Sept. 4, 2009

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Kayla Brown had a plethora of Illinois State and Illinois runners on her tail and crossed the finish line first Friday at the Illini Challenge.

Brown ran the 4,000-meter course in 14 minutes, 20.33 seconds, which is just 10 seconds off the course record at the Illinois Arboretum. She edged out Illinois State's Michelle Brunk by five seconds for the event title.

Illinois State easily won the meet with seven runners among the top nine. Only Brown and Illinois' Ashley Thompson would break into the top nine from a team other than ISU.

Illinois State won the meet with 24 points followed by Illinois with 49, SIUE with 71 and Robert Morris with 110.

SIUE's finishers include Aftan Noon (15:49.39), Heather Hackel (16:55.36), Rachel Roustio (17:31.49), Elisha Crawley (17:59.55) and Jamie Nagel (18:27.30).

On the men's side, SIUE finished fourth in a field of six teams. Illinois won the meet with 17 followed by Illinois State with 55, Illinois CC Club with 72, SIUE with 94, Danville CC with 136 and Robert Morris with 160.

Sean Gosewisch was SIUE's top finishers of the 6,000-meter course in a time of 19:40.92. He was followed by Aaron Werths (19:59.74), Marc Amarillas (20:05.13), Steven Werths (20:20.58), and Brad Walwer (20:33.67).

Next up for the Cougars is Sept. 11 at the EIU Panther Open in Charleston. Start time is 5:30 p.m.