Ball State University Athletics
Friday, September 8
Normal, Ill. (Weibring Golf Club)
6 p.m.
Ball State University
at
Illinois State Invite
photo by
Photo by: Kyle Crawford
Cross Country Travels to Illinois State Invite Friday
September 07, 2017 | Cross Country
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Members of the Ball State cross country team will lace up their running shoes for the second time this season Friday, when they competes at the Illinois State Invite. The 5K race is set for a 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT start at the Weibring Golf Course in Normal, Illinois.
Along with the Cardinals and host Redbirds, UIC, Loyola, Northern Illinois, SIUE, Toledo, Western Illinois and Wisconsin are scheduled to compete on the women's side.
"Friday's meet will be a little bigger than our first time out and will pit us against league rivals Toledo and Northern Illinois," DeGrio said. "Both are good teams who have established themselves as top programs in the MAC. It will be good to see how we stack up against them. In addition, with all of our top runners available, it will be a little more indicative of a race to see where we stack up as a team."
Despite not having a full lineup at last Friday's Butler Twilight (Sept. 1), the Cardinals managed to secure two of the top three spots at the meet. Cayla Eckenroth crossed the finish line in 18:27.3 to take second place among the 41 runners in her collegiate debut. Not far behind was sophomore Hannah Cummings who clocked in at 18:29.7 to finish third. The effort was a career best for Cummings, bettering her time of 18:49.9 set at the Joe Piane Invitational last season.
"Last week, I thought our top two both ran extremely well," distance coach Raynee DeGrio said. "It was exciting to see Cayla perform at such a high level in her first collegiate meet. She showed a lot of aggression which is good to see from a freshman. After a rough freshman year, it was nice to see Hannah back competing at a high level. Hopefully she can carry that momentum throughout the whole year."
With three of its top student-athletes not competing at last weekend's meet, Ball State's five scored runners still managed to combined for 55 total points to place third among the four teams entered.
"We did not run a full lineup at Butler, so hopefully we will show a little more depth Friday at Illinois State and get our third through fifth runners to close the gap between the first two," DeGrio said. "There were definitely some positives we can take out of our first meet as a team, but we also saw what we need to work on and where we can improve the next time out."
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State cross country, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateTFXC.
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Along with the Cardinals and host Redbirds, UIC, Loyola, Northern Illinois, SIUE, Toledo, Western Illinois and Wisconsin are scheduled to compete on the women's side.
"Friday's meet will be a little bigger than our first time out and will pit us against league rivals Toledo and Northern Illinois," DeGrio said. "Both are good teams who have established themselves as top programs in the MAC. It will be good to see how we stack up against them. In addition, with all of our top runners available, it will be a little more indicative of a race to see where we stack up as a team."
Despite not having a full lineup at last Friday's Butler Twilight (Sept. 1), the Cardinals managed to secure two of the top three spots at the meet. Cayla Eckenroth crossed the finish line in 18:27.3 to take second place among the 41 runners in her collegiate debut. Not far behind was sophomore Hannah Cummings who clocked in at 18:29.7 to finish third. The effort was a career best for Cummings, bettering her time of 18:49.9 set at the Joe Piane Invitational last season.
"Last week, I thought our top two both ran extremely well," distance coach Raynee DeGrio said. "It was exciting to see Cayla perform at such a high level in her first collegiate meet. She showed a lot of aggression which is good to see from a freshman. After a rough freshman year, it was nice to see Hannah back competing at a high level. Hopefully she can carry that momentum throughout the whole year."
With three of its top student-athletes not competing at last weekend's meet, Ball State's five scored runners still managed to combined for 55 total points to place third among the four teams entered.
"We did not run a full lineup at Butler, so hopefully we will show a little more depth Friday at Illinois State and get our third through fifth runners to close the gap between the first two," DeGrio said. "There were definitely some positives we can take out of our first meet as a team, but we also saw what we need to work on and where we can improve the next time out."
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State cross country, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateTFXC.
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