Distance: Women - 4k; Men - 6k.

total # of runners: women - 156; men - 207

The Elmhurst Earlybird Invitational was hosted by Elmhurst College at Eldridge Park and was the first meet for the newly re-established Trinity International University Cross Country Teams.  The course consisted of two 2 kilometer loops for the women, and three 2 kilometer loops for the men.  Being mostly flat with some rolling hills and a wooden bridge that had to be traversed twice per loop, the course was of medium difficulty and speed.  With temperatures in the 60's, a brisk wind, and overcast skies, fall was in the air just in time for the start of the cross country season.

TIU Finishes:

Women -
Erin Mulligan - Erin ran "unattached" due to a transcript issue that prevented her from being eligible for team competition in this meet, but she was the fastest runner that drove down with the TIU team, finishing in 95th out of 156 runners in a time of 18:29 (7:27/mile).  Erin performed admirably, especially considering she has had a nagging hamstring/IT band injury that has been keeping her mileage down over the past week, AND she experienced complications due to asthma during the race.

Justine McDowell - Coming in one place behind Erin, Justine finished in 96th in 18:32 (7:28/mile).  This was the first collegiate cross country race for the sophomore transfer student.  Justine has been a consistent top-performer in practice and has a bright future as a runner.

Hannah Merrifield - In Hannah's first cross country race ever, just days after joining the team, Hannah ran an average of 8:30 per mile to finish in a time of 21:06 and coming in 132nd.

Nicole Scanlon - Also in her first cross country race ever, Nicole finished just 10 seconds behind Hannah (21:16, 8:34/mile) and finished in 137th.

The women's team missed senior leader and marathon runner, Allyson Schoffstall, who is recovering from a foot and ankle injury.  Allyson has been putting in hours of cross training in the pool and on the bike to keep her fitness level up through the injury.  She was on hand cheering the team on and taking in the cross country environment so that she will be ready to race when the injury heals.

Men -
Dane Christiansen - Freshman Dane Christiansen was the top performer of the day for the TIU men in the first cross country meet for the re-established team.  Dane finished 71st out of 207 in the 6k (3.72 miles) men's race in a time of 20:56, with an average mile time of 5:37.

Josh Kalb - After blazing a 5:45 first mile, senior and Student Body President, Josh Kalb, settled in to a more reasonable pace and finished 179th in 24:16 (6:31 per mile average pace).  Josh has been battling back from various injuries, but his first mile today is indication that with some more miles and running specific workouts in his legs, he is sure to be one of the teams top performers this year.

Aaron Baccash - Freshman Aaron Baccash finished in 191st place in a time of 25:50 (6:56/mile).  Aaron's weekly mileage has been higher this past month than ever before and he has been steadily improving since practice started.  As Aaron's legs get used to the miles, his times are sure to drop as the season goes on.

Bryan Krup - Bryan, a junior running in his first cross country race ever, finished in 26:35 (7:08 average mile pace), and came in 198th.

All in all, it was a great race for the team to test out their legs, do a little "rust busting," and get the initial "first race jitters" out of the way.