season set a new personal-best, this time with a time of 24:24.6, placing 55th with a time 35 seconds faster than his previous career-low. Klouda also joined the PR-setting club on the day, when he placed 71st in a time of 24:37.5 – the second time he has gone under the 25-minute mark – with a 21-second PR. Yusuf Baig has dropped his 8,000-meter time in each of his three races at the distance and crossed the finish line in a time of 24:53.5, nearly 36 seconds faster than his previous top-time. Jordan Wood placed 107th in a time of 24:57.6 – the sixth and final Redbird to finish under 25 minutes, 12 seconds faster than his time from two weeks ago, and over a minute and a half faster than his top time a season ago.
Charlie Wetzel's time of 25:00.7 placed him 116th, while Charles Murphy ran to a time of 25:40.4, placing 186th – in a new personal-best during his first race of the 2022 season. In the open race, Tyler Polak was the team leader in a time of 25:28.6 – also a new personal-best – in his first race of the 2022 season, with Connor Murphy, running in his first 8k of the season, finished 36th in a time of 26:13.2. Julian Head finished 66th in a time of 27:08.8, Harris Porter 80th in 27:27.8, and Jeff Luka 103rd in 27:59.9.
Meyers' 21:17.4 is nearly seven seconds faster than her top time from this season – set two weeks ago at the Gans Creek Classic in Missouri, and 26 seconds faster than her best time in 2022, as she placed 37th in the large field of 306 runners. Ailey Mitchell finished 78th overall in a time of 21:51.2, while Maddie Exline ran a time of 22:07.0, placing 109th, and just four tenths of a second off her current PR set two weeks earlier. Lauren Schulze was also on the cusp of a new personal best, placing 134th in a time of 22:18.4, just a second off her time at the Gans Creek Classic.
"Caroline has been racing consistently well, and Lauren Schulze is making good progress too," said Bovee. "We had a couple of solid performances here and there, but overall, we were a little bit flat today. We have to tweak a couple of things and we'll get our pop back. We've been pushing a little bit harder than we want to be, but nonetheless, the women put together a great effort. I think we will be ready to bounce back and be ready to go at MVC's.
"Caroline is racing consistently well, and Lauren Schulze is making good progress too," said Bovee. "We had a couple of solid performances here and there, but we were a bit flat today on the women's side. We have to tweak a few things and we'll get our pop back. We've been pushing harder than we normally do, and I am confident we will be ready to bounce back for MVC's in a couple of weeks."
Rachel Hickey placed 147th for the Redbirds, as the senior finished in a time of 22:24.8 to round out the scoring five for the Redbirds. Ashley Heagy was close to setting her personal-best with a time of 22:39.3 to place 170th, while freshman Maggie Reed's time of 22:46.9 is over 27 seconds faster than her previous collegiate best. Mackenzie Brownrigg (188th, 22:55.9) and Mattison Plummer (198th, 23:06.4) rounded out the Redbirds in the race.
In the open race ISU was led by Vivianna Sanfilippo, whose time of 23:41.6 is five seconds faster than her previous career-best, placing her 46th in the race, while Jenna Gruber (23:50.2, 56th) and Kendy Ummel (72nd, 24:23.8) closed out ISU's squad in the race.
The Redbirds have a final pre-MVC Championship meet next weekend at Illinois, before traveling to Terre Haute on October 28 for the 2022 MVC Championships hosted by Indiana State University.
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