Garippo, Menard lead Panthers at Bradley ‘Pink’ Classic

Kaitlin Cordes, Cross Country Reporter

Senior Ruth Garippo crosses the finish line Friday at the Bradley ‘Pink’ Classic in 21st place overall. Garippo’s time of 21:24.3 was good for a new school 6K record, topping the previous time of 21:30 set in 2014.
Justin Brown
Senior Ruth Garippo crosses the finish line Friday at the Bradley ‘Pink’ Classic in 21st place overall. Garippo’s time of 21:24.3 was good for a new school 6K record, topping the previous time of 21:30 set in 2014.

Seniors Ruth Garippo and Paxson Menard topped out Eastern’s scored finishers at the Bradley “Pink” Classic Friday in Peoria while breaking a school record and earning a new personal best, respectively.

Garippo trekked the 6-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 24.3 seconds, breaking the school record previously held by senior Emily Breslfoard in 2014. Breslfoard’s record was set at 21:30.

Following Garippo’s 21st-place finish was senior Ivy Handley, who finished 25th with a time of 21:32.3. Handley also set a new school record, earning Eastern women’s fourth overall 6K time.

Junior Maria Baldwin was the third scored runner for Eastern with her 78th-place finishing time of 22:16.0.

Senior Rachel Garippo came in at the 135th spot, finishing the race in 22:51.0, and freshman Sadie Elliott rounded out Eastern’s scored runners with her 156th place time of 23:03.0.

The women’s team finished 15th overall out of 31 teams with 389 points.

On the men’s side, Menard ran 14 seconds faster than his previous personal best time with a ninth-place time of 24:38.7.

Senior Riley McInerney placed 13th with a time of 24:49.7 in the men’s 8-kilometer competition.

Senior Tyler Yunk was Eastern’s third scored runner. Yunk placed 29th and posted a 25:04.7 race time.

Senior Juan Barajas and junior Chris Orlow placed 67th and 83rd, respectively. Barajas earned a time of 25:34.3, and Orlow finished with a 25:45.6 time.

The men finished fifth in the 27-team race, earning 182 points.

Saint Louis took the team victory in the men’s red division of the race with 103 points. The top individual finisher was Corey Bellemore from Windsor University.

Bellemore paced the course in 24:16.1.

The top team finisher for the women’s red division was Colorado, scoring 54 points. Colorado also produced the top individual runner, Tayler Tuttle, who won the race in 20:38.9.

The race at Bradley University included 19 regionally ranked teams between the men’s and women’s races.

Ohio Valley Conference competitors Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri also ran at Bradley.

The Edwardsville men placed 18th with 489 points, while Southeast Missouri earned the 25th spot, scoring 679 points.

The Edwardsville women came in 20th with a score of 501, and Southeast Missouri placed eighth, earning 249 points.

Next up for the Panthers is the Illini Open in Urbana on Oct. 21. This will be the team’s final regular season meet before heading to the OVC championships in Nashville, Tenn.

Kaitlin Cordes can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].