By Jami Sponaugle
Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks men’s and women’s cross country team begin their 2022 season on Friday, September 2nd, when they head to Eldridge Park to compete in the Elmhurst Earlybird Invitational hosted by Elmhurst University.
The Hawks used the 2021 season as a rebuild, and look to use that growth to continue to move forward in the upcoming season. When asked about the 2022 season, head coach Tyler McQuality said the following: “I am very excited for our group of athletes we have on the team this fall. We have a fantastic group of student-athletes who are going to put the work into becoming the best versions of themselves. Coach Kasey (assistant coach Kasey Jones) and I are excited about the possibilities and opportunities that these young men and women have ahead of them this season.”
Speaking about members on the men’s team, McQuality stated: “Evan Balizado returns for his 5th year and will bring veteran leadership to a young team. He had a great track season where he set the school record in the 800 meters, a record that was a long time in the making and we want to build off that momentum this fall. Sophomore Joey Loriso will also bring leadership where he comes off a breakout track season where he finished 4th in the conference 5000m and will look to compete with the conference’s best this year. Alejandro Torres had a great summer and his first couple weeks of workouts look promising.
For the women’s team, McQuality said: “Hayley Blanton returns and we look forward to seeing her take big strides in her second year as a sophomore. A new incoming freshman duo of Annika McKown and Sophia Halama look very good and will look to bridge the gap to Hayley and build a strong pack up front for our team.”
McQuality closed out by saying: “Our meet schedule worked out to be very local for a majority of the year with Aurora University hosting both the NACC and the NCAA Regional Championships so we will be racing there three times at a new course that we haven’t been to yet. We will also be going somewhere new and different and flying out to Philadelphia for the Rowan Border Battle in mid-October so that we will have a very fun trip and bonding experience for our team and we can’t wait to create memories for them. Overall, this is a young team that we expect to make big strides for not only this year, but the years to come.”