Complete Results |
Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois men's and women's cross country opened the 2022 season on Friday afternoon with the Panthers hosting the Walt Crawford Open at the Tom Woodall Panther Trail.
The EIU men placed second while the EIU women were third among a field that included runners from nine schools in both the men's and women's races.
Andrew Pilat and
Adam Swanson led the men's pack in the 8K race for a large portion of the event before Jackson Krieg of Indiana State made a strong push in the last half kilometer to pull ahead and collect the win. Krieg had a winning time of 25:12.2. Pilat finished second with a time of 25:23.7 followed by Swanson in third at 25:32.2.
Josh Whitaker placed fourth for the Panthers with a time of 25:44.7 but a strong knit group of Indiana State runners followed giving the Sycamores the men's team title with 39 points. EIU was second with 46 with UIC just behind with 48. SIUE placed fourth with Marquette in fifth.
Freshman
Michael Atkins was EIU's fourth scored runner at 26:16.0 placing 15th with
Isai Morales the fifth scored Panther in 25th with a time of 26:32.5.
Mason Stoeger was 26th at 26:37.8 and
Noah Schalliol was 27th at 26:42.1. Senior runner
Dustin Hatfield, who was last year's OVC Runner of the Year while qualifying for the NCAA National Championships, did not run in the meet and will compete in two weeks at Illinois State.
The women's race played out with a similar plot as the men's race for EIU as
Kate Bushue led the pack for a majority of the race only to be overtaken late to finish in fourth place to lead EIU. Bushue had a time of 18:36.7. Kate Jochims had a steady 5K pace to win the race for Marquette with a time of 18:22.5. Teresa Mejia of UIC was second and Emily Noone of Marquette placed third. The strong finish by Marquette led the Golden Eagles to the team title with 27 points. UIC was second with 41 and EIU was third with 54. SIUE placed fourth followed by Vincennes University.
Katie Springer was EIU's second finisher in ninth place with a time of 19:03.2.
Sarah Carr and
Mackenzie Aldridge added top fifteen finishes with Carr in 12th at 19:12.2 and Aldridge in 15th at 19:17.9.
Alex Gomez was the Panthers fifth scored runner in 19th place with a time of 19:31.3.
Breanna Sheldon and
Sam Mabry wrapped up the top seven EIU finishers in the race. Sheldon was 21st with a time of 19:43.5. Mabry was 23rd with a time of 19:49.8.
