August 26, 2022 –The Kishwaukee College Women's and Men's Cross Country teams opened up the season with the Heartland CC Relays at Maxwell Park in Normal, Illinois. This unique event pairs runners in relay format but in essence is a fun way to kick off the fall. Sophomore Gretchen Strathman (Sycamore HS) and Freshman teammate Kylie Von Schnase (Sycamore HS) paired up for 47:36 time running three miles each. Freshmen Zander Ward (DeKalb HS) and Thomas Gil (DeKalb HS) posted a combined time of 51:37 running four miles each while Sophomore Antonio Suarez (Pecatonica HS), Freshman Josue Huerta (Rochelle HS) and Freshman Andrew Neumann (Genoa Kingston HS) combined for a 53:12 in their distance.
"The team did very well today, while running together in paired off groups in this interesting format" commented Head Coach Megan Costanzo. "We have a very young team with mostly first year freshman but I am really looking forward to building off this event and our times in preparation for the rest of the season. I really saw some good things today that we can continue to elevate and get better each day and each event. It's going to be about stamina and pushing the natural talent they all have by Conference and Region Championship time."
The Kougars will next run at the NIU Huskie Challenge on September 2 in DeKalb, followed by the Spartan Invite hosted by Aurora University on September 10 and the month's final invite will be back to Normal, Illinois for the Heartland CC Invite on September 30. Kish will challenge in the month of October on the 8th at the Skyhawk Invite hosted by Sauk Valley CC before moving to the Arrowhead Conference Championships on October 15 then the NJCAA Region 4 Championships on October 29 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus.
Coach Costanzo on the season schedule- "The structure of the season suits us well as we work to improve each time out before the Championships. There are some quality Region college teams running in our planned meets as well as some quality four-year university runners so our athletes can measure themselves towards that next level after Kish while going head-to-head with their collegiate peers. I am very excited about how the year plays out with this great group of Kougars harriers!"