COLUMBIA, MO. – The UIC cross country programs put together another impressive performance Friday (Sept. 30) morning, competing at the Gans Creek Classic. Twelve of the 19 Flames in action at the annual meet hosted by Missouri set new personal bests while three runners either entered or moved up on UIC's top-10 performance list.
 
"Another big step forward for our team as we had several performances ranked on the all-time performance list as well as setting new personal bests," said interim head coach Paul Zavala. "We are looking forward to our next race in a few weeks and continuing to be ready to compete at a high level at our conference championship."
 
As a team, the men's program finished 12^th overall in a field of 22 teams with a final point total of 358. UIC's top five runners in the men's 8k averaged a time of 25:01 to break the school record for the fastest 5-runner average. The Flames' women's squad placed 18^th overall (24 total teams) in the 6k with 484 combined points.
 
Daniel Chavez finished 41^st overall to earn 38 points, clocking in a time of 24:29.4 to move into fourth place on UIC's all-time performance list. Dathan Maton moved into sixth place on UIC's all-time list for the 8k with a time of 24:45.9 to finish 63^rd overall (57 points.
 
On the women's side, Teresa Mejia posted a time of 21:41.9 (56^th place, 50 points) to move into fourth place on the women's all-timer performance list.
 
Freshman Alex Bacci posted a time of 24:59.9 to finish 87^th overall (79 points), Mark Lemke crossed the line in 25:12.6 (99^th place, 83 pts) and Maxum Caesar completed the course in 25:37.8 (138^th place, 101 pts) to round out the UIC scoring.
 
For the women, Emma Creviston was the second Flame to cross the line, posting a time of 22:27.2 to finish 115^th overall and earn 97 points. Jenna Boyle followed in a time of 22:46.7 (135^th place, 109 points), Rosie Campbell-Watt (139^th place, 112 points) followed shortly after in 22:55.4 and Cailyn Persinger rounded out the scoring with a time of 23:05.1 (149^th place, 116 points).
 
The Flames are back in action on Friday, October 14 at the Bradley Pink Classic.