Cross Country
Men’s and women’s cross country take third at Southern Illinois
The Women’s Cross Country team begins the race at the Washington University Early Bird Meet on Saturday, September 4th in Forest Park.
On Saturday, Sept. 25, the Wash. U. men’s and women’s cross country teams headed to Carbondale, Ill., to compete in the Saluki Invitational meet hosted by Southern Illinois University. Both teams placed third in at the meet.
The men’s team is ranked second in NCAA Division III as of Sept. 21 by U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association coaches’ poll, behind North Central College. The team recorded a score of 59, which placed the Bears behind Division I schools Southern Illinois University (18) and the University of Evansville (55).
“The race had some strong competition in a relatively small field, which was great for our top guys,” sophomore Nick Carroll said. “It was nice having that competition there to keep pushing you.”
For the Bears, both senior Dave Spandorfer and freshman Caleb Ford finished in the top ten, placing fifth and ninth respectively. Spandorfer ran a time of 25:51.4, 22 seconds behind Southern Illinois’ Dan Dunbar, the leader. Ford recorded a time of 26:19.9.
The third runner to finish for the team was junior Malik Nabulsi, placing 19th with a time of 27:22.6. The final two Bears to score for the team, both freshman, were close behind. Tarek Elhage finished 21st and Justin Rodriguez finished 23rd with times of 27:30.1 and 27:41.5 respectively.
The women’s team, currently No. 4 in the nation, recorded a score of 73 for a third-place finish as well. Ahead of the Bears were Southern Illinois, who took the meet with 35 points, and the University of Evansville with 43 points.
The five scorers for the Red and Green finished in an impressively tight pack, with only a 5.5-second margin between the first and last finisher. The scorers, led by junior Catherine Reynolds, who finished with a time of 20:18.9, took places 13 through 17.
The next four were freshman Gabby Reuveni, sophomore Lexy Millett, freshman Elizabeth Worley and freshman Lizzy Handschy. The girls recorded times of 20:19.5, 20:19.9, 20:23.4 and 20:24.4 respectively.
“Finishing in a tight pack wasn’t our original strategy,” Millett said, “but it ended up working out really well for us. We did a great job of closing the gap between our fourth and fifth runners.” In last week’s meet, the Maryville Classic, the fifth finisher for the women’s team was 39 seconds behind the fourth.
Both teams will send out the majority of their top runners for the first time next week to compete in the Greater Louisville Classic. The race is the biggest and most competitive race of the season thus far.
“[The Greater Louisville Classic] will be a challenge, but it will be a good tune up for the championship season,” Carroll commented. “If we perform well there, it will mean good things for the long run.”
The race will start at 9:30 a.m. (ET) and will be held at the Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.