Sport in world

Whalen breaks women

October 19, 2007 on 8:36 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill.- Senior Beth Whalen broke the school’s women’s 6K record with a time of 21:53 as the Western Illinois men’s cross country team took ninth place while the women’s team placed 11th at the Fourth Annual Bradley Classic.

“We had a very good day,” said Western Illinois head coach Matt Morris. “It doesn’t look like we did in the results, but there was a lot of great competition. We turned in a lot of personal bests and had a great day overall.”

The women’s team placed 11th out of 17 teams with a total of 315 points. Senior Beth Whalen (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf) placed 17th with her new school record. Whalen was the first female at Western Illinois to run under 22 minutes in a 6K race. Senior Heather Wetzel (Waterloo, Iowa/Waterloo) turned in a time of 22:45 and placed 52nd.

“The women’s team ran amazing,” stated Morris. “Of the nine girls that ran, eight of them turned in personal bests. Beth breaking the school record was the highlight of it all.”

Missouri also took the women’s team title with an overall score of 49 points. Wichita State’s Kellyn Johnson took first in the women’s 6K with a time of 20:44.

The men’s team finished ninth place out of 15 teams with a total of 240 points. Sophomore Challas Ray (Toledo, Ill./Cumberland) led Western with his personal best time of 25:34 and crossed the finish line in 26th place. Sophomore Eric Anerino (Naperville, Ill./North) finished 32nd with a time of 25:46.

Missouri took the men’s team title with an overall score of 27. The Tiger’s Dan Hedgecock won the men’s 8K with a time of 24:35.

“The men were solid today,” Morris said. “We were aggressive and made some aggressive mistakes but they were good mistakes. We had two guys (Challas Ray and Eric Anerino) run under 25:50 and a freshman (Tyler Buckles) run close to 26 flat. So the guy’s performed well today.”

The cross country teams are off for two weeks while they prepare to host the Summit League championships October 27, at Spring Lake Park.

“We’ll use this race as a confidence booster going into conference,” stated Morris. “On the women’s side, we ran without Chandel Ray who has been our second girl all year. So now we had some girls step up and we realized we are six deep going into conference. On the men’s side, we realized we can be aggressive, which is good, we just need to find out how to get out better and not put ourselves in so much pain that early in the race. We’re excited going into conference.”

Originaly from Source