NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State men's and women's cross country teams will open their 2023 seasons on Friday afternoon, as the squads will compete at the 2023 Hawkeye Invitational, hosted by Iowa.
The women's 4,000-meter race begins at 6 p.m., with the men's 6,000-meter race starting just after at 6:45 p.m.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
The Illinois State women's team was picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, while the men's program was selected to finish third.
The Illinois State men return six of their top eight runners and will look to build off a strong trio of runners at the top of the lineup. Baptise Tardiveau and Mathis Chavand lead the way, with Chavand earning MVC Freshman of the Year honors in 2022. Chavand finished ninth at last year's MVC Championship with time of 24:52.6 and Tardiveau placed 13th in 24:58.1 to earn all-conference honorable mention honors. Zack Loomis finished 15th with a time of 24:59.6 to round out the trio of top returning runners for the Redbirds.
The Redbird women have three of their top eight runners returning, with graduate student Claire Fuhlhage leading the way. She finished in the top-30 at the MVC Championship last year with a time of 22:39.3 alongside Lauren Schulze and Kaitlin Skeate.
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