Full Results
CHAMPAIGN, ILL. –  The Illinois Men's Cross-Country team opened the 2016 season with a third place finish at the Hawkeye Invitational. With a designed gameplan of a controlled run to open up the season, the Orange & Blue saw all five runners finish in consecutive order, led by junior Alex Gold's time of 18:44.1.
"In years past we've opened at the Challenge, but that didn't change how we approached the day," explained Head Coach Jake Stewart. "It was a really controlled effort, but our main objective in coming over here was to see this course, the host of the regional meet in November. I didn't want to change out we approach this meet. The guys handled it really well and were comfortable throughout the whole [race]. Today was more of a workout with a good, hard race coming up next weekend at Kentucky.
A junior, Gold was a split second faster than his fellow teammates, placing 20th overall with a time of 18:44.1. Red-shirt sophomores Zack Smith and Dan Lathrop came across a tenth of a second behind Gold, while red-shirt freshmen Caleb Hummer and Zach Dale rounded out the five, both finishing with a time of 18:44.3.
For Hummer and Dale, it was their first race cross-country race in an Illini uniform. While it came in a controlled environment, Coach Stewart felt it was a good way to ease guys into their first run with the team.
"Most years, we're going to have a lot of guys who red-shirted their freshmen year on the starting just to get that out of the way in the first meet," Stewart said. "There's always the butterflies that come with running in uniform for the first time. This allows us to alleviate some of that in a meet like this."
With the NCAA Midwest Regional meet being held on the same site as tonight, the race offered a chance for the five guys, and the rest of the team, to get a feel for the course in preparation for the postseason meet on November 11.
"It was a good day and a good chance to see the course," said Stewart. "It's a little different from the Big Ten course we saw here two years ago, so that was good. We'll come back in November with a really good sense of the how the course is going to run."
The Illini will return to action on Saturday, September 10 when they compete in Lexington, Kentucky at the Bluegrass Invite. The scheduled start time for the men's race is 9:30 a.m. central time.
For complete coverage of the meet and all things Fighting Illini Men's Cross-Country, visit FIGHTINGILLINI.com and follow the team on Twitter and Instagram.
