The Monmouth College cross country teams ran in the UIS Prairie Stars Invite in Springfield, Illinois on Friday night. The men ran a 7K while the women ran a 5K and the meet including Division III schools alongside Division II programs, and junior colleges.
The Monmouth women finished in fifth place, second among Division III teams. The men finished seventh overall, third among D3 programs.
WOMEN
Running for the first time this season, sophomore Paige Luntsford (Cairo, Missouri) set a new personal PR in the 5K at 20:06.00 as she finished in 25th place. The time is the best for a Monmouth runner at the 5K distance this season and her best at the distance in cross country by more than four and a half minutes.
Junior Samantha Costello (Morris, Illinois) also made her season debut and finished 45th in 21:25.83. Freshman Adyson Beebe (Clinton, Illinois) took 13 seconds off her time from last week and finished 49th with a PR of 22:07,39. Classmate Amelia Iwanski (Saint Charles, Illinois) took 51st place in 22:30.77. Freshman Keira Taylor (Astoria, Illinois) was six seconds better than last week and finished 53rd with a PR of 22:36.36. Makaela Robinson (Galesburg, Illinois), took more than 90 seconds off her time from last week and finished 54th in a PR of 22:39.45.
MEN
The men ran the 7K distance, a first for all the current runners and believed to be a first in school history. Sophomore Fernando Avila Rubio (Alpha, Illinois) finished 43rd overall in 23:55.70. Freshman Riley Morgan (Jewett, Illinois) took 58th in 24:34.87, just ahead of junior Xander Stoub (Palos Heights, Illinois) in 24:24.36. Freshman Braden Rees (Galesburg, Illinois) ran 26:13.16 to finish 89th with freshman Brady Young (Paxton, Illinois) in 95th with a time of 27:17.27. Junior Larry Kamara (Alpha, Illinois) took 112th in 30:51.49.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots competed at the UIS event for the first time running on the Springfield YMCA Soccer Fields … Young made his college debut … Luntsford and Costello both missed last week’s race in Dubuque, Iowa … Avila Rubio has been the fastest Monmouth male in both meets this season over two different distances … The Scots have a week off before returning to action at the Bradley Intercollegiate in Peoria on Friday, Sept. 19.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
