SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Western Illinois cross country teams competed in the "Gold" Races at the Joe Piane Invite this weekend. The races were at the Notre Dame's Burke Golf Course in South Bend, IN on September 29th, 2023. 

Logan Lommel led the weekend for the Leathernecks placing ninth overall. Lommel ran the 5 mile race in 24 minutes and 37.5 seconds, which averages out to 4:55 per mile. Lommel was followed by Robert Perry, running 25 minutes 15.4 seconds and Logan Beckmier in 25 minutes and 40.7 seconds. Isaiah Moorman and Sean Hudspath rounded out the Leathernecks top-5 scoring positions.

"I was happy with our performances this week. Personally, the effort was there during the race but my execution can be improved," Lommel said. "As a team, we are taking lessons and learning from each race. We had some great individual performance and personal records. We are starting to reap the rewards of our training."

Aylana Cezar led the women's team placing 59th out of 161 runners in the 5 kilometer race. Her finishing time was 18 minutes and 41.3 seconds. Cezar was followed closely by freshmen duo Meg Simmons and Lydia Bennett just 9 and 16 seconds back. Aurora Dominguez and Maleigha Huston rounded out the top-5 scoring positions for the Leathernecks.

"I was really impressed with Logan Lommel's finish, Robert Perry and Isaiah Moorman had significant personal bests to be proud of. On the women's side, Aurora Dominguez and Hannah Steinmeyer had breakthrough performances this week," said coach Trey Brokaw. "We are not where we want to be as a team, but we know that we left points out on the course today. We have four weeks to correct and fine tune our race strategy before the OVC Championships."

Next up, the Leathernecks will head back to the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, IL on October 13th, 2023. 

Results: https://live.pttiming.com/xc-ptt.html?mid=5818