Cross Country at Illinois College Invitational

Cross Country at Illinois College Invitational

The Blackburn College cross country teams competed in the Illinois College Cross Country Invitational in Jacksonville, Ill. on Saturday, October 11. It was a great day to run, with temperatures in the low 50s. The muddy course added some extra difficulty and slowed times down a bit, but the runners still posted fairly fast times. This was a big race for the Beavers as they had the chance to square off against other teams in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The women's race, a six kilometer race, began at 11am. This race featured Blackburn's lone female runner, Wendy Pocklington. Wendy ran well and pushed the entire time. She posted a respectable time and looked strong. Since Blackburn only had one runner, they didn't score in the team competition.

The men's race, an eight kilometer race, started at 11:45 and saw eight Blackburn runners compete. Freshman, Tim Lacy led the charge with a time of 29:44 and placed 23rd. Lacy was closely followed by freshman, Zach Felkel who posted a time of 29:54 and placed 24th. The squad was rounded up by Nathan Speckhart, Noah Daum, David Serrano, Seth Tonsor, Colin Gowin, Mitch Elliott, and Nathan Wagner in that order. Although Blackburn placed seventh overall as a team, they recorded the fourth fastest average time for their first through fifth runners (30:54). "I'm very optimistic with what the future holds for Blackburn Cross Country. Four of our five top runners are freshman and the sky is the limit with this team," said Head Coach Mark Hopping.

Blackburn Cross Country will compete next at Springfield Benedictine next Saturday, October 18. The races will begin at 11:00am.