Sept. 1, 2006
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Purdue cross country teams opened the 2006 at the Illinois Invitational and it was a story of the Boilermaker freshmen that lead the way for the women's team while Justin Stadt and Justin Gauthier paced the men.
Freshman Katie Morrical was the leader for the Purdue women, running the 4K course in a third-place 14:15.59, just four seconds behind race winner Cassie Peller of Marquette. Fellow freshman Kristin Phillips finished in fifth out of 51 runners in her first collegiate race, running a 14:30.87.
Jessica Hampson, another Purdue freshman, completed the course in 14:58.63 for a 13th-place finish. Junior Carrie Fett, the experience leader on the squad, placed 15th with a 15:03.28.
Four of Purdue's next five women to cross the finish line were also freshmen, giving the Boilermakers seven first-year runners to finish among the top nine competitors.
On the men's side, the leaders with the Justins as senior Justin Stadt and junior Justin Gauthier finished eighth and 13th in the 6K men's race. Stadt was the top Boilermaker with a time of 18:37.03 while Gauthier circled the course in 18:47.46.
A trio of Boilermaker men crossed the finish line in succession for 25th, 26th and 27th places. Michial Jacob was the first of the trio to finish, crossing the line in 19:11.77. Josh Robinson ran a 19:13.53, and freshman Matt De Silva was on Robinson's heels with a time of 19:13.80.
Purdue was joined at the Illinois Invitational by Marquette, Illinois State, Eastern Illinois, Danville and host Illinois. The meet was not scored as a team event.