PEORIA, Ill. - History was made Friday night in Peoria for Western Illinois Cross Country. Michael Castel broke a school record standing since 1974 in the 8K, previously held by Dan Albert. Alycia Thurston broke the school record time in the Women's 6K run, breaking Beth Whalen's previously held record from 2007.
Castel ran a time of 24:24 in the 8K Friday, breaking the previous record by six seconds.
"Mike Castel ran the fastest 8K in school history tonight," third-year head coach David Beauchem said. "He's going to be in a fight for conference in two weeks. We're going in there with high goals."
Thurston ran the women's 6K in a time of 21:48 which tops the previous school record held by Whalen that was set in 2007. Whalen ran a time of 21:53.
"We saw better races from Alycia and Lydia today. We've progressed and done great things with our training. Chelsea is coming around and Mackenzie and Alyssa certainly raced well," said Coach.
The Leatherneck men, paced by a record-breaking performance by Castel, finished 6th overall in the men's university division.
"We're very happy with how we stepped up. Mike and Zach ran very well up front. Chase, Trenton, and Ryan hung in there as our 3, 4, 5 guys. We need to close the gap between 2 and 5 as we move forward to Conference in two weeks," coach Beauchem said.
MEN'S 8K
4. Michael Castel - 24:24 (School Record)
19. Zach Wiedeman - 25:01 (Personal Record)
50. Chase Marlow - 25:49 (Personal Record)
54. Trenton Hopper - 25:52
57. Ryan Wojdyla - 25:54 (Personal Record)
77. Mark Holt - 26:15
105. Jeffrey Wooldridge - 27:05
Kevin Kamm - 27:45
Andrew Hood - 27:59 (Personal Record)
Matthew Drendel - 28:41 (Personal Record)
Western was paced by Thurston on the women's side of things with her school record 6K time of 21:48.
WOMEN'S 6K
25. Alycia Thurston - 21:48 (School Record)
54. Lydia Smith - 22:19 (Personal Record)
86. Chelsea Lynes - 22:48
130. Mackenzie Gray - 23:37 (Personal Record)
153. Alyssa Johnson - 24:53
159. Angela Brown - 26:54
160. Larissa Mooberry - 27:17
Coach Beauchem has nothing but optimism heading into the Summit League Championships in two weeks.
"We had a number of of PR's [personal records] and we made the step we were looking for. The season is about the Summit League Championships and until we accomplish that, our season is incomplete."
