University of Illinois
NCAA Midwest Regional
Hoerr Captures Individual Title at NCAA Midwest Regional
November 10, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 10, 2007
Complete Team Results in PDF Format 
Complete Individual Results in PDF Format
PEORIA, Ill. - Illinois senior Trent Hoerr continued his successful season on Saturday winning the men's 10K individual title at the NCAA Midwest Regional, held in Peoria, Ill. Hoerr is Illinois' first NCAA regional champion since Craig Virgin took the crown in 1976. Hoerr's performance automatically qualifies him for the NCAA Championships held on Nov. 19. The Morton, Ill. native ran the 10K race in a personal best time of 29:56.
"It's a bittersweet feeling," Hoerr said. "It would be nice if the team was going to be there too. It was definitely my strongest 10K ever. I'm feeling strong and looking forward to big things at Nationals."
"Trent ran a strong, solid race," head coach Wendel McRaven said. "He put himself in good position early on and ran a fairly relaxed race overall. It was nice to see him do so well in front of a home crowd of friends and family here in Peoria."
The Fighting Illini finished sixth as a team with 175 points. Oklahoma State took the team title with 47 points, followed by Minnesota (57) and Iowa State (110) to round out the top three.
"It was exciting to see Trent's success," head coach Wendel McRaven said. "However, it is something that you want everybody to be able to share the success of. The guys ran an aggressive race. We went out and knew that we needed to better our No. 5 regional ranking in order to qualify for the NCAA Championships."
Crossing the finish line second for the Illini and 24th overall was sophomore Jacob Nachel with a time of 30:49. Senior Michael Kelley and sophomore Jeremy Stevens ran personal best 10K times of 31:17 and 31:26 , respectively to finish 38th and 42nd overall.
"It was a good learning experience for our younger guys," McRaven said. I think they had great leadership this year from our seniors (Hoerr, Kelley, and Justin Aronson). We are still in the early stages of building our program. We are going to continue to set the bar higher and higher each year. This season was another step toward achieving our goals."
Hoerr will have a week to prepare for the NCAA Cross Country Championships held in Terre Haute, Ind. on Monday Nov. 19. Hoerr looks to become Illinois' first NCAA All-American since Len Sitko in 1990.
Illinois Results
1.Trent Hoerr (1) 29:56
2.Jacob Nachel (24) 30:49
3.Michael Kelley (38) 31:17
4.Jeremy Stevens (42) 31:26
5. Jared Richardson (70) 32:10
6.Justin Aronson (76) 32:19
7.Tim Maier (109) 33:20
