West Central Reporter

The Western Illinois cross country team opened the season with notable performances at the Western Illinois Early Bird Meet. The women's team secured victory while the men's team finished in second place during the event held at Spring Lake Park.

The women's team triumphed over Bradley, winning by a margin of six points (25-31). The men's team was narrowly defeated by Bradley, finishing with a score of 29-38.

"I was really happy with how the team started," said Western Illinois coach Trey Brokaw. "Bradley is a very good program and I respect them and their coaches quite a bit but our women's team was able to squeak out the win and our men's team came up just short but ran real tough against Bradley."

Both races saw Leatherneck athletes finishing first and second. Paulina Wuestefeld won the women's race with a time of 14 minutes 49.9 seconds, followed by Aylana Cezar who completed the 4K in 15:00.2. On the men's side, Logan Lommel claimed first place in the 6K with a time of 19:09.4, while Olin Ortiz finished second in 19:19.4.

"I was most pleased with our winners," Brokaw commented on his team's performance. "We had the women's overall winner and the men's overall winner and really proud with the tone they set."

Coach Brokaw also noted that both teams showed strength in their race finishes, emphasizing patience as part of their strategy for success throughout the season.

"They finished really strong," he said. "That's something we've been talking about early in the season, having patience... so I was really proud with how patient they ran and how they executed the second half of the race by finishing strong."

The results indicate promising potential for Western Illinois as they prepare for upcoming meets this season.