Cross country teams break records in Illinois, prepare for championships
After having a week off the Coyotes’ cross country teams got back in action Friday evening in Peoria, Ill at the Newman Golf Course.
A course that has historically been one of the fastest courses of the Coyotes’ season, making it almost inevitable that not one, but a few personal best times would occur. With big schools such as Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois State accompanying them, the meet wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
The gun went off at 4:25 p.m. and the men’s cross country team was off.
Senior Mubarik Musa finished with 24:09 on the clock, finishing first for the team and fourth overall.
Musa set a new personal record by just over 30 seconds breaking his former 8,000-meter personal best of 24:42 which was set last year at this course.
Coming in second for the team and 73rd overall was senior Isaac Allen with a time of 25:13.
And coming in third for the Coyotes’ and 117th overall was first-year Nathan Wendt with a time of 25:39, shattering his previous personal best of 27:01.
Not far behind Wendt was sophomore Brice Cowman who finished 122nd overall with a time of 25:42, also destroying his former personal best of 26:20.
Next up was the Women’s 6,000-meter race.
The gun shot off at 5:05 p.m. and immediately Coyotes’ Senior Amber Eichkorn asserted herself as the top runner in the race.
She came through the 3,000 meter with 9:56.21 on the clock, an entire 10 seconds in front of the field.
Eichkorn continued her dominating performance through the 5k where she clocked in at 16:51.60, eight seconds in front of the field.
And although the gap had begun to close between her and the pack, she wasn’t toasted yet. In the last 1,000 meters Eichkorn turned on the jets and left the zip code separating herself from the rest of the field by an entire 16 seconds and coming through the shoot with 20:11 on the clock.
Eichkorn’s performance not only got her the victory but it gave her a big personal best time, breaking her previous personal best of 20:30.
Coming in second for the team and 21st overall was senior Katie Wetzstein who clocked in at 21:10.
Senior Kelsey Barrett finished third for the team and 57th overall with a time of 21:45.
With the help of Eichkorn’s performance the women placed eighth overall in the team standings. With the regular season now over, the Coyotes now find themselves two week weeks away from the Summit League Cross Country Championships which take place Nov. 31.
