Full Results
LOUISVILLE, KY. – The Orange and Blue ran in their biggest meet of the season so far, placing fifth overall in the 24-team field at the Greater Louisville Classic, a race that Head Coach Jake Stewart claims as "the best start to October we've had sine I've been on campus." Illinois was the second Big Ten team to finish as Michigan finished second, while Wisconsin and Penn State came in seventh and eighth respectively. Dylan Lafond led the team with a sixth place finish
"I thought it was the best opener we've had to the crucial part of the season when meets start to count," said Coach Stewart. "I thought we did a really good job of competing, mixing it up, and that's what our goal was coming in. We didn't get off the line as quickly as we would of liked to, and we buried ourselves a little bit in the first 800 meters. It left us a lot of work to make up in the last four miles and, on this course, that's not an easy thing to do. Our guys kept good composer and they moved as well as they could through the course of the race. It's as good of a start to October as we've had since I've been on campus."
Running in his first meet of the season, redshirt-junior Dylan Lafond showed why he is quickly becoming one of the top runners in the Big Ten and in the country, leading the Fighting Illini with an 8K mark of 23:59.55, good for sixth overall.
"I think Dylan has embraced what he is, and that's a really good runner, one of the best runners in the country," said Stewart. "And, he got himself into that lead group early on, and just really did a good job of latching on and running a very competitive race up front. That was probably his best cross-country race he's ever run, and he was competing against guys who have been All-Americans in cross-country. He went out in his first race of the year and left no doubt what kind of runner he is, and embracing that and accepting the challenges that come with running at that level."
Ian Barnett (27th), Jesse Reiser (32nd) and Billy Magnesen (33rd) formed the next wave of Illini to cross the finish line this morning. For Reiser, it was almost a one-minute improvement over his Illini debut at the Spartan Invite as he finished with a time of 24:37.81.
"Jesse ran a much better race," said Coach Stewart. "He took the experience from the Spartan Invite and learned from them, and ran a very composed race. He started out very conservatively and ran well through the course of it, and that's what we've asked of him. Now, the goal is for him to be better at Wisconsin two weeks from now than he was today, having two 8Ks under his belt, and I think he's very capable of doing that."
For Magnesen, his run today was an improvement over his race at the Bluegrass Invite in Kentucky earlier this year, finishing with a time of 24:38.05.
"I thought Billy Magnesen had a really good day. Right after Kentucky, he had a really sore IT band and missed a couple days, and he really didn't skip a beat. He ran a better race today than he did at Kentucky."
Sean Pengelly and Paul Zeman were fifth and sixth on the team today as Pengelly finished with a mark of 24:48.26 and Zeman followed him five seconds later at 24:53.65. Rounding out the seven Illini competitors in the men's gold race today was Zack Smith who crossed the finish line at 24:58.27, finishing 69th out of the 213 runners.
The Greater Louisville Classic's blue race featured Dan Lathrop and Liam Markham who both finished the race in the top five overall.
"Both Dan and Liam embraced the opportunity to run in a very competitive race," said Stewart. "I think they came down here, they followed the race plan, put themselves in front, and really challenged to win that race, and that's what I wanted for them to do. I think our depth is really good and they put themselves right into the mix with that run today, and that's important to the team because the more guys we have in there, making us better, the better off we're going to be."
Next up for the Orange and Blue is a week off from competition. The Illini will rest their legs for the following weekend when they will split the squad up between the adidas Invite in Madison, Wisconsin and the Bradley Classic in Peoria.
TEAM RESULTS (out of 24):
- Iona – 51
- Michigan – 67
- Louisville – 82
- Mississippi – 82
- ILLINOIS – 139
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (out of 213):
6. Dylan Lafond, 23:59.55
27. Ian Barnett, 24:34.36
32. Jesse Reiser, 24:37.81
33. Billy Magnesen, 24:38.05
51. Sean Pengelly, 24:48.26
61. Paul Zeman, 24:53.65
69. Zack Smith, 24:58.27
