McInerney All-Region Leading EIU Cross

The EIU men placed 13th overall with McInerney finishing in 24th with a time of 30:40.1 on the 10K course.  Marc Scott of Tulsa was the individual winner with a time of 29:37.1.   Oklahoma State won the men's event with Minnesota second and Oklahoma third.

On the women's side Maria Baldwin was the Panthers top finisher placing 67th with a 6K time of 21:42.6.   Erin Teschuh of North Dakota State won the women's race with a time of 20:07.7.  The EIU women's team placed 21st ahead of OVC schools Southeast Missouri and SIU Edwardsville.  Oklahoma State won the women's regional with Iowa State second and Minnesota third.

Paxson Menard was the second highest finisher for the EIU men in 52nd with a time of 31:23.0.  Tyler Yunk was 83rd, Michael Brown 104th and Juan Barajas placed 117th as the top five EIU finishers.  Yunk had a time of 31:48.2.  Brown had a time of 32:07.9.  Barajas 10K time was 32:30.1.  

"Riley's 24th place finish today was the eighth highest regional finish by a Panther," said head coach Erin Howarth.  "He moved up nicely the entire race from 62nd at 5K, to 38th at 8K, to 24th.  Paxson also moved up the entire race.  Michael Brown stepped up today as our fourth man never being in our top five all season.  This is such an exciting day for men's cross country.  We have been ranked 15th in the region and our goal was to place higher than our ranking"

On the women's side Ivy Handley was the Panthers second finisher in 87th with a time of 21:59.8.  Kristen Rohrer, Rachel Garippo and Jocelyne Mendoza were the final three scoring EIU women's runners.  Rohrer was 96th with a time of 22:05.9.  Garippo was 113th with a time of 22:19.   Mendoza was 144th with a time of 22:40.9.

"Our women's team made some big improvements from where we have been regionally, with all those who raced moving up well over 50 spots from where they finished last year," said Howarth.  "Maria had another solid race with Ivy our consistent number two.  Senior Kristen Rohrer had an awesome last race of her EIU cross country career coming through as our third runner and sneaking into the top 100."