McLean County Times

The Illinois State University Cross Country team will travel to Columbia, Missouri, to participate in the seventh annual Gans Creek Classic on September 26. The event will take place at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course, which is also set to host the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships on November 22.

Both men's and women's teams from Illinois State will compete in the Black Invite, with the men's race starting at 8:15 a.m. and the women's race at 10:30 a.m. Additionally, Illinois State athletes are scheduled to participate in open races later in the day.

More than 25 collegiate teams are expected for each of the Black Invite events. Participating programs include Ohio State, UCLA, and Nebraska from the Big Ten Conference; Baylor, Texas Tech, and Kansas from the Big 12; as well as Missouri Valley Conference members Northern Iowa, Belmont, and Drake. Northern Iowa previously competed at the Redbird Invite where their men's team finished fourth and women placed second.

Illinois State Head Coach Jeff Bovee commented on his expectations for this weekend's races: "I'd like to see us running up near the front and position ourselves to be one of the top teams in the field. Again, we're focusing on execution on our packs. In training, there's been a lot more cohesiveness in that way, and we're hoping that it plays out this weekend. I think our fitness levels are increasing, so just knowing how that course runs, I would expect us to run faster than we did at the home meet."

Bovee also addressed competing against conference opponents: "There's quite a few Valley teams in our race along with other solid teams from around the country. We definitely need to take advantage of this opportunity against some conference teams to establish where we're at against them head-to-head."

The women's lineup includes Sophia Baumert (Freshman), Nora Brady (Junior), Cameron Crump (Freshman), Maggie Reed (Senior), Vivianna Sanfilippo (Fifth Year), Pauline Schedler (Freshman), Astrid van Breedam (Sophomore), Brooke Zeibert (Freshman), and Colleen Zeibert (Sophomore).

The men's roster features Julian Baker (Sophomore), Luke Barham (Sophomore), Quinn Davis (Freshman), Will Gelon (Sophomore), Blake Oleson (Junior), Ethan Reynoso (Junior/Open Race), Logan Scott (Freshman/Open Race), Kane Shields (Junior), Cayde De Waal (Junior), and Josh Weeks (Sophomore).