Freshman Brad LaRocque said he went out strong and fast in Friday’s meet at the Bradley Classic and was a little worried about where the rest of the pack was.

But Eastern head coach Geoff Masanet yelled at LaRocque and told him he was doing great – and the pack was right behind him.

“I was a little worried, and then, after coach said something, I turned around, and there were seven or eight white EIU jerseys and I was like, “All right; this is great,'” LaRocque said.

The men’s team managed to keep the pack throughout the race and placed fifth out of 15 teams.

Masanet said because of all the solid teams competing in the meet, the fifth place finish was very impressive.

“Usually, in a typical meet, you have some really good teams, some good teams, some medium level teams, then some bad teams, and then some terrible teams that you know are going to be blown out of the water,” Masanet said. “This wasn’t the case; all the teams were good teams. There wasn’t one team that you just knew would lose.”

The Panthers finished 14 points behind Drake, who Masanet said beat them by about 120 points last weekend at Memphis.

“It was great to be that close to them,” sophomore David Holm said. “They beat up on everyone across the board last weekend, and it just shows what we can do when we have a whole bunch of people running strong.”

LaRocque was the first finisher for Eastern and the 28th finisher overall with a time of 25 minutes, 39 seconds.

LaRocque was followed by freshman Ryan Hoklas in 30th place, Holm in 32nd and freshman Derek Ericson in 39th.

Holm said he was impressed that he was the only non-freshman in the top seven.

“All the freshman are doing great, and it just shows that we have a lot of depth and talent in our young guys,” Holm said.

Missouri’s Dan Hedgecock won the 8,000-meter race in Peoria. Missouri took the team title with 27 points.

The women placed 15th of 17 teams overall, but Masanet said it wasn’t a big deal.

Masnet said having the top three run well and getting sophomore Jessica Blondell and freshman Terasita Williams back in the racing scene is what mattered.

This was Blondell and Williams’ second time competing all year because of nagging injuries.

Sophomore Erin O’Grady was the first Panther to finish in 45th place with a time of 22:36.

Junior Katie O’Brien and freshman Caitlin Napoleoni were behind O’Grady in 63rd and 69th place overall.

Wichita State’s Kellyn Johnson won the 6,000-meter race in Peoria. Missouri took the team title with 49 points.