IVCC’s inaugural cross country team has competed in three events, and now the team prepares for Arrowhead Conference meet on Oct. 14.

In its most recent contest, the team competed Sept. 27 at the Heartland XC Invitational in Normal, with several personal records set. The Eagles’ men’s team was led again by freshman Christian Yepsen of Princeton, who finished 61st overall in a competitive field of runners with a time of 34:11.62 in the 8K race, shaving his previous best NJCAA finish by about two seconds.

Three of the team’s international students from Zimbabwe showed major growth, cutting their past top times by over a minute each.
The trio of Zviko Bingura, Tafara Kaguru and Shingai Manyonga finished the race in 35:13.49, 37:22.32, and 38:11.63, respectively. Azael Vargas, a Putnam County High School graduate, rounded out the scorers for the men’s squad with a time of 39:52.44.

On the women’s side, Yovanna Reyes of Spring Valley ran a time of 28:37.41, cutting her previous best average mile pace by about 8 seconds in her first 5K race of the season, following two 6K competitions this year. In its first meet, the team competed in the Spartan Classic in Batavia, laying the foundation for future success of the program.

“As a brand-new team, I’m really excited with how we performed,” head coach Matt Baker said after the Sept. invite. “We have international runners who have never run cross county along with our local athletes who are competing at collegiate distances for the first time. They all put in great effort, and I’m looking forward to how they continue to grow this season.”

The IVCC men’s team finished 9th in the 8K Spartan Classic, which included junior college and four-year university programs, hosted by Aurora University at the Northwestern medicine cross country course on Sept. 9

Baker said running on that course was important.