Klaus, Ramos Lead EIU At Notre Dame Gold

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Led by Olivia Klaus and Erika Ramos the Eastern Illinois women's cross country teams turned in a strong effort on Friday afternoon at the Notre Dame Invitational competing the Gold Division race. The men's team was led by Connor Kustief also competing in the Gold Division. 

Klaus helped lead the Panther women to a 7th place finish with 170 points in a field of 19 teams. The sophomore placed 12th in the field leading the EIU women for the third time this season. She covered the 5K course in a time of 18:18. Ramos, also a sophomore, was just behind the pace finishing in 17th place with a time of 18:24. 

Brittany Arthur led the next group of EIU women's runners placing 35th with a time of 18:46 with Caitlin Napoleoni and Megan Gingerich rounding out the Panther runners that scored points. Napoleoni was 50th at 18:56 while Gingerich was 59th at 19:07. 

Oakland University won the women's Gold Division title scoring 91 points followed closely by West Virginia with 104 points. Katie Gillespie of West Virginia was the women's overall winner with a time of 17:24. 

On the men's side EIU placed 10th in a 16 team field scoring 193 points. Eastern Michigan won a close race over North Central College in the men's team race with EMU scoring 47 points and NCC scoring 54. Mike Spain of NCC won the men's individual title with an 8K mark of 24:41. 

Kustief led the men's scoring group placing 19th with a time of 25:39. Brad LaRocque was 26th with a time of 25:43. Matt Feldhake covered the course distance in a time of 26:13 to place 51st. 

The final two Panther men's runners with scoring times were Wes Sheldon and Graham Morris. Sheldon was in at 26:38 to place 68th while Morris was in at 26:42 to place 70th. Matt Dettloff was just behind Morris at 26:44 to place 71st. 

EIU will return to action on Oct. 15 at the Bradley Invitational.