Midwest Classic (09/11/2009)
09/11/2009
- Bourbonnais, IL -- Aspen Ridge Golf Course
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - The Olivet Nazarene University men’s cross country team, ranked eighth in the NAIA preseason polls, began its 2009 campaign by hosting the Midwest Classic at Aspen Ridge Golf Course (Bourbonnais, Ill.). They competed against seven other teams in the eight kilometer race and came out on top during the event held on September 11th. The Tigers had three runners finish in the top five overall to lead the way.
The overall medal winner was junior Kenny MacDonough (Novi, Mich.) who finished with a time of 25:54.85. ONU had three other runners who placed in the top seven; freshman Kasey Ferrigan (Dixon, Ill.) finished third at 26:06.83, senior Drew Collette (Lake Orion, Mich.) came in fourth at 26:09.54, and sophomore Justin Jones (Oakwood, Ill.) came in seventh at 26:44.36. The other three athletes of ONU who placed were senior Andrew Clausen (Wheaton, Ill.) in eighth (26:58.52), senior Ben Fay (Petersburg, Ill.) at 12th with a time of 27:26.48, and senior Caleb Erway (Morenci, Mich.) finished in 17th at 27:57.85.
Olivet as a team had an overall time of 2:11:54.10 and an average time of 26:22.82. Taylor University (Ind.) came in second, Marian University (Ind.) took third, and CCAC rival St. Xavier University (Ill.) finished fourth.
As for the Women's team, Lauren Versweyveld (Delavan, Wis.) took first place, helping the Tigers' women's cross country team to a second-place finish with a team score of 47 at the Midwest Classic held at Aspen Ridge Golf Course in Bourbonnias, Ill. on Friday. Saint Xavier University (Ill.) was able to capture the the win with 31.
Versweyveld finished the course in 19:19.97, winning the meet in over 4 seconds to top Saint Xavier's Amy Poull. Versweyveld was able to keep a 6:13/mile pace throughout the race.
Versweyveld was backed by Bekah Regenfuss (Naperville, Ill.) and Hannah Endrizzi (Normal, Ill.), who finished 4th and 7th, respectively. Regenfuss ran a 19:31.49, while Endrizzi finished in 20:17.76.
Sarah Castel (Moline, Ill.) ran a 20:39.01 to finish 15th, while Katie Thorne (Big Rapids, Mich.) rounded out the top 20, finishing with a time of 20:45.13