Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Beloit Invitational in Wisconsin on Saturday. The men's team achieved a first-place finish in the 8k race, marking their first cross country win in 12 years. Meanwhile, the women's team secured third place in the 6k race.

The men's team excelled with all competitors finishing within the top-22 overall. Devin Boggs led the Blueboys, finishing second overall with a time of 29:27.0, maintaining a pace of 5:56 per mile. Elgin Scherff followed closely, securing third place with a time of 29:28.2 at the same pace. Nick Hannig finished fifth overall with a time of 29:49.8 and a pace of 6:01 per mile.

Will Detmer and Robby Biesenthal completed the top-10 for Illinois College by finishing seventh and eighth respectively, while Ryan Gerdes took eleventh place and Caden Dettmer twelfth. Gabe Roberts came in thirteenth, and Steven Doss finished twenty-second overall.

On average, the men's team ran an impressive time of 29:47.3.

In the women's competition, all runners also placed within the top-22 overall rankings. Alexia Finch led her team with a fifth-place finish at 28:32.3, followed by Kairy Mercado-Ramos in sixth place and Maddison Dortch who finished ninth.

Claire Peters earned fifteenth place while first-year runner Morgan Carrino finished twenty-second overall for Illinois College women’s team.

Their average time was recorded as 30:41.1 during this event.

Both teams are scheduled to compete next at Greenville University on Friday, October 13th for participation in the Greenville Classic.