It is still early in the cross-country season, but the runners of Eastern’s men and women’s teams have been off to a great start this year.

They started with a 4-1 double dual meet record in the opening Walt Crawford Open. Then in the second meet of the year, they ran to a second-place finish at the Bradley Intercollegiate.

Now, they head into their next meet in Louisville, Kentucky for the Louisville Classic September 30^th. The meet will be the second on the road for the team this season.

At the Bradley Intercollegiate, both the men and the women finished in second place overall. Senior runner Maria Baldwin finished second overall in the 3-mile with a time of 17:07.4 with the next Eastern female runner, freshman Kate Bushue, finishing in 11^th place with a time of 17:42.5.

On the men’s side, freshman Dustin Hafield had another great outing as he placed third overall in the meet with a time of 25:23.1 in the 8K. Eastern also had four additional runners finish in the top twenty, with freshman Jaime Marcos finishing in seventh and another finishing in 14^th place.

Bradley won both the men and women’s meets followed by Eastern, Milwaukee, Western Illinois, Green Bay and Chicago State.

Going into the next meet in Louisville the team has an extra boost of confidence with Maria Baldwin earning the OVC runner of the week award for her stellar performance at the Bradley Intercollegiate.

She looked to bounce back after her tough 2^nd place finish in the Walt Crawford Open

There have been many bright spots for the Eastern cross country team, like freshman runner Dustin Hatfield. However, the brightest spot for their team this season has been senior runner Maria Baldwin. The team is at a great place this early in the season. They are confident and are working as a unit, focusing less about individual performance.

“The young runners are so tough. The men and women are hungry at practice and always willing to do more which speaks volumes as to their work ethic,” Baldwin said.

The next meet for Eastern will take place September 30^th in Louisville, Kentucky and is the midpoint of the season for them.

Alex Hartman can be reach at 581-2812 or aihartman@eiu.edu