EC Cross Country Notches Seven PRs at Titan First Chance Meet
BLOOMINGTON – The Eureka cross country and distance team notched seven personal records at the Titan First Chance Meet on Saturday.
The meet, which took place at Illinois Wesleyan, was the Red Devils' first season to get on the track and get a feel for the upcoming indoor season.
Due to it being scheduled after the first semester was over, the Red Devils had a limited roster, traveling four women and four men. However, the group welcomed back both Rachel Fisher (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) and Bailey Webster (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria), who missed the 2023 cross country campaign due to health and injury complications, respectively.
"Overall, it was a strong first meet and we took a lot of positives away from the day," EC coach Chris Robinson said. "Our new teammates were able to get a solid feel for what the indoor season will have in store for them. Our returners showed they are in position to improve upon their successes from last season."
On the women's side, Karissa Heffernan (Metamora, Ill./Metamora/Lewis) led from wire to wire in the mile, cruising in unchallenged for the win with a time of a 5:37.04. It was an improvement over her time at the meet last year. Newcomer Emily Baker followed with a fourth-place finish in a personal-best time of 6:17.02.
One week after completing a half-marathon, senior captain Sarah Kimbro (Peoria, Ill./Metamora) finished seventh in 7:07.17, coming in nearly two seconds faster than she did at the First Chance a year ago.
Next came Fisher's strong return in the 600-meter race. She dominated her heat and finished second overall with a time of 1:46.33.
Later, Heffernan, Baker, Kimbro and Fisher combined for a third-place in 5:03.29 in the 4x400-meter relay. Fisher turned in an impressive anchor leg of 1:06.06.
On the men's side, Webster made his season debut in the mile, along with captain Jose Amador (Kempton, Ill./Tri-Point) and newcomer Michael Beaumont (Greenup, Ill./Cumberland). Webster paced the team with a 12th-place finish in a personal record-setting time of 4:53.92. Beaumont came in 25th in 5:44.47, while Amador had to bow out due to tightness in his back.
Brayton Strawkas (Buffalo, Ill./Tri-City) made his indoor debut in the 300, running a PR time of 46.78 for a 27th-place finish.
After working on loosening his back, Amador was able to return for the 600, where he was joined by Webster and Beaumont. All three ran PR times. Amador (1:36.00) led the way, edging Bailey (1:36.04) for a fourth-place finish. Beaumont came in eighth with a time of 1:45.99 to round out the day of competition for the men.
"We had extremely promising results in the return of Rachel and Bailey," Robinson said. " You are never sure what to expect when student-athletes miss as much time from competition as those two did. To have Rachel come back, and essentially not miss a step from last year, is exciting. We know she is going to use this as motivation to get even stronger. Bailey was fantastic in his return with a nearly seven-second PR in the mile.
"Coach Ian (Cummings), Coach Zach (Sancken) and I are excited to get things started in January."