CARMEL, Ind. – The UIC cross country program got a taste of the course they will race on for the Horizon League Championships Friday (Sept. 10) as the Flames competed at the Jaguar Classic, hosted by IUPUI.
 
Both the men and women finished in fourth place out of six teams, with Horizon League foes Milwaukee, IUPUI, Wright State and Purdue Fort Wayne joining Butler in the field.
 
"I think that we learned a lot today," said head coach Ashley Lucas. "Getting a race in on the Horizon League course against predominately conference schools was the biggest takeaway from today. There were some great performances today and some things we need to continue to work on."
 
Carlos Cabrera and Dathan Maton were UIC's top two finishers, placing eighth and ninth, respectively, in the men's 8K while Jenna Boyle (15^th) and Teresa Mejia (16^th) paced the women's effort.
 
"On the women's side, Jenna (Boyle) had the race of her life and Cailynn PR'd by a minute. For the men, Carlos and Dathan had another impressive day with Dathan running a big PR as well."
 
Boyle surpassed her previous best time of 25:43.8, finishing in a time of 22:51.7, outkicking Mejia (22:52.8) down the stretch. Cabrera's eighth-place finish came in a time of 25:06.6, just three seconds ahead of Maton (25:09.7).
 
Cailyn Persinger set her PR with a time of 23:07.2 to finish in 25^th place in the women's race. Rosie Campbell-Watt (35^th – 23:51.3) and Taylor Frommer (40^th – 24:04.9) rounded out the women's scoring while Daniela Martinez (45^th – 24:37.4) and Rylee Fee (46^th – 24:44.9) also got a chance to test out the conference championships course.
 
Joining Cabrera and Maton in the men's scoring was Mark Lemke (27^th – 26:01.0), Drey Maton (39^th – 26:23.5) and Tre Rivers (26:54.6). Also competing for the men Friday was Luke Malone (54^th – 27:02.9) and Owen Hassler (27:16.9).
 
"Next weekend we have off so we will use the week to get some good, interrupted training in as we look ahead to a tough two weekends between Minnesota and Notre Dame. We definitely aren't content right now and are hungry for more."
 
After its weekend off, the Flames return to action Sept. 24 at the Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by Minnesota.