The Eastern cross country team performed at the Illinois Intercollegiate on Friday, recording a seventh place finish. Both the men and women showed a strong improvement from the Walt Crawford Open a week ago.

The men’s team had a big improvement in their opening run at the Walt Crawford Open. Their average time improved by 51.42 seconds for a time of 25:24.57.

Coach Erin Howarth said she anticipates even more improvement as the season goes on.

“I don’t even think we have scratched the surface for what’s ahead,” she said.

The team is still missing three solid runners in red-shirt freshman Joe Calio, sophomore Victor Delatorre, and red-shirt junior Michael Hesslau.

“If we can have five guys toe the line healthy, I think we will improve race to race,” Howarth said.

Sophomore Bryce Basting led the way, finishing seventh in the men’s combined and fourth in the university division. He finished with a time of 24:44, seeing an improvement of 1:22 from the Walt Crawford Open. His time was the 20th best in Eastern history for an 8K race.

Junior Pablo Ramirez, last week’s Ohio Valley Conference Runner of the Week, finished 15th combined and seventh in the university division. His time of 24:54 was an improvement of 54 seconds from the Walt Crawford Open.

Co-captain Danny Delaney had yet another good run. He finished 36th in the combined and 14th in the university division. He had a time of 25:18 on the day.

Red-shirt junior Matt Black finished 78th in the combined results and 28th in the university division. He put up a time of 26:02. Senior Doug Mateas finished 83rd among the combined runners and 30th in the university division with a time of 26:07.

The women’s team also ran well. Although the team still lacks depth, Howarth has the team going in the right direction.

“Every week whatever we say we need to work on, it seems to happen,” Howarth said. “If we keep knowing and recognizing what our weaknesses are and correcting them fast, we could piece it all together by the end when it’s important.”

Reigning OVC women’s Runner of the Week Olivia Klaus led the women with a time of 18:13 to place 21st in the combined results and 17th in the university division. Senior Britney Whitehead was right behind her with a time of 18:17 to finish 23rd in the combined results and 19th in the university division.

Fellow senior Elizabeth Dole finished 45th among the combined runners and 31st in the university division with a time of 19:01 on the day. Red-shirt junior Paige Biehler finished one place behind Dole in both divisions with a time of 19:03.

Eastern’s next meet is the Louisville Cross Country Classic on September 29 in Louisville, Ky.

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