EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -The Fighting Leatherneck cross-country teams competed in the 3rd Annual Cross Country Challenge on Friday (Sept. 14). The Leathernecks had strong individual performances throughout the meet, including a first-place overall finish individually by Zach Wiedeman.

"The improvements over the last couple of weeks since the Early Bird have been tremendous," said third-year head coach David Beauchem. "It's still the middle of September and the team needs some improvement, but individually the pieces are starting to come together."

Wiedeman, who finished first in the men's 8K, led the Leatherneck men on Friday with a time of 25:26.02.

"Obviously, I'm very happy about Zach's performance...Trenton and Chase also stood out today for us and competed well," Beauchem said.

Trenton Hopper and Chase Marlow finished ninth and 11^th, respectively. Hopper finished with a time of 25:51.40 while Marlow ran his 8K with a time of 25:55.28. This is the third year in a row in this meet the Leathernecks have had the top men's finisher. Last year, Michael Castel took that honor finishing in 25:58.74 while in 2010, Mike McGraw won running a time of 26:13.

Leading the way for the Leatherneck women was Alycia Thurston. She finished third overall in the 5K with a time of 18:41.89.

Coach Beauchem was also happy with the way the women's side of things wound up in the 5K.

"Alycia again had a very strong performance and Lydia and Mackenzie again showed strong races today." continued Beauchem.

Also finishing strong for the women's team is Lydia Smith and Mackenzie Gray. Smith finished 11^th overall individually with a time of 19:27.22, while Gray finished 21^st with a time of 19:51.61.

Beauchem continues to look toward putting all the pieces in place as September rolls along.

"We have to start looking forward to the next few weeks and we'll be able to put our full team together."

Western is in action next, September 28^th at the Notre Dame Invite in South Bend, Indiana.

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