McLean County Times

NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State Cross Country team is set to host the Redbird Invite on Friday afternoon at the Weibring Golf Course. The event begins at 5 p.m. with the women's 6,000-meter race, followed by the men's 8,000-meter race at 5:45 p.m.

The competition will feature 10 women's teams and nine men's squads, including Northern Iowa, SIUE, Northern Illinois, UMSL, Illinois-Wesleyan, Heartland Community College, Western Illinois, Valpo, UIC, and Chicago State.

Last season saw both Redbird squads secure first-place finishes. Senior Lauren Schulze and Senior Zack Loomis were the highest-finishing returners from last year’s event with top-five finishes.

The Redbirds opened their 2024 season on August 31 at the Hawkeye Invitational using a limited roster. Seven athletes—Madison Harmsen, Amanda Pocica, Ashlyn Smith, Julian Baker, Luke Barham, Will Gelon, and Josh Weeks—made their collegiate debuts in Iowa City.

Sophomore Trixie Johnson led the Redbirds in the women’s race with a time of 15:34.7 to finish 26th. Freshmen Madison Harmsen (16:07.7), Ashlyn Smith (16:26.6), and Amanda Pocica (16:50.4) also made their debuts.

On the men’s side, Sophomore Blake Oleson led with a mark of 18:46.0 for a 19th-place finish. Freshmen Julian Baker (18:52.0), Luke Barham (19:16.1), and Will Gelon (19:17.5) achieved top-30 finishes in their debuts.

In preseason predictions by the Missouri Valley Conference poll, the Illinois State women’s cross country team was picked to finish third while the men’s program was selected to finish fourth.

The Redbird women return eight runners aiming to build on their third-place finish at last year's Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Senior Mattison Plummer leads after earning All-MVC honors with a fourth-place finish at that event. Lauren Schulze and Junior Maggie Reed also aim to capitalize on strong finishes last season.

The men’s team returns 12 runners looking to improve on their fourth-place conference championship result from last year. Senior Mathis Chavand returns after finishing second in that championship and placing in the top-20 at the NCAA Division I Midwest Region Cross Country Championships. Zack Loomis enters his fourth season following a sixth-place conference finish last year. The team has added transfer William Sinclair who brings veteran experience from North Florida and Missouri.

The starting lineup for Illinois State's women includes Grace Erb (So.), Madison Harmsen TBD (Fr.), Trixie Johnson (So.), Mattison Plummer (Sr.), Amanda Pocica (Fr.), Maggie Reed (Jr.), Viviana Sanfilippo (Sr.), Lauren Schulze (Sr.), Kaitlin Skeate (Sr.), Ashlyn Smith (Fr.), Astrid Van Breedam (Fr.).

For men’s lineup includes Yusuf Baig (Jr.), Julian Baker (Fr.), Luke Barham (Fr.), Mathis Chavand (R-Sr.), Nick Doud (Gr.), Will Gelon (Fr.), Charlie Kistner(Sr.) , Zack Loomis(Sr.) , Jeff Luka(Jr.) , Dylan Myers(So.) , Blake Oleson(So.) , Owen O'Shea(So.) , Ethan Reynoso(So.) , William Sinclair(Gr.) , Garrett Slack(Jr.) , Carter Smott(So.) , Nathan Virginelli(So.) , Josh Weeks(Fr.)

Next up for Illinois State is a trip to Columbia Mo., on Friday September 27th for Gans Creek Classic hosted by University of Missouri starting at 9 am.