Eureka Gets Ready for SLIAC Championships with Wildcat Open

CANTON, Mo. – The Eureka cross country distance team were back in competition on Saturday, taking on a competitive field at Culver-Stockton's Wildcat Open.

In the last meet of the spring before the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, the Red Devils saw more promising results.

The Eureka men scored the most points to date since returning to competition with 27 points overall.

Bailey Webster (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) headlined the team's efforts with a first-place finish in his 10,000-meter run debut. The sophomore set a new school record and a Culver-Stockton facility record with a time of 34:19.81.

Webster also placed eighth in the 800 in 2:08.98. By the meet's end, he had accounted for 11 of Eureka's 27 team points.

Senior Tony DeLira (Chicago, Ill./Alcott/Lincoln) followed Webster in the 10,000 with a second-place finish in 35:25.72, while sophomore Jose Amador (Kempton, Ill./Tri-Point) took runner-up in the Steeplechase with a personal record-setting time of 11:14:03 – an 11-second improvement over his previous best.

On the women's side, Emily Baker (Washington, Ill./Washington) set a PR in the 10,000 with a second-place finish in 47.34.62 in her event debut.

The Red Devils went 3-4 in the 400, with Rachel Fisher (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) placing third in 1:08.27 and Jaden Randall (Secor, Ill./Roanoke-Benson) placing fourth in 1:11.60.

Eureka also went back-to-back in the 1,500. Sarah Kimbro (Peoria, Ill./Metamora) placed seventh in 6:46.22, while Odessa Grove (Lewistown, Ill./Lewistown) came in eighth in 7:15.99.

Coach Ian (Cummings) and I were really happy with how the day turned out," EC coach Chris Robinson said. "We are a small team, even smaller yesterday, but made a lot of noise.

"This meet was a great confidence boost going into the SLIAC championship meet next Friday and Saturday."