McLean County Times

The Illinois State Cross Country team is preparing to compete in the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Midwest Regional in Peoria, Illinois. The event will take place on Friday at the Newman Golf Course, starting with the women's 6,000-meter race at 11 a.m., followed by the men's 10,000-meter race at noon.

The competition includes 36 teams from various conferences such as the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, American, MAC, A10, OVC, and MVC.

In their last appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Midwest Regionals, Senior Mattison Plummer finished in 73rd place with a time of 22:04.4. Senior Mathis Chavand received NCAA All-Region honors by finishing in 17th place with a time of 30:59.5. He was also the highest finisher among MVC runners.

At the recent MVC Championship meet, Illinois State had a strong performance. Six runners made it into the program's top-10 list for times recorded at a single event—the most in school history. The women's team finished sixth with a total of 126 points while the men's team secured second place with a total of 51 points.

Mattison Plummer earned All-Valley honorable mention honors after her 11th-place finish and set a program record for the fastest women's 6k time at 20:41.5. Junior Maggie Reed entered into the program's top-10 list with her time of 21:03.2.

William Sinclair claimed an individual title with his mark of 23:02.9 during this championship meet; he broke teammate Mathis Chavand’s previous record set earlier this season and became Illinois State's first individual champion since Kevin Koski in 2021. Mathis Chavand finished second with his personal best time of 23:16.5 while Senior Zack Loomis placed fourth recording what is now third fastest time within school history—23:32 .5 . Junior Yusuf Baig completed top-10 ranking tenth position posting fifth-fastest record overall clocking himself across finish line at just over twenty-three minutes forty-nine seconds (23 :51).

Illinois State Women's Starting Lineup includes Grace Erb (Sophomore), Trixie Johnson (Sophomore), Mattison Plummer (Senior), Maggie Reed (Junior), Lauren Schulze (Senior), Kaitlin Skeate(Senior) , Astrid Van Breedam(Freshman).

For Men's Starting Lineup consists Yusuf Baig(Junior) , Julian Baker(Freshman) , Mathis Chavand(Redshirt-Senior) , Nick Doud(Graduate student ) Zack Loomis(Senior ), Blake Oleson(Sophomore ) William Sinclair(Graduate student).