The University of Illinois Springfield cross country program has come far since its humble beginnings in 2015.
Sophomores Blake Jones and Tayrn Christy will appear as the first UIS runners ever in Saturday’s NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship Meet at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, California.
Jones, a Lincoln High School graduate, earned the men’s at-large bid after taking eighth place in the Midwest Region meet at 31:42.3 while Christy, of Geneva, clinched the women’s automatic berth by finishing fifth in 21:09.9. Both were school records.
“They’re extremely hard workers,” Coach Tyler Pence said of Jones and Christy. “They do all of the little things right. It’s not surprising that they’re qualifiers at this meet. They’ve got the total package.”
This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on November 24, 2019.
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