Freshman Shawn Etzenhouser's 58th place finish sealed a third place team finish for SBU

The SBU men's cross country team continued their turnaround season on Saturday at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago.

The #13 ranked Bearcats finished a strong third out of the twenty-team Gold race, which was open to Division I and ranked Division II and NAIA schools.  Grand Valley State University, who ranks fourth in the nation in Division II, won the race with 42 points while Divsion I Southern Illinois University edged out the Bearcats by 15 points for runner-up honors.  SBU's 143 point total outdistanced key Division II competitors Saginaw Valley (#10 nationally) and Edinboro (#23) plus #4 NAIA ranked Malone.  The Bearcats also claimed victories over Division I opponents Illinois-Chicago, Loyola University, Illinois State, Marshall, Western Illinois, Creighton, and others.

T. Jay Sanderson continued his spectacular senior campaign, finishing 6th overall in 25:05 for the 8 kilometer course.  Michael Pierce ran a 20 second personal best of 25:22 for 14th, and freshman Jeremy Glassmaker ran a stellar race by improving his personal best from 26:52 to 25:47 for 30th place out of 195 competitors.  Michael McCampbell also made a huge jump from MSSU, crossing the line in 26:07 in his second-ever 8k race.  Shawn Etzenhouser closed out the top-5 with his 58th place overall finish in 26:30.  Nate Peck of GVSU, who finished 16th at last year's national championship, claimed the individual title in 24:22.

Josh Rollins, who has been the #3 runner for the 'Cats in both of their previous events, finished in 27:20 for 99th place, followed closely by Timmy Specht (108th, 27:31) and Cameron Ayers (109th, 27:32).  Sophomore Vincent Tichenor posted a 43 second personal best in 27:49 for 118th, with David Hackney in tow in 119th and a time of 27:51.  Andrew Bly dipped under his former best and the 28 minute mark with a time of 27:58 for 124th, and Josh Miller rounded out the competitors on the weekend for SBU with a 181st place finish in 30:24.

The Bearcat harriers will return to action on Saturday, October 7, at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Border Wars meet.  The race should serve as a preview of the conference meet, with representation from six of the eight MIAA schools.