Gregorio, Waymire Pace Hawkeyes at Illinois State Invitational

Gregorio, Waymire Pace Hawkeyes at Illinois State Invitational

Sept. 11, 2015

Men’s Complete Results Get Acrobat Reader | Women’s Complete Results Get Acrobat Reader

NORMAL, Ill. — Senior Anthony Gregorio and sophomore Madison Waymire led the University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams at the Illinois State Invitational on Friday.

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Gregorio completed the 8,000-meter course in 25:07.3 to finish ninth, respectively, while junior Ben Anderson (10th/25:11.2) also cracked the top ten to lead the Hawkeyes to a second-place finish overall. The Iowa men (80 points) fell one point shy of tying the overall team winner, Illinois State (79 points).

“There was a much better group effort on the men’s side,” head coach Layne Anderson said. “We had guys running the 8,000 meters for the first time. They didn’t run together for as long as I would have liked, but the team got out and packed up well. We fell two-tenths of a second short of Illinois State’s team time. Overall, it was a good step forward and a successful trip.”

Sophomore Michael Melchert (16th/25:21.3), and juniors Kevin Docherty (22nd/25:32.6) and Nate Ferree (23rd/25:32.7) rounded out Iowa’s score.

On the women’s side, Waymire captured bronze in the 5,000-meter race when she crossed the finish line in 17:52.6. The Grimes, Iowa, native has been Iowa’s top finisher for the past two consecutive races. Junior Tess Wilberding (14th/18:17.5) was the Hawkeyes’ second finisher. The Iowa women finished fifth overall.

“There was some progress on the women’s side but there are areas we need to improve,” Anderson said. “Waymire was our leader again. She looked good and controlled throughout the race.”

Iowa returns to action October 2 with the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana.

“We had some athletes out sick, which is impacting our group performance,” Anderson said. “We will be spending these next couple of weeks getting everybody healthy for the Notre Dame Invitational. It will be a super competitive meet and we need to run well individually and as a group on both sides.”

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