Illinois Intercollegiate Championships

Running in their biggest meet of the year, the ICC men's and women's cross country teams finished 9th and 10th, respectively, out of 24 non-division I teams at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships, held yesterday at the ISU golf course. The first 5 men were all at 28:00 or better, with soph Shane Leiby leading the pack with a 26:46. That placed him 18th in the college division field, 95th overall in the field of 334. Close on his heals was frosh JQ Smith (pictured) with a 26:59. Nick Leiby, Josh Battles, and Frederick Kiprono took the 44th through 46th places to complete the scoring quintet.

Brittany Carius ran her fastest time, 19:03, since last year's nationals to finish 13th among the 237 college team runners, 36th among all runners, including Division I. In 43rd place came Michelle Carter (pictured), who's 19:54 broke 20:00 for the first time and moved her into the top 10 ICC women times ever. Frosh Raven Pettry and Kayla Christ followed in the 58th and 66th places, while soph Bonni Martin rounded out the scoring in 94th place.

Both the women's and men's teams are highly ranked nationally - 5th for the women and 7th for the men. The next test will be Friday, September 25 at Credit Island, Davenport, Iowa, in the Augustana College invitational.