The expression “close, but no cigar” can fairly accurately sum up Eastern’s results at the NCAA Regional at Illinois State University.

The women’s squad came in with a 17th-place finish and the men barely made the top 10 finishing at 10th.

It was senior Kyle O’Brien and junior Jeff Jonaitis who slightly missed their personal goals. O’Brien needed to finish in the top four among individuals not on teams earning automatic bids to qualify for the nationals. According to Eastern head coach John McInerney, O’Brien was among the top five for the first 7 kilometers of the 10-kilometer race (2 kilometers longer than a regular 8-kilometer race).

“Kyle was disappointed with that,” McInerney said. “That’s a credit to him.”

O’Brien finished the race in 30:32.97.

Jonaitis failed to meet his goal of earning all regional honors by finishing in the top 25. His 30:49.94 time placed him at just three positions off at 28th.

“You had to have your very very best day,” McInerney said.

Finishing third through sixth for the Panthers were freshman Dan Starackeljahn, junior Jackson Johnson, freshman Jake Stout and senior Dan Mackey.

“All four guys were pretty bunched together,” McInerney said. “They really did a good job.”

The women’s squad faired well despite its inexperience. With all seven runners competing for the Panthers being either freshmen or sophomores. McInerney set realistic goals.

Stephanie Bone paced the Panthers, finishing 50th with a time of 22:07.19 in the 6-kilometer race. Bone’s finish is especially impressive after returning from a stress fracture that kept her out for the first half of the season.

“It’s just conditioning,” McInerney said. “She lost a lot of time in conditioning, even though she swam and biked religiously while she was out.”

The Panthers were also without freshman Deb Tygrett, who finished third of the Panthers in the Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships.

“It wasn’t our best day, but it still was one of our better showings at the regional,” McInerney said.