Aug. 31, 2007

Early Bird Invitational Results
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Macomb, IL-IPFW men's and women's cross country traveled to Western Illinois on Friday to compete in their season opener, the Early Bird Invitational.

The women's team had a tremendous showing with four top-ten finishers.  Junior Crystina Martinez led IPFW with a time of 23:10.  Martinez finished third behind Summit League opponents Beth Whaler (22:49/1st) of Western Illinois and South Dakota State's Caitlin Berry (23:03/2nd).

Also finishing in the top-ten were junior Crystal Martinez (23:40/4th), newcomer Sussy Odipo (24:48/5th), and senior Val Hardesty (24:11/7th).  Rounding out IPFW's top-five was sophomore Annina Gruber (25:24/20th).

On the men's side, senior Hunter Paris was the only 'Don to break into the top-ten, earning a seventh place finish with a time of 26:15. 

Freshman Russel Wilk (28:05/23rd), senior Mark Green (28:09/25th), senior Garret Bradtmueller (28:18/27th), and freshman Randall Quirk (28:19/28th) wrapped up the Mastodon's top-five finishers.

The men's and women's cross country teams will take next weekend off to prepare for their next race, the Mel Brodt Invitational in Bowling Green, OH on September 15, 2007.

~Dons~