MU Men Place Third, Women Take Fifth at Loyola Lakefront Invitational

CHICAGO, Illinois – The Marquette University men's cross country team finished third while the women's team took fifth in the maroon races (varsity) at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational Saturday morning in Chicago.

"I'm proud of how both teams ran today even though we faced some difficult terrain," Interim Head Coach Sean Birren said. "Daniel [Pederson] obviously had a great performance, but as a team we had a lot of solid times today. On the girls side, our top five were all within 10 seconds of each other, so I loved to see that."

Senior Daniel Pederson paced the MU men, taking first place overall in a field with over 125 runners. His time of 24:56.39 is his second best 8k finish in his collegiate career. It's also his second career first-place finish (Sept. 9, 2017, Vic Godfrey Open).

Pederson and the men's team placed third in the 15-team field with 92 points at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational. Four of the Golden Eagles top seven runners placed in the top 35 overall with an average time of 25:30. McMaster (45 points) and Wisconsin (65) took first and second place, respectively.

The Golden Eagle women placed fifth (5k) in the 18-team field with an average time of 18:34 in their top seven. MU finished with 143 points as a team. Northern Illinois (60 points) took first while Loyola (64), Wisconsin (83) and Oakland (126) rounded out the top four.

Following Pederson on the men's team was senior Ryan Burd (25:20.83), who took ninth, which marks his third top-10 finish of the fall. Senior captain Brad Eagan also placed in the top 20, finishing 19^th with a time of 25:39.06. Sophomores August Beyer (25:50.35) and Jordan Janusiak (25:53.50) took 30^th and 33^rd, respectively.

Patrick Bruch (26:12.41) and Danny Peterson (26:13.24) finished back-to-back at Nos. 55 and 56 to round out the top seven.

Senior Caitlin McGauley (18:26.25) paced her team for the third straight meet and finished 25^th overall in a field of 156 runners. Junior Emily Foley (18:32.66) was right on her heels (29^th place) along with freshman Kate Jochims (18:34.91), who also placed in the top 30.

Kendall Pfrimmer (18:35.33) was less than a second behind Jochims and took 31^st while Lauren Neiheisel (18:36.63) finished two spots behind her at No. 33. Freshman Laurel Moneysmith (18:52.09) took 40th overall while Mary Rose Flood (19:21.80) rounded out MU's top seven, placing 78^th overall.

In the gold races ("B"), both the men's and women's teams took first place out of 31 teams. Johnny Hyland (26:03.54) paced the men's team and finished second overall. Emily Noone (19:04.40) led the women's team and took fifth place in the field.

"There will be even more teams to compete against next weekend at Louisville," Birren said. "We're going to need continued improvement at practice and to get everyone healthy and ready to run fast."

UP NEXT:
Both teams will be back in action next weekend at the Louisville Classic in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is scheduled for next Saturday morning, Oct. 5.

TEAM STANDINGS:

MEN (Points):
1. McMaster (45)
2. Wisconsin (65)
3. Marquette (92)
4. Windsor (150)
5. Loyola (172)
6. Western Ontario (202)
7. Central Michigan (206)
8. Milwaukee (224)
9. St. Francis (232)
9. DePaul (232)

WOMEN:
1. Northern Illinois (60)
2. Loyola Chicago (64)
3. Wisconsin (83)
4. Oakland (126)
5. Marquette (143)
6. Western Ontario (162)
7. Milwaukee (181)
8. Central Michigan (243)
9. McMaster (270)
10. DePaul (271)

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