SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Competing against some of the top teams in the nation, the Western Michigan cross country team was able to post some strong results at the Joe Piane Invite this morning. As a team, the Broncos finished 18th in the top race of the event. 

For the third straight meet, Lily Overton led the way for the Brown and Gold, as she crossed the finish line in a time of 17:17.7. That marked her third straight meet with a PR. Following her was Lara Machado Pereira, who closed the race in a time of 17:27.0. That was a PR by more than 20 seconds. 

Kaelin Hughes was next for WMU, finishing the race in a time of 17:50.0. Like her teammates, the freshman runner also collected a PR in the race. The fourth Bronco runner to cross the finish line was Rebekah Asselin. She also had a PR, ending the race with a time of 17:58.1. 

Rounding out the scoring lineup was Ava Kurczewski, who notched a time of 18:19.7. That was more than 30 seconds better than her previous fastest 5K time. Madison Zarembski and Larissa McGrath also had good outings, earning times of 18:24.8 and 18:39.1, respectively. 

FROM KEVIN CATALDO
"We needed today to happen in order to move forward as a program. I couldn't tell you the last time (if ever) this program was in the Invite section at this meet. It was a humbling experience but one that we needed to see in order to take the next step forward as a program. We had a lot of positive things happen with personal bests from Lil, Lara, Bekah and Ava. Our freshmen got to see national class athletes in the same race as themselves which will help them later this season.

I feel like we could have done a better job of keeping our 1-5 spread closer to 40 seconds. 20 seconds more in a field like this is a lot of points to give up.

I am pleased with how the team responded once the race was over. This group is special and I feel like we are heading in a great direction. We're going to make a few minor adjustments the next week off and get back to 6k at Bradley."

UP NEXT
Western Michigan will close out the regular season at the Bradley Pink Classic on Oct. 17.