West Central Reporter

After a three-week hiatus, Western Illinois University's men's and women's cross country teams are set to compete at the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. The event will take place in South Bend, Indiana, on Friday.

The competition begins with the women's 5K race in the Blue Division, followed by the men's 8K race at 10:15 a.m. The Women's Open 5K is scheduled for 11 a.m., and the Men's Open 8K will start at 11:45 a.m. The races conclude with the Women's Gold Division 5K at 12:30 p.m. and the Men's Gold Division 8K at 1:15 p.m. Western Illinois' teams will participate in the Gold Divisions.

The invitational features a strong lineup of competitors. In total, there are entries from forty-seven women's teams including Akron, Appalachian State, Ball State, Cincinnati, Cleveland State, Dayton, Idaho State, Indiana State, IU Indianapolis, Miami (OH), NIU, Pepperdine, Purdue-Fort Wayne, Saint Thomas (MN), Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Valparaiso, Western Illinois itself among others. On the men's side are forty teams such as Akron, Central Michigan, Dayton, Eastern Michigan and more.

In their last outing before this event, several Leathernecks achieved personal records. The women's team finished fourth overall while the men placed fifth. Madison Trevena led her team in a previous meet's 6K race with a time of 22:30.7 which was her personal best by six seconds. Kinze Kirkland-Shea and Maleigha Huston also performed well with new personal records.

For the men's team in an earlier competition Logan Lommel secured ninth place with Logan Beckmier finishing twelfth; Beckmier recorded his personal best time.

Western Illinois will next compete at the Bradley Pink Invitational on October 18 after this meet.

For updates on Western Illinois cross country events visit GoLeathernecks.com or follow them on social media platforms X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.