Courtesy: Zolton Cohen

Terre Huate, Ind. -- Junior Samantha Tomerlin was once again Western Michigan’s top runner of the day as the Bronco cross country team was one of 37 teams competing in the Blue Race at the Pre-Nationals on Saturday afternoon.

Tomerlin finished with a time of 22:25.6 in the 6k and was followed by senior Jenna Matthews and senior Jill Odom. Matthews finished with a time of 23:05.9 and Odom had her best race of the season with a time of 23:27.1

“Sam ran very well again today,” said head coach Kelly Lycan. “She did a good job of getting out and holding her spot for most of the race. Jill was looking great in practice lately and you could tell she was ready to pop a good time and its great to see her getting back to her old form.”

Freshman Cara Cremeans was WMU’s fourth finisher on the day with a time of 23:37.1 and was followed by fellow freshman Erika Jensen to round out the Bronco top five.

“At one time or another our freshmen were going to have to be exposed to this type of race,” commented Lycan. “They had to get experience in a meet of this scale and a lot of them weren’t used to it. This will definitely help us in the long run.”

Western Michigan has a week off before heading to the Mid-American Conference Championships at Ohio University on Oct. 31.