It was the same old story for the Panthers this year: the talent is there but it just did not show up on race day.

“We know we are better than what we are showing,” junior Erin O’Grady said. “We just did not race well or get the job done.”

The Panther men placed 20th of 23 teams and the women placed 26th of 27 teams overall in the NCAA Midwest Regionals at Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Sophomore Derek Ericson was the first Panther to cross the finish line for the second race in a row, stepping up for the injured number one runner, senior Brad Butler.

Ericson finished 85th overall with a time of 33 minutes, 24.20 seconds in the men’s 10,000 meter race.

Oklahoma State won the men’s race, while Minnesota took the title in the women’s race.

Junior Erin O’Grady finished first for the Panthers and 125th overall in the women’s 6,000 meter with a time of 23:27.45.

O’Grady said the course had a few straightaways and hills that would not have been all that bad had it not been for the heavy winds.

“The wind was ridiculous, but we told everyone to use the other runners to kind of block the wind from you and then once you get in the trees it shouldn’t be so bad, but the straightaways were rough,” O’Grady said.

O’Grady said that after running on Southeast Missouri’s conference course, the hills at Oklahoma State did not bother her at all.

O’Grady said that while regionals were disappointing for the most part, there is some positive to take from it.

“The good thing is that we have the talent, and we can take that talent and the experience from this year and build on it and move it into track season,” O’Grady said.

Members of the cross country team will start the indoor track season as it kicks off on Dec. 12 at Lantz Fieldhouse with their meet against Indiana State.

Brandy Provaznik can be reached at 581-7944 or at bjprovaznik@eiu.edu.