Iowa City IA.- The Illinois State cross country teams opened the 2023 season on Friday afternoon at the Hawkeye Invitational hosted by the University of Iowa with the woman claiming first and the men claiming third.
"Really pleased with the women, we had our best debuts in a few years with Graduate student Claire Fuhlhage claiming her fist ever victory in a colligate race, it was fun to see her win and her leadership as well. With a young team I was happy to see her pulling them with her, said director of track & field and cross country Jeff Bovee. "Junior Lauren Schulze had a breakthrough race, Freshman Grace Erb was back in the pack but then closed the gap nearing the end of the race."
"As a team we did a really great job executing the plan in the first half of the race. As the race went on, we needed to push up and we did just that. I worked up to the leader at the 3,000-meter mark and try and close the gap. Excited for what this team brings and It's going to be an exciting season!" – Graduate student Claire Fuhlhage
In the woman's race, Claire Fuhlhage was the top Redbird finisher and first overall with a time of 14:02.60, nine seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Â Just behind her was Schulze with a fourth-place finish at 14:21.00, five and sixth place were Junior Mattison Plummer with 14:30.90 and Erb with 14:31.80. Rounding out the top five finishers was junior Viviana Sanfilippo with 14:42.30.
"Sophomore Jeff Luka and freshman Noah Penry were the only runners on the ISU cross country squad that has competed in a colligate race. The men had a great start with a ton of great debuts as well, but an all-around great effort" – Director of Track & field and cross country.
In the men's 6,000-meter race was paced by Freshman Ethan Reynoso finishing in 17th place with a time of 18:36.6 and right behind him in 18th place was freshman Dylan Myers with a time of 18:38.1. Â Freshman Blake Oleson was just behind in 23rd place with 18:50.9. rounding out the top five for the men was Penry coming in 31st with 19:21.0 and freshman Nathan Virginelli in 32nd with 19.24.4.
The Redbirds return to the course on Friday, September 15 for the Redbird Invite starting at 5 p.m. at the Weibring Golf Course on the Illinois State campus. Last season the ISU women placed third, while the men also took third.
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