Full Results:Â http://results.active.com/event_collections/msu-spartan-invitational/2015?i=1http://results.active.com/event_collections/msu-spartan-invitational/2015?i=1
The Orange and Blue traveled north to the Spartan Invite where they competed against some of the Midwest's top teams, including Big Ten foes Michigan and Michigan State. Sean Pengelly, Paul Zeman and Jesse Reiser led the Illini with top-15 finishes.Â
"I think for us, it's just a continuation of putting our team together and finding out some of what we are. We still haven't put our entire group together. We still have some guys who will open up in the next few weeks, and we'll be excited to put the team on the line at Louisville in a couple weeks."
For the second meet in a row, Sean Pengelly ran the fastest time for the Orange and Blue, clocking in at 25:14 and ninth overall.
"[It was a] very consistent performance out of Sean," said Coach Stewart. "I think he ran a little bit better last third of the race. I think he held on to some things, getting into some gaps in the guys in front of him and the guys behind him, and really maintained where he was at well and finished well. Whereas last week he may have gone backwards a little bit later in the race, this week he did very good job of keeping himself composed and finishing where he had been entering the 6-7K."Â Â Â
Paul Zeman and true-freshman Jesse Reiser followed Pengelly, finishing 12th and 14th respectively. Zeman finished with a time of 25:27 and his 12th place finish bested his first run of the season last week at the Bluegrass Invite.
"Paul ran a much better this week; he ran his race," said Stewart. "He was much more conservative early on and really moved well through the later stages of the race. I know he was disappointed last week, and so to come back this week and have a much better performance shows the maturity that Paul has in racing from week to week."
2014 IHSA cross-country state champion Jesse Reiser made his debut for the Illini and had a strong showing with a finishing mark of 25:28.
"Anyone's first 8K, there's going to be a lot of learning from it," said Stewart. "Jesse went out and was with the lead group for the first five to six thousand meters of the race, and then just went back wards from there. Some of that will be a learning curve for him, and that's what we wanted him to do. We wanted him to be aggressive and run near the front of these races where we think he should be. This is going to be something he can take a lot from and learn."
Dan Lathrop and Jereme Atchison were the next through the chute, finishing fourth and fifth on the team respectively. Lathrop, who has ran in all three meets this season, clocked in with a 25:37 time in the 8K, good for 21st overall. Following him eleven seconds later was senior Jereme Atchison, placing 29th.
"I think another guy that had a really good race, and in some ways got the monkey off his back and had his best cross-country race in a number of years, is Jereme Atchison. I was very pleased with how Jereme has battled, not only today and working through the race, but he's had a lot of ups and downs in his career here. He really had a good day and I'm really pleased with what he's shown this fall and what he's shown himself ready to do because he's seeing some positive results from the work he's put in."
Joe Cowlin (33rd) and Liam Markham (34th) finished back-to-back with Cowlin crossing at 25:51 and Markham a second later at 25:52. Jack Driggs rounded out the eight-man team with a finishing mark of 27:31.
UP NEXT: The Fighting Illini will return to the state of Illinois next Friday to compete in the Brissman-Lunden Invite in Rock Island, Illinois. The men's race is set to begin at 5:45pm.
Note: No official team scores were recorded for this meet.Â
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
9. Sean Pengelly, 25:14
12. Paul Zeman, 25:27
14. Jesse Reiser, 25:28
21. Dan Lathrop, 25:37
29. Jereme Atchison, 25:48
33. Joe Cowlin, 25:51
34. Liam Markham, 25:52
129. Jack Driggs, 27:31
