Cross country preps for league championships

Junior Alex Bashqawi paced the Flames during the Bradley Pink Classic Friday.
The cross country teams compete in the league championships Oct. 29.

In the final tune-up before the Horizon League Cross Country Championships, the men and women took to the trails Friday at the Bradley Pink Classic.  The Flames finished in eighth place on the men’s side and 23rd out of 31 women’s teams.

The men were paced by junior Alex Bashqawi, who crossed the finish line in 17th place with a time of 24:56.  Senior Kyle Hauser, the reigning D-I National Athlete of the Week, finished in 27th place (25:06) followed by freshman Walmer Saavedra (25:32.5), junior Brixton Rill (25:35.7) and sophomore Zach Szczesniak (25:51.7).

“We had a tremendous team performance to finish eighth,” head coach Jim Knoedel said.  “It was truly impressive; we beat some top schools in the region along with our conference rivals. We received great individual performances from Alex and Zach. I was very pleased with their efforts.”

Senior Lizzie Deutsch had a personal best of 22:10.7. She finished 66th in the field.  Sophomore Allison Hansen crossed the line with a time of 22:39.6 and freshman Natalie Jaramillo set a personal best with 22:41.3.

“I was very happy with the performance from the women,” Knoedel said. “We bested league foes Green Bay, Milwaukee and Valparaiso, which is a plus before the upcoming conference meet.”

UIC is preparing for the 2016 Horizon League Championships Oct. 29 at the Wayne Dannehl course on the campus of UW-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Start time for the women’s 6K race is 11 a.m., followed by the men’s 8K event.