Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech cross country team had their final competition of the season this past Saturday when they competed at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Championship in Rock Island, Illinois. The goal is always to finish as strong as possible, and the Scarlet Hawks were able to do that, with several runners for both the men's and women's teams setting personal bests.

"What an end to our season," said Head Coach Tyler McQuality.  "We had four of seven runners on the men's team set a personal best, and two of five runners on the women's team did as well" said McQuality.

On the men's side, senior Joey Loriso was the top runner for the Scarlet Hawks, finishing 67th out of 220 runners in the 8k event with a time of 26:23.5, for an average mile time of 5:18.6. Freshman Gabe Durazo was next, setting a personal best with a time of 27:18.6 (5:29.7), good for 119th place. Rounding out the top three finishers for the men's team was senior Alejandro Torres, who closed out his Illinois Tech cross country career by setting a personal best time of 27:28.4 (5:31.7) to finish in 134th place. Also setting personal bests were juniors Lane Regan (28:07.6/5:39.6) and Mason Brewer (30:11.4/6:04.4).

On the women's side, junior Sophia Halama paced the Scarlet Hawks in the 6k event with a time of 24:30.2, good for 92nd out of 210 runners, for an average mile time of 6:34.2. Junior Rachel Brettin was next up with a personal best time of 26:25.4 and an average mile time of 7:05.0, good for 150th. Senior Valerie Lending rounded out the top three finishers on the women's team with a time of 27:04.7 (7:15.6), coming in 159th. Also setting a personal best was senior Adela Rivas with a time of 34:20.2 (9:12.3). 

Assistant Coach Evan Balizado was happy with the team's progress this season.

"I'm so proud of our team for this race and this season," said Balizado. "On the men's and women's side we had our highest placed runners ever with Joey and Sophia. This was our second fastest men's team performance since 2012. Overall, this was the fastest women's team this program has seen in 10 years. Any cross country runner knows how difficult this sport is and our runners were up to the task this season. We will carry this momentum onto the track season" Balizado said.

Said Assistant Coach Allayna Gagnard: "It was great to be able to witness our cross country team compete this weekend. They have worked so hard all season and it paid off at regionals. I'm so proud of them!"

Coach McQuality also wanted to recognize his departing seniors.

"I would like to send a special thank you and congratulations to our six seniors who have now run their last Illinois Tech Cross Country race: Joey, Nick, Alejandro, Andrew, Valerie, and Adela, thank you to them for all they have done for our cross country program!" said McQuality.