Olivia Borowiak Wins Eastern Illinois Spring Open

Saturday, February 6

Charleston, ILL

TBA

DePaul University

Eastern Illinois Spring Meet

Olivia Borowiak Wins Eastern Illinois Spring Open

2/6/2021 4:24:00 PM | CROSS COUNTRY

Blue Demon men finish second, women third

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Despite adverse weather conditions on Saturday afternoon, DePaul sophomore Olivia Borowiak took first place at the Eastern Illinois Spring Open as the Blue Demons opened their season. Overall, the men's squad finished second while the women came in third.

Borowiak set a new personal best en route to earning the title with a time of 18:16.9 in the 5k race.

"Wow. Olivia ran a great race. We discussed going out with the leaders and that's what she did, except she was the leader and never relinquished the lead" said coach Derrick Peterson. "She was rewarded with a victory and a cross country personal best. She is in great shape, and today showed how fit she really is and the work put in since we raced last."

Margaret Hastings and Alexa Havon posted top-20 finishes at 10th (19:33.4) and 16th (19:44.6), respectively. Senior Kate Jacobs finished 30th (20:56.7) while freshman Meghan Dieball finished 34th in her DePaul debut with a time of 21:18.7. Ericka Burgess rounded out the Blue Demon competitors at 37th (21:34.4).

"I also want to highlight Margaret Hastings. She had a top-10 finish today and for a middle-distance specialist that's huge for her."

On the men's side, Charlie McIntyre was the top performer for the Blue Demons with a third-place finish in the 8K event with a time of 24:58.3. Junior Shane Knanishu finished 11th at 25:28.1. Damian Rodriguez, Joe Knanishu and Jackson Thomas made their DePaul debut on Saturday finishing 17th (26:04.4), 18th (26:13.9) and 20^th (26:15.5), respectively. Ryan Taylor posted a time of 26:31.6 to finish 23rd while Dominic Bruce finished at 28:02.1.

"We had a solid opener, probably one of the best collective team efforts in awhile" said Peterson. "Charlie and Shane did a great job of getting up front and being our low scorers. Our freshman Damian, Joe and Jackson really ran well for their first run at the 8K distance."

"Very proud of both teams. We started the day with not ideal weather conditions, but this group has been committed to be great from the moment we shutdown last March. Today was a great building point for the season. It was great to coach a competition again."

Next Up: The Blue Demons will travel to Carmel, Ind. for the Butler Invite on Feb. 19 as a final tune-up for the BIG EAST Championships on March 5.