EC Cross Country Takes Leap at Springfield

 SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Eureka cross country and distance team took a leap in its second meet of the season on Friday.

The squad put up six new personal records and saw significant signs of improvement across the board.

Karissa Heffernan (Metamora, Ill./Metamora/Lewis) placed 12th in the women's 5K with a time of 20:05, setting a new personal record. Her 6:28 pace per mile was a career best at any distance.

The Red Devils fed off her confident energy. Freshman Emily Baker (Washington, Ill./Washington) was the women's team second finisher for the second straight week, coming in 35th in 23:21. Sarah Kimbro (Peoria, Ill./Metamora) was next with a 38th-place finish in 23:59, knocking 49 seconds off her season debut at Rockford last week.

Jaden Randall (Secor, Ill./Roanoke-Benson) and Odessa Grove (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) rounded out the top five, coming in 46th in 26:48 and 52nd in 32.14, respectively. Randall cut 1:47 off last week's race, while Grove finished 3:20 faster than in her season debut.

In addition, freshman Jordyn Coppejans (El Paso, Ill./El Paso Gridley) competed in her first-ever cross country meet on Friday. The former EPG sprinter/hurdler/thrower finished in 38:09.

The women's team placed fifth overall with 141 points against some very stiff competition, besting St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes, Fontbonne (180) and Blackburn (191).

After only having one runner finish in Week 1, the Eureka men's team was nearly at full strength in the 7k race on Friday.

Senior Tony DeLira (Chicago, Ill./Alcott/Lincoln) led the way for the men, coming in 33rd at 24:23 and averaging five seconds per mile faster than last week.

Sophomore Jose Amador (Tri-Point/Kempton) came in next with 54th-place finish in 27:03. His 6:13 per mile pace was faster than his best effort from last season – a very welcome result after an injury-plagued freshman campaign and a DNF last week.

After him, a trio of newcomers from the soccer team followed in Tucker Williamson (Monticello, Ill./Monticello), Michael Beaumont (Greenup, Ill./Cumberland) and Gabriel Seeber (Champaign, Ill./Champaign Central).

Williamson was the third Red Devil to finish, coming in 27:29 in his cross country debut. Beaumont was fourth, finishing 66th in 31:11 and Seeber was 69th in 31:33. Seeber thrilled the crowd with a hard sprint to the finish and a leaping attempt to edge out his opponent at the line.

The Red Devils placed sixth overall with 191 points, topping Blackburn with 232.

"We had a lot of positives tonight," EC coach Chris Robinson said. "Six PRs, three first-ever cross country races, big improvements on times, and fantastic attitudes all around. The difference between last week and this week was night and day.

"We are looking forward to keeping this momentum going into senior night next week at the Bradley Intercollegiate meet."