CHICAGO, IL - Lincoln Park in downtown Chicago was the setting for the 28th Annual Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola University Chicago this Saturday (September 30th). Lake Forest placed 39th in the 46-team women's field and 39th out of 42 men's teams. The meet is one of the largest in the nation.

In the women's 6-kilometer race, senior Sarah Simpson (Colorado Springs, CO/Palmer) led the Foresters with her 184th place (out of 496) finish and time of 25:12. Fellow senior Michelle Murillo (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) was next in 230th place, just 26 seconds back. Three sophomores again 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 303rd, 383rd and 390th places, respectively.

Junior Charles Evans (Asheville, NC/Carolina Day School) had the fastest race of his career, completing the 8-kilometer course in 28:28 and in 247th place (out of 444). Sophomore Eric Crawley (Braintree, MA/Thayer) was next for the Foresters at 29:04 and in 292nd place. Junior Joe Zemaitis (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) and sophomores Rob Bahde (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield) and Brandon Johnson (Phoenix, AZ/Brophy) rounded out the top five for the Foresters in 328th, 376th and 398th places. Junior Naresh Kavuri (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central) was next on the team with a career-best time of 32:54.

Head Coach Mike Wajerski was especially pleased with a few runners efforts in particular. "On the women's side, I really liked the way Sarah [Simpson] ran, holding for 6K the same pace she's been running for 5K. Charles [Evans] and Naresh [Kavuri] both had great races today. They've been improving all season and show no signs of letting up. Hopefully that will spread to some of the other runners as well."

The Foresters' next meet will be on October 7th at the Red Hawk Invitational hosted by Ripon College. The women's 5K will be at 11:00 AM and the men's 8K will start at 11:45 AM.