MACOMB, Ill- The Western Illinois cross country teams both finished second at the 5th Annual Early Bird Invitational on Friday evening at Spring Lake Park in Macomb, Ill.

The men's team finished second (42 points) behind Augustana College (24 points) in the team's first meet of the season. Dan Bailey of Augustana and senior captain Eric Anerino were in a battle for first place heading down the home stretch, but Bailey was able to pull out the victory as Anerino took second place with a time of 25:53.

“I thought overall we did really pretty well and I was really happy with their performance,” said Western Illinois head coach Matt Morris about the men's team. “We are definitely off to a better start than we have been in the past couple of years and we are giving ourself a chance to be where we need to be by the end of the year.”

The Fighting Leatherneck men's team had two other top-10 finishes as Mike McGraw placed fourth (26:05) and Jeremy Whitaker took seventh (26:14). The next four Leathernecks to cross the finish line were Tyler Buckles (14th, 26:45), Jared Schmidt (15th, 26:55), Luke Miller (18th, 27:04) and Chase Marlow (21st, 27:10).

Rounding out the rest of the pack were Torin Pope (41st, 28:48), Aaron Russo (46th, 28:59), Matt Drendel (47th, 29:05), Michael Hemming, (51st,  29:23), David Glenn (63rd, 30:20) and Marcus McGee (77th, 32:43).

The Leatherneck women's team also finished second (55 points) despite having six newcomers, falling to the Bradley Braves (28 points) in the team's first meet of the year.

“I thought Carianna (Cottone) ran really well as she finished second and Josi Parker ran great too,” said Morris. “I think we have people moving in the right direction and we are going to be in a great spot by the end of the season.”

Carianna Cottone led the Western charge as she finished second with a time of 22:59 while Josi Parker finished eighth (23:40) to round out the top-10 performers for the Western women. The freshman trio of Chelsea Lynes (24:30), Alycia Thurston (24:30) and Amanda Darnell (24:34) took 15th, 16th and 17th place, respectively.

“Our freshman girls stepped up this afternoon and didn't even look like freshman,” said Morris about his newcomers. “They looked composed and raced hard during the entire meet.”

Rounding out the rest of the Western runners were Julie Dietsch (31st, 25:49), Alexa Williams (39th, 26:32) and Amy Byers (57th, 28:16).

The Leatherneck cross country teams will be back in action as they travel to Northern Illinois for a meet on Saturday, Sept. 12.

Women's Team Results