Men's and Women's CC to Compete at Loyola Lakefront Invitational

MILWAUKEE – For the first time since 2006, the Marquette University men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the Loyola Lakefront Cross Country Invitational in Chicago, Illinois. The race, which takes place in the morning on Saturday, Sept. 28, is being hosted by Loyola Chicago.

The women's 5k race, which has 20 teams competing in it, will begin at 10:50 a.m. The men's 8k race is set for an 11:20 a.m. start time. Both meets will take place at Montrose Beach in Lincoln Park.

"We're going to be as competitive as we can and try to bring home another victory in this meet," senior Matt Cavanaugh said. "Our team has improved significantly in each of the last two meets. We're confident in our training and that's been paying off so far this season."

Interim head coach Sean Birren, who is in the midst of his first season as the man in charge, will be looking to lead both the men's and women's teams to strong performances for the third consecutive meet.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
Junior Emily Foley: "Finishing within the top half of the field is a big accomplishment. We want to achieve as many PR's as we can and try to have our team finish close together individually."

Sophomore Kendall Pfrimmer: "We finished second at the Illinois State Invitational and Loyola Chicago was the only team that finished ahead of us. This weekend it's their home meet so we'll get another shot to try and beat them. There's going to be some really good competition and we're excited about competing."

Senior Ryan Burd: "We want to see where we're at as a team. We want to go up against teams that are ranked in our region and try to improve our stock for the postseason. We're pretty healthy as a team overall and I think we can finish really high once again."

Senior Matt Cavanaugh: "The whole team has been working really hard and buying into the training. We have a lot of promising underclassmen who are focused on improving and helping the team in any way they can. I think the future is very bright here."

LAST TIME OUT:
The Golden Eagles reigned victorious at the Illinois State Invitational two weeks ago, with the men's team taking first place and the women taking second. The MU men boasted an average time of 25:04 in the 8-kilometer race in a pool of eight teams.

Senior Ryan Burd placed first among Golden Eagles and second overall with a time of 24:43.8. Senior captain Brad Eagan (24:52.0), senior Daniel Pederson (25:07.3) and sophomore August Beyer (25:15.5) joined Burd in the top 15, finishing fifth, 12th and 15th, respectively. Alex Gill (25:17.4), Paolo Tiongson (25:30.8) and Danny Peterson (25:32.7) rounded out the top seven finishers for MU.

"When we took first place at Illinois State, it was just an incredible feeling," Burd said. "We knew it would be a competitive meet and it really felt like we went out there and earned that finish. Our fourth and fifth men made all the difference as we made up a lot of points in the back end. It was just a great team effort."

The women claimed five top-15 finishers in the 5-kilometer race, with Senior Caitlin McGauley (17:59.6) and junior Emily Foley (18:02.5) earning top-10 finishes, followed by Kendall Pfrimmer (18:05.1) and Lauren Neiheisel (18:06.1) in 11^th and 12^th place, respectively. True freshman Kate Jochims rounded out the top-15 with a time of 18:26.1.

"The improvement our team has made from last year to this year is amazing," Foley said. "Last year was sort of a rebuilding year and we had to figure out where we were as a team, both mentally and emotionally. We have some strong upperclassmen this season and brought in a great freshman class, so we have contributors up and down our roster."

LOYOLA LAKEFRONT INVITATIONAL COMPETITION:

WOMEN:
-Central Michigan
-DePaul
-Huntington
-UIC
-Illinois-Springfield
-Loyola
-McMaster
-Milwaukee
-North Central
-Northern Illinois
-Northwestern
-Oakland
-IPFW
-St. Francis
-SIU
-UTSA
-Wisconsin

MEN:
-Central Michigan
-DePaul
-Huntington
-UIC
-Illinois-Springfield
-Loyola
-McMaster
-IPFW
-St. Francis
-SIU
-UTSA
-Milwaukee
-Wisconsin

UP NEXT:
After Saturday's meet, the team will prepare for the Louisville Classic on Saturday, Oct. 5. Three more meets remain before the BIG EAST Championships, which will be hosted by MU at the Wayne Dannehl XC Course in Somers, Wisconsin.

The last time MU hosted the BIG EAST Championships was in 2017, when the women's team posted its best conference championships finish since 2005. The men's team also made history, with two earning All-BIG EAST honors and sophomore Daniel Pederson taking the program's first-ever top-10 individual placement, finishing eighth.

MARQUETTE ENTRIES:

WOMEN:
Sophie Bolich
Anna Buckstaff
Mary Rose Flood
Emily Foley
Mary Hanson
Kate Jochims
Mallory Lafever
Caitlin McGauley
Laurel Moneysmith
Emma Moravec
Lauren Neiheisel
Emily Noone
Anna Penzkover
Kendall Pfrimmer
Hannah Ray
Marissa Valentini

MEN:
Augie Beyer
Patrick Bruch
Ryan Burd
Patrick Burns
Matt Cavanaugh
Brad Eagan
Cade Ferron
Alex Gill
Derek Gross
Jack Hawes
Patrick Hetlage
Johnny Hyland
Jordan Janusiak
Matt Moravec
Daniel Pederson
Danny Peterson
Stephen Poorten
Paolo Tiongson
Joshua Urban
Greg Van Hollen

Keep up with the Marquette cross country program through social media by following on Twitter (@MUTFXC) and Instagram (@MUTFXC) and `liking' on Facebook (/MUTFXC).