Cross county teams to compete in Peoria
October 12, 2017
With the weather getting a bit colder and the leaves changing color, the Eastern cross country season is coming to a close, with only two meets left before Eastern hosts the OVC conference meet at home.
Both the men and women have been successful this year, with a stellar 2nd place finish at the Bradley Intercollegiate for both squads in mid-September and a highly contested 19th place finish out of 30 teams for the men at the Greater Louisville Classic September 30th . The women did not fare as well as the men did at Louisville though, they finished 33rd out of 37th
This week the men and women of Eastern cross country head on the road to Peoria to compete at the Bradley Pink Classic on Friday. This will be the second time this season that the team will compete at Bradley University.
The first time they competed at Bradley this year Maria Baldwin had a stellar race that earned her female runner of the week in the OVC.
The men’s team will look to keep up their strong finishes and top ranked running, while the women will try to bounce back from a rough finish at the previous meet at Louisville.
Baldwin led the way for them, as she was the top female finisher with a time of 18:31.61 in the 5K, which was good for 137th in the meet.
She was followed by freshman runner Kate Bushue who finished 191st with a time of 18:37.31. The women will try to keep the consistency that has made them the 15th regionally ranked team this year.
For the men’s team, freshman runner Dustin Hatfield had another solid performance on the road in the 8K course in Louisville. He was the top performer, as his time of 24:35.35 was best among the team and set the Eastern freshman 8K record as well as good enough to finish in the top 50, in 49th place.
Eastern also had another runner finish in the top 100, as senior Chris Orlow finished in 82nd place with a time of 24:58.03, which helped propel the team to the 19th spot in the meet.
The Bradley Pink Classic will commence Friday at a time to be announced.
Alex Hartman can be reached at 581-2812 or aihartman@eiu.edu
