SEMO Cross Nation Squads Journey to Illinois for Friday Meet

Walt Crawford Open Preview
 
CHARLESTON, Ill..— The Southeast Missouri males’s and girls’s cross nation groups proceed its 2025 marketing campaign in Charleston, Illinois competing within the EIU Walt Crawford Open on Friday, hosted by Eastern Illinois University.
 
The males’s 8k fires off at 4 p.m. adopted by the ladies’s 6k at 4:45 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
 
This is the second meet of the season for the squads after SEMO hosted the Redhawk Invitational every week in the past. The males’s workforce completed second gathering 48 factors. Ohio Valley Conference foe UT-Martin took the crown with 30 factors. In the ladies’s race the Redhawks completed in fourth with a mark of 105 factors. Missouri State received workforce title with 29 factors.
 
Fast Start
 
There have been 14 Redhawks that set a private greatest within the 5k race. The two largest private greatest marks got here from sophomore Trey Mygatt who ran the race in a time of 15:41.6 which beat his private greatest by one minute and 39 seconds. On the ladies’s aspect sophomore Mattea Pearsall ran a time of 18:50.2 which beat her previous high mark by one minute and 23 seconds.
 
There have been eight different males to set private bests. Garrett Dumke, who completed third, set a 19 second private greatest, Evan Fuller, who completed 10^th, set a 39 second private greatest. Myles Thornburg beat his earlier time by 14 seconds and Byron Sowerby set a PR by 42 seconds. Cole Reinders set a private greatest by 11 seconds and Clayton Eftimk set a brand new mark by 46 seconds. The remaining two runners to set private bests have been Sam Rinehart (29 seconds) and Jacob Blassingame (5 seconds).
 
On the ladies’s aspect, Lauren Eftink, the Redhawks high finisher, set a 55 second private greatest. Erika Mellor joined the non-public greatest occasion beating her earlier greatest mark by 29 seconds. OVC runner to look at Lexie Dockstader greatest her previous mark by 57 seconds and Kayla Vogelsang set a brand new mark by 58 seconds.
 
“There are two important things that helped us set personal bests,” mentioned coach Ryan Lane. “Number one is that this is the oldest team I’ve had in a while. We will have 12 athletes graduating and so the experience of the runners while also advancing their training have helped. The second is that we are healthy, health and consistency usually leads to good things.”
 
New Redhawks
 
There have been 4 new runners to finish the race for SEMO. On the lads’s aspect graduate switch Ian Schwierjohn completed in 26^th, sixth for SEMO, with a mark if 16:02.  Freshman Zach Thoman missed the meet on account of an sickness. On the ladies’s squad freshman Daphne Bishop positioned 19^th, second for SEMO, with a mark of 18:40. Transfer Julia Martinez Dura completed 32^nd with a time if 19:02 and freshman Claire Horstman positioned 46^th in 19:35.
 
“Our job is to recruit and attract people who continue to move the needle forward,” mentioned coach Ryan Lane. “We have a really strong freshman class on the women’s side along with the transfers who have had success and our job is to get them better than they were at their previous school. Ian had a great debut for us, he was our sixth finisher that day and it’s great to see a new runner come in and put themselves in that position early.”
 
EIU Walt Crawford Open
 
The meet will likely be an 8k race for the lads and a 6k race for the ladies on EIU Tom Woodall Panther Trail. This course may also function the OVC Championships course which is the important thing purpose for including an occasion like this to the schedule. There will likely be seven faculties competing. OVC foes Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Morehead State and SIUE will likely be working together with Lake Land College. Parkland College will solely be competing within the girls’s 6k.
 
“We were not planning on racing in the meet, because it was an off weekend for us, but we decided to go and preview the course for the conference meet along with getting our runners mentality back for those longer races,” Lane mentioned. “It is important for our runners to have this extra travel and get familiar with the course before the conference meet.”
 
Looking Ahead
 
The Redhawks will hit the street once more the next weekend, September 12^th, touring to Normal, Illinois to compete within the Redbird Invite. This race may also be a 8k for the lads and a 6k for the ladies.