Griffins Tune Up at UW Oshkosh Invitational before Championship Races

St. Louis- The men's and women's cross county teams took to the flat course on Saturday for a fast race and beautiful running weather.  The UW Oshkosh Invitational features over 1,000 competitors, and many of the best NCAA Div. III teams in the country. Both teams were completing back-to-back races after running last week at Illinois College.

Four Griffin women competed, with captain Alyssa Tonner leading the way in a time of 23:36, good for 115th in a field of over 500 runners.  Sophomore Olivia Beggs took 13 seconds off of her 6K personal best, running 25:13.   Marcy Meyer and Morgan Baer rounded out the squad, running together for most of the race.  Meyer set a 21 second seasonal best of 28:18.  Tonner commented on the atmosphere of the race; "It is inspiring attending large meets like Oshkosh because you get to run with a variety of talent levels all striving for the same goal.  The energy and excitement motivates you to run well and compete to your potential."

On the men's side, Justin Horneker struggled to find a rhythm early on in the race, finishing the 8K course in a still respectable time of 27:11.  Cristian Sellars, at 28:31, and Chris Brown, at 30:13, ran times consistent with their performances from last week.

 "Both Illinois College and Oshkosh set us up well for the conference and regional championships.  It's tough to race back to back weeks but our team will benefit both mentally and physically from the experience," said head coach Kelli Blake.

The squads kick off the championship season in Hillsboro, Illinois, for the SLIAC Championships on November 2nd.