SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Western Michigan senior
Lily Overton broke the school record in the 5K to help lead the Broncos to a 10th-place finish in a loaded field at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite on Friday. The 10th-place team finish marked WMU's best-ever in the meet's Blue Division, the strongest of the event's races, with all five members of the scoring lineup placing inside the top-100.
Overton's time of 16:37.2 broke the 12-year old school record held by Maria McDaniel, which was set at the 2014 Joe Piane Invite. The senior finished 26th overall in the race, pacing the Brown and Gold for the second consecutive meet.
Led by Overton, all five members of Western Michigan's scoring lineup recorded 5K PRs.
Ava Kurczewski was the second Bronco to cross the line, finishing 47th in 17:09.5, over a minute faster than her previous PR. Her time moved her up into sixth in school history in the 5K.
Lillian Zelasko came in 57th with a time of 17:14.4, shaving more than 20 seconds off of her previous best to also crack WMU's all-time, top-10 list.
Rebekah Asselin and
Kaelin Hughes kept things rolling for the Brown and Gold, finishing 76th and 97th, respectively. Asselin's time of 17:29.5 was nearly 30 seconds faster than her previous best, while Hughes trimmed a few seconds off of her best time to finish in 17:46.1.
Larissa McGrath and
Madison Clor put forth strong showings as well, posting times of 18:41.3 and 18:46.1, respectively.
Shannon Gillahan rounded out the day for WMU by clocking a PR time of 19:40.0.
"I'm so proud of how we raced today," WMU head coach
Kevin Cataldo said. "This was the deepest field we have competed in so far and we ran like the veterans we are. What is really exciting, is we still have some things to clean up and people to add back to the roster that will make us a better team. Lil (Overton) breaking the school record in a loaded field was exciting to watch. Seeing Ava drop 1:10 off of her 5K and Lilly (Zelasko) come away with a PR to give us two more top-10 marks in program history is amazing. Bekah had just under a 30-second PR and Kaelin stepped up big to keep us under a 70-second spread."
UP NEXT
Western Michigan closes out the regular season on Friday, Oct. 16, at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. The meet is slated to begin at 10 am.
