KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan cross country team is all set to host its annual George Dales Invitational on Friday, Sept. 7 starting at 6 p.m. at Pine View Golf Club in Three Rivers, Mich. The three-time reigning Mid-American Conference Champion Eastern Michigan will travel to face the Broncos.
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"We are really looking forward to the George Dales Invite at the always fast Pine View Golf Course," commented WMU associate head coach
Taryn Sheehan. "It's easy to look good in practice when you are racing against each other; however, Friday will give us a really good test against defending MAC Champions to see how we stack up. It will also be great to have the whole squad on the starting line."
The Broncos fell 24-35 to the Eagles in last year's invitational but not before the senior duo of
Hanne Christensen and
Claire Gilbert took first and fourth overall. Christensen's 6K personal record time of 20:44 claimed the event, defeating EMU's 2017 NCAA Championships qualifier Jordan McDermitt and the 2017 Outdoor Track and Field 5K Runner-Up Alsu Bogdanova by over 37 seconds. Gilbert's finish of 21:36 was also a personal record 6K after coming back from a sore foot the week prior.
Sarah Anderson also cracked the top-10, crossing the finish line with a time of 22:06 to finish third for the Broncos and seventh overall.
Brittney Hall rounded out the top-five Bronco finishers with a time of 24 flat, good for 17th overall.
In the first meet of the 2018 campaign, senior
Maria McDaniel led the way for the Brown & Gold during her first cross country meet since the 2015 season. The captain finished eighth overall at the Crusader Open with a 5K time of 18:00.4 to help WMU finish third overall with a team score of 135 behind Notre Dame and Purdue. In their first meet as Broncos, freshmen
Chloe McEachern and
Kailyn Mince finished in the Bronco top-five as the two took second and fourth for the team.
Eastern Michigan began its season last Friday, Aug. 31 at the Toledo Rockets Invitational, finishing third with a team score of 90 points. Sophomore Madison Distelrath led the Eagles with a third place finish of 14:22.9.
Following Friday, the Broncos set their eyes on the Spartan Invitational which takes place on Friday, Sept. 14.
