MEQUON, WI - Along the sunny shore of Lake Michigan, Concordia University (Mequon, WI) played host to the Lake Forest College Cross Country teams this Saturday (September 16th). The Foresters returned home with their men having finished 4th of 12 teams and the women 5th out of 11.

Junior captains Joe Zemaitis (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) and Charles Evans (Asheville, NC/Carolina Day School) were the top two finishers for the men, completing the 8-kilometer course in 28:51 and 29:20, respectively, good for 8th and 12th places. Sophomores Eric Crawley (Braintree, MA/Thayer), Rob Bahde (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield) and Brandon Johnson (Phoenix, AZ/Brophy) rounded out the top five for the Foresters in 34th, 30th and 40th places. Evans and Johnson each ran career best times.

In the women's race, senior captains Sarah Simpson (Colorado Springs, CO/Palmer) and Michelle Murillo (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) started aggressively and held on to finish 9th and 10th in the race with times of 20:54 and 21:00, respectively. As in the men's race, three sophomores completed the team's top five as Erin Motzer (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville), Melissa Brown (Cape Coral, FL/Cape Coral) and Molly Sutherland (St. Paul, MN/Visitation) finished in 33rd, 38th and 49th places.

Head Coach Mike Wajerski was pleased with both teams' performances. "Today was the first 8K of the year for the men I wasn't sure what to expect. I like the way they competed. I really liked the way Sarah [Simpson] and Michelle [Murillo] started fast and held on to their top 10 spots.  We're not racing next weekend, so it was important for us to run well today. Now we'll be able to approach these next two weeks of hard training with a positive mindset."

The Foresters' next meet will be on September 30th at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, IL. The women's 6K will be at 10:15 AM and the men's 8K will start at 11:00 AM.