The Illinois Valley Community College's new cross country program laid the foundation for future success with their performance at the Spartan Classic in Batavia on Saturday morning.
"As a brand-new team, I'm really excited with how we performed," head coach Matt Baker said. "We have international runners who have never run cross county along with our local athletes who are competing at collegiate distances for the first time. They all put in great effort, and I'm looking forward to how they continue to grow this season."
The IVCC men's team finished 9th in the 8K meet, which included junior college and 4-year university programs, hosted by Aurora University at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course. The Eagles were led by freshman Christian Yepsen of Princeton, who finished 78th overall with a time of 34:49.40. Zviko Bingura, one of the team's four international student-athletes from Zimbabwe -- all of whom also play for the IVCC men's tennis team -- finished next for the team in 85th place with a time of 36:24.20.
"We'll be back on this course at the end of the season for the NJCAA Region 4 meet," Baker said. "This was a great opportunity for the team to experience the course early in the season."
The remaining members of the team finished as follows: Azael Vargas, a Putnam County High School graduate, (39:32.60), Shingai Manyonga (40:14.10), Tafara Kaguru (42:14.30), and Rawland Jasi (44:59.60).