Despite encountering more than they bargained for, the Eastern men’s and women’s cross country teams both came away with first-place team finishes at the season-opening Millikin “5K with a View” meet Tuesday in Decatur.

The women’s team placed nine runners in the top 10 to easily win with 18 points, and the men had the top four finishers while scoring 17 points, which turned out to be a much harder course than the Panthers anticipated.

“(The team) mostly met my expectations, but we need to be stronger at the end,” said head coach Geoff Masanet. “The course was very hilly, so times were a little slow. It’s what we hoped we would get out of it.”

Junior Jason Springer, who won the men’s race in 16 minutes, 16 seconds, in the 3,000-meter race, elaborated on the difficulty of the course.

“We expected it to be rolling hills and one big loop, but it turned out to be kind of repetitive, and the hills were pretty rough for most of it,” he said. “It got your legs tired about halfway through, but I think we handled it pretty well.”

According to Masanet, Springer, who is typically an 800-meter runner on the track team, has been slowly progressing into a “cross country guy.”

“For a track guy to run this good on a hilly course is a good sign,” Masanet said. “This is a signal that he can be one of our best cross country guys.”

Springer was followed by sophomore Matt Feldhake who finished second in 16:22.65, and senior David Holm finished third in 16:28.30.

Senior Aaron Iaun finished fourth in 16:29.60.

Sophomore Matt Dettloff was the final scoring runner, and he finished in seventh in 16:36.30.

In the women’s race, red-shirt freshman Miami (Ohio) transfer Olivia Kraus won her first race in a Panther uniform, covering the course in 19:23.

“(Kraus) comes in with very good credentials,” Masanet said. “We’re happy to have her here. She ran comfortably.”

Kraus of Eureka was the 2007 Class 1A IHSA cross country champion.

The Panthers had eight other runners finish within 1:09 after Kraus. Among them were senior Erin O’Grady (second, 19:36) and freshman Danielle Dickman (fourth, 20:16), who was also competing in her first race at Eastern.

“(Dickman) is pretty good. She ran a little better than expected,” Masanet said. “She had a nice race.”

Junior Caitlin Napoleoni was fifth in 20:18.65, and sophomore Brittany Arthur rounded out the Eastern scoring with a sixth-place finish in 20:29.10.

Despite the staggering number of finishers the Panthers placed in the top 10 of each race, Masanet mentioned that the team didn’t execute their goal of running together as a pack as well as he would have liked.

“They did it well, but could have been better,” he said. “They were a little too strung out early in the race. We were near, but not together.”

O’Grady agreed the team could’ve done a better job of running together, but that it didn’t take away from the outcome of the race.

“We were supposed to run as a pack, and I think overall we could have done better,” she said. “But it was a positive day. We can walk away from it happy.”

Results of all the team scores were not available as of press time.

Eastern was the only Division I school competing at the meet. Greenville College, Lincoln College, Millikin and Blackburn also participated.

The Panthers continue their season with the EIU Panther Open at 5 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Panther Trail.

Jeff Jurinek can be reached at 581-7944 or at jejurinek@eiu.edu.