Eastern men’s and women’s cross country head coach Geoff Masanet was pleased with the Eastern women’s cross country team’s performance Saturday.

He was not pleased with the men’s team.

Despite solid showings in both team’s finishes (women – second, men – third), there was still plenty of room for improvement Saturday after the Evansville Invitational in Evansville, Ind.

The Eastern women’s cross country team managed to close the gap on Murray State and finish second as a team in the 5,000-meter race.

Red-shirt freshman Olivia Klaus led the Panthers with a fifth-place finish (19 minutes, 14.67 seconds). Senior Erin O’Grady finished in ninth place (19:32.12). Sophomore Brittney Arthur finished right behind in 10th place (19:42.64). Freshman Danielle Dickman finished in 16th place (19:59). Freshman Erika Ramos rounded out the scoring with a 20th-place finish (20:04.38), but 18th in team scoring.

O’Grady said the course was muddy and that’s why the times weren’t the best. She said the team wanted to go out strong because the Panthers would have to battle all the way through the meet.

O’Grady said she would have liked to finish stronger, and that’s what Masanet picked up on.

Masanet said he needs a better finish from a senior. But Masanet was pleased with his final three runners. He said Arthur had her best race of her cross country career and was pleased with Dickman and Ramos’ races as well.

Masanet was not pleased with the team’s finishes in the race.

“If the race had been 400 meters shorter…” he said. “Everyone got passed by someone in the final quarter-mile except (Arthur).”

Murray State, an Ohio Valley Conference opponent, took the team title with 49 points, and Eastern finished with 58 team points. The Panthers outdistanced themselves from other OVC opponents including Southeast Missouri (79), Tennessee Martin (206), Tennessee Tech (216) and Austin Peay (275).

Belmont senior Brittany Thune was the overall winner in the woman’s race in 17:54.60.

Red-shirt sophomore Brad LaRocque helped the Eastern men salvage a bad performance, Masanet said.

Masanet said the Eastern men’s team should have won the race by 30 points.

LaRocque ran a season best (26:34.87). He missed the 2008 season with a pelvic stress fracture and competed in only his second race of the year.

LaRocque was Eastern’s highest finisher as the Panthers finished third out of 14 teams in the 8,000-meter race. LaRocque’s seventh-place finish helped the Panthers edge OVC member Southeast Missouri 95-97 in the team point standings. Marshall won the event with 84 points. Marian College was second with 84 points.

“We didn’t run anywhere where we could be,” Masanet said.

Eastern was able to edge the Redhawks thanks to the tight pack of its final three scoring runners.

While red-shirt sophomore Harrison Bueno finished 12th in 26:58, the Panthers relied on the finishes from sophomore Connor Kustief, red-shirt senior David Holm and red-shirt junior Mario Castrejon.

Kustief finished 23rd (27:16.00), Holm finished right behind in 24th place (27:17.89) and Castrejon finished in 29th place (27:33.54). Eastern also outdistanced itself from other OVC teams including Tennessee Tech (111), Austin Peay (216), Tennessee Martin (246) and Murray State (339).

Masanet was only pleased with Bueno and LaRocque’s performances.

“I’m at a loss,” Masanet said. “We’re fortunate to edge (SEMO).”

Masanet is unsure why the team raced so poorly. He said the Eastern men’s team should have had its top seven in the top 15 of the race.

“We didn’t pay any price (Saturday),” Masanet said.

Marshall sophomore Matt Schiffbauer was the overall winner in the men’s race in 25:33.89.

Both squads return to action when they travel to the OVC Championships at 10 a.m. Oct. 31 in Nashville, Tenn.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.