Monmouth College Cross Country Seasons Begin on September 1

Both teams finished second in Midwest Conference in 2019

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (06/16/2021) — Eyeing a return to action for the first time since fall of 2019, the Monmouth College Men's and Women's Cross Country schedules were announced on Wednesday. The scheduled includes five regular season meets, three in Illinois, before the Midwest Conference Championships and NCAA Regionals.

The season begins with the Illinois Wesleyan Tri in Bloomington, Illinois on Wednesday, September 1. Of the returning student-athletes from 2019, Riley Dulin (Monmouth, Illinois) took third in the men's race at IWU while Arika Hofmann (Monmouth, Illinois) took fifth in the women's competition.

Both teams will head to Grinnell, Iowa for the Les Duke invitational on Saturday, September 11. In 2019 the women finished third as a team in Grinnell and the men finished fifth. Individually Hoffman was eighth, Caroline Young (Chicago, Illinois) was 11th, and Kara Fisher (Monmouth, Illinois) was 38th. On the men's side Dulin finished 11th.

The Scots will make their first of two trips to Peoria, Illinois on Friday, September 17 for the Bradley Intercollegiate. They return to Peoria on Friday, October 15 for the Bradley Pink Classic. In 2019 Mik Moore (Washington, Illinois) finished 25th at the Pink Classic while Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez (Denver, Colorado) was 31st.

In between the two Bradley meets the Scots have the September 24-25 weekend off and travel to Waverly, Iowa for the Wartburg-hosted Dan Huston Invitational on Saturday, October 2.

The Midwest Conference Championships will be hosted by Ripon in 2021 with a Saturday, October 30 meet in Green Lake, Wisconsin. In 2019 both Monmouth teams finished in second place at the MWC meet behind Grinnell. The men were 13 points behind and the women were 26 points back.

Individually at the conference meet in 2019 Dulin finished seventh at 27:39.60 and C.J. Bonifer (Columbia, Kentucky) finished 33rd. The Scots best finisher was 2021 graduate Griff Morrill in second. On the women's side, Baltierra-Chavez finished seventh with Young in eighth, Moore in 12th and Hofmann in 13th.

The NCAA Regionals will be on Saturday, November 13 at a site yet to be announced. In 2019 Young finished 46th at the women's Regionals with Moore in 58th and Hofmann in 68th. On the men's side Dulin finished 93rd with Morrill in 44th.