Eastern’s cross country team had another strong showing this weekend at the Bradley Invite in Peoria.

The men’s team finished 13th out of 21 teams, while the women finished 4th out of 20.

The top finisher for the men’s team was junior Brad LaRocque, who posted a time of 24:57, putting him in 25th place. LaRocque was the only member of the men’s team to break the top 50.

The 8 kilometer race, held at Bradley University’s Newman Golf Course, featured a field of 211 male competitors.

Other top finishers for the Panther men’s team included junior Connor Kustief in 82nd place, with a time of 25:52 and senior Matt Dettloff finishing in 89th with a time of 25:58.

The Panther men were unable to get the top three or top five finish they had hoped for prior to the meet.

Freshman Ryan Ballard commented on the team’s performance.

“Well, it’s kind of like the other meets we’ve had. A hand-full of kids do really well and then the other half of the team kind of under performs,” Ballard said. “We were hoping for a better finish.”

Regarding his own 103rd place performance, Ballard said it was better than his performance during the last couple meets.

Also competing in this event were OVC rivals Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. The Panthers looked to use this meet as somewhat of a preview of what to expect from the two for the conference race.

Eastern was unable to beat Southeast Missouri which finished ninth. The Panthers did however beat Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, who finished 19th.

The top finisher for the women was sophomore Olivia Klaus, who finished 16th on the 6K course in 21:56. Klaus finished as the top Eastern women’s runner for the fourth time this season.

Klaus said overall the team ran strong and hard and that it was a pretty good race.

Klaus also added that running a 6K is slightly different than running a 5K, but she thought she adjusted well.

She also said staying tough through the middle of the race is key, as it is probably the toughest part of the race.

The Panther women had many other top finishers, including three others in the top 40.

Senior Caitlin Napoleoni finished 25th with a time of 22:12, junior Brittany Arthur finished 30th with a time of 22:21 and sophomore Gabby Duenas finished 38th with a time of 22:34.

The University of Iowa won the men’s meet with 67 points. Matthew Graham of DePaul finished first with a time of 23:37.

The women’s race was won by Iowa State with 69 points. Elise Sigg of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee finished first with a time of 21:05.

The Panthers will have another week of rest before returning to competition Oct. 30 in Cookeville, Tenn. for the OVC Championship meet.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7944

or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.

The men’s cross country team practices on Sept. 28. (Jordan Boner

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