McLean County Times

The Illinois State University Cross Country team achieved a significant victory at their home meet of the 2024 season on Friday evening at the Weibring Golf Club in Normal, Illinois.

Both the women's and men's teams secured first-place finishes at the Redbird Invite. The women's team concluded with a point total of 23, while the men's squad earned 29 points.

Senior Mattison Plummer led the women's 6,000-meter race with a time of 21:31.10, securing first place. Senior Lauren Schulze recorded a personal best time of 21:50.90 to finish third. Freshman Astrid Van Breedam impressed in her collegiate debut by earning fifth place with a mark of 21:59.30.

In the men's race, Senior Mathis Chavand finished first with a personal best time of 23:57.20 in the 8,000 meters. Senior Zack Loomis contributed to a strong performance by finishing second at 24:18.30. Junior Yusuf Baig also achieved a personal best time of 24:44.00 to finish sixth.

Director of Track & Field/XC Jeff Bovee commented on the women's race: "Solid day.. One of our best season debuts on the women's side in quite a while. Felt like we did a great job of executing the plan of packing up in our groups. We got through halfway rather intact the way we were planning. We split up a little bit in the second half. We dropped back around 4 to 5k, we didn't look the way we would want to be. But, then we charged home really well in the last 1000-meters. They closed in a fantastic way."

Regarding the men's race, Bovee said: "We got out and had a nice pack out front through the first 3,000 meters, we had three nice groups. Around 4000 meters we started to come apart a little bit. They did a good job at least when they started to move they were with at least one other person. Even though we weren't able to keep our packs as big as we were planning, we still were able to find someone to run with. A lot of positives there, definitely a strong good race for the guys."

MEN'S RESULTS – First Place (29 points):

- Mathis Chavand, 23:57.200 (PR)

- Zack Loomis, 24:18.30 (PR)

- Yusuf Baig, 24:44.00 (PR)

- William Sinclair, 24:48.90

- Nick Doud, 25:14.20

- Julian Baker, 25:23.80

- Blake Oleson, 25:28.

- Nathan Virginelli ,25:.26 .00(PR)

- Dylan Myers ,26:.10 .70

- Luke Barham ,26:.11 .00

- Charlie Kistner ,26:.23 .50

- Will Gelon ,26:.35 .50

- Ethan Reynoso ,26:.37 .70

- Garrett Slack ,26:.59 .00

- Owen O'Shea ,27:.31 .50

- Carter Smott DQ

- Jeff Luka DNF

WOMEN'S RESULTS – First Place (23 points):

-Mattison Plummer ,21 :31 .10

-Lauren Schulze PR),21 :50 .90(

-Astrid Van Breedam ),21 :58 .30(

-Maggie Reed PR),22 :00 .00(

-Grace Erb PR),22 :16 .40(

-Viviana Sanfilippo ),23 :15 .70(

-Kaitlin Skeate ),23 :24 .90(

-Trixie Johnson PR),23 :37 .90(

-Ashlyn Smith ),23 :46 .40(

-Amanda Pocica ),25 :03

Next up for Illinois State is participation in Columbia's Gans Creek Classic hosted by Missouri University starting at nine am.