By Jami Sponaugle 

Logan Twp, NJ. - Taking a trip to New Jersey, the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks men’s and women’’s cross country team competed at the Rowan Border Battle hosted by Rowan University. The meet, which took place at Gloucester County Dream Park Championship Cross Country Course, saw 35 teams compete on the women’s side and 36 teams on the men’s side. For the women, the Hawks finished in 32nd while the men finished in 27th.

Scarlet Hawks Women’s Top Three Finishers

• Hayley Blanton finished in 231st with a time of 27:31.3

• In 243rd was Annika McKown with a time of 27:56.3

• Closing out the Hawks top three finishers was Sophia Halama with a time of 28:06.4

Scarlet Hawks Men’s Top Three Finishers

• Leading the Hawks in 184th place was Joey Loriso with a time of 28:13.0

• Close behind him was Nicholas Quigley in 187th with a time of 28:21.6

• Ethan Phillips finished in 198th with a time of 28:30.1

Personal Records Broken

• Adelina Zahner ran a 2:13 PR

• McKown ran almost a 1:30 PR

• Phillips ran an 18 second PR

• Mason Brewer ran a 5 second PR

Head Coach Tyler McQuality’s Comments

• “It was definitely a different experience for us to fly and travel out to New Jersey, but I think it was a great team bonding experience for our team that will be extremely valuable to us moving forward. We were also able to race on a completely new and different course against teams we’ve never raced against in a field very similar to regionals in a month. Overall, it was a great trip and there are a lot of positive takeaways."

Up Next

The Hawks now turn their focus towards training for the Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC) Championships. The championship is scheduled for Saturdaym October 29th at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course in Geneva, IL.