Despite turbulent weather and a 30-mintue delay, Eastern’s men’s and women’s cross country teams posted good performances in their season opening race at the Walt Crawford Open.

The men’s team finished third, finishing behind Indian University-Purdue University-Indianapolis and eventual champion, Southern Illinois-Carbondale.

Red-shirt junior Pablo Ramirez made his Eastern debut, leading the Panthers with a time of 25:49.36 en route to a seventh place finish.

Team captain junior Danny Delaney also put up a good show, finishing the race with a time of 26:03.64, which was good for an 11th place finish.

All-OVC selection sophomore Bryce Basting ran a time of 26:06.85 to finish 12th.

Junior Matt Black also performed well in his first race of the season, posting a time of 26:21.73, good for a 17th place finish.

Senior Doug Mateas finished just behind Black, recording a time of 26:58.37.

As a team, Eastern scored 66 points, just four points away from second-place IUPUI.

Eastern’s women’s team also posted a good performance in its first race of the season. Senior All-OVC runners Olivia Klaus and Britney Whitehead finished fourth and fifth

place, respectively. Klaus had a time of 18:16.61, while Whitehead finished the race with a time of 18:22.61.

Senior Stephanie Peisker also finished eighth place with a time of 18:29.30.

Fellow senior Erika Ramos posted a time of 18:56.00, which was good for a 14th place finish.

Senior Elizabeth Dole also ran well, recording a 16th place finish with a time of 18:58.00. Freshmen Victoria Quarton and Amy Yeoman rounded out the top performers for Eastern, recording a 19th and 21st place finish, respectively.

Quarton finished with a time of 19:05.39 while Yeoman finished with a time of 19:09.69.

As a team, the women lost by just six points to champion Southern Illinois-Carbondale.

Eastern will compete at the Illinois Intercollegiate on Sept. 14 in Bloomington.

Holden Fuehne can be reached at 581-2812 or hjfuehne@eiu.edu.