Sophomore Philip Wilson won the 5000 meter run at the Beloit Relays on Saturday. He was one of 15 Foresters at the meet while five others were at the Hillsdale College Gina Relays.
Wilson's time of 16:03.20 was more than 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up from Aurora University and accounted for 10 of the Forester men's team's 19 points at the meet. Sophomore Dillon Rice added a fourth-place finish in the 3000 meter steeplechase, which he completed in 10:51.12, and freshman Nikolas Fantacone was seventh among collegiate runners with a time of 2:06.77 in he 800 meter run. Junior Sam Barton added a point with his time of 4:28.81 in the 1500 meter run and the 4x400 meter relay team of Fantacone, Rice, Barton, and freshman Brandon Johnson finished in 3:54.13 and chipped in with one more point.
On the women's side freshman Molly Gniady was third in the 3000 steeplechase in 13:08.82 and the 4x400 relay team of sophomore Senaite Berhe and freshmen Audrey Paglia, Tianna Beilke, and Dana Midani were fifth in 4:52.71. Paglia added a team point with an eighth-place finish and time of 1:07.52 in the 400 meter run, as did Berhe in the 800 meter run (2:44.94) and junior Katherine Nolte in the 1500 meter run (5:47.88).
Junior Jorge Villanueva had the highest placing of any Forester at the three-day Gina Relays. He completed the grueling 10,000 meter run with a time of 32:07.69, which ranks him third in the Midwest Conference so far this season. Freshman Darrian Lockett and junior Christian Aldana competed in the 800 meter run and finished 18th and 28th, respectively, with times of 1:58.25 and 2:00.49. There were 57 runners in the event and 51 in the 1500 meter run, where Aldana was 40th in 4:25.29.
Freshman Yaneli Guajardo and junior Emily Stauffer represented the Forester women at Hillsdale. Guajardo was 22nd out of 80 competitors in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:20.69 and 26th out of 67 in the 1500 meter run in 4:55.60. Stauffer's 19:26.81 in the 5000 meter run was good for 77th in the 104-runner field.
After a weekend off from competition, the Foresters will travel to Monmouth College for the MWC Championships May 11-12.