Redbird Cross Country Begins Season at Fighting Illini Invite

NORMAL, Ill. – As the 2025 school year kicks off, cross country looks to race right back to where they left off last year. Beginning Aug. 29, the Redbirds will head to Champaign to start their season in the Fighting Illini Invite with a shook-up lineup after a summer of graduations and transfers.  

The Redbirds finished the season last year impressively with the women’s team finishing sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference and 19th at the NCAA Midwest Regional, and the men’s team finishing second in the MVC and fourth in the NCAA Midwest Regional. Overall, an impressive way to end the season for the Redbirds and head into a track and field season highlighted by the distance squads. 

For ISU, change comes with the departure of several key upperclassmen from last year’s teams. William Sinclair and Zack Loomis, two runners who hold the first and fourth 10k times in program history. Sinclair was the lone Redbird to compete at the NCAA championships, graduated in the spring. Mathis Chavand the 2024 MVC Men’s Scholar athlete of the year and holder of the second fastest 10k time in Redbird history, transferred to Wyoming to compete in his final year of NCAA eligibility.  

The women’s team also lost two leaders, Mattison Plummer and Lauren Schulze-Wood. Two runners who both graduated in the spring following impressive careers at Illinois State. Plummer holds the school record in the women’s 6k and Schulze-Wood who was a standout runner and held top times for the cross country and track and field teams.  

The lines for both the men’s and women’s teams will be towed by mostly freshman and sophomores in a tune up meet to see what the underclassmen must bring to the team. Juniors Ethan Reynoso and Garrett Slack will lead the men’s team in their first 6k of the season while Juniors Nora Brady and Colleen Zeibert will lead the women in their first 4k.  

Head Coach Jeff Bovee is entering his 19th season leading the Redbirds, and Jake Gillum is entering his third season as an assistant coach. Claire Fuhlhage, entering her first season as the team’s director of operations and as an assistant coach, looks forward to an exciting season with an underclassmen-heavy team and the chance for names to be made in this start to the 2025 cross country season. 

For all things Redbird Cross Country, stay tuned to wznd.com