Sept. 10, 2010

Photo Gallery  Final Results

CHARLESTON - Sophomore Aaron Werths narrowly missed a top ten finish at the Eastern Illinois Panther Invite but led the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's cross country to a fourth-place finish Friday evening.

For the second time in as many meets this season, Werths was the top finisher for the Cougars and his time of 26:08.91 missed placing in the top ten by less than one second. Werths settled for the next best position, 11th.

Werth's time was an all-time personal best while running an 8,000-meter event.

Juniors Marc Amarillas and Shawn Dillard were not far behind Werths' time as the duo crossed the finish line in times of 26:39.51 (23rd) and 26:47.53 (25th), respectively. Each runner finished the race in their second-fastest time ever in an 8k.

Campbell Walters finished the course in a time of 27:12.34 (29th) while fellow freshman J.D. Wynn (27:53.84) and Kilian Sottoriva (29:07.32) also completed the race.

"The men had a much improved outing from the first week," said Head Coach Eileen McAllister.  "They showed much more confidence in practice this week, and it transferred to the race."

Host Eastern Illinois claimed top honors at the event with 30 points while SIUE finished with 93.

The Cougars will return to action next Friday when they host the SIUE Cross Country Challenge.

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