AMES, Iowa – Illinois sophomore cross country runner Jon Davis won the 2017 NCAA Midwest Regional individual title on Friday at the Iowa State Cross Country Course. Clocking the second fastest 10,000-meter time in Illinois school history, 29:06.2, Davis becomes the third Illini ever to win the regional race, and the first since Trent Hoerr in 2007. Jesse Reiser also earned All-Region honors, placing 12th with a time of 29:20.9, as the Illini finished fourth as a team.
"Jon did a tremendous job of putting himself in a position to close hard, one of his strengths," said head coach Jake Stewart. "He bounced back nicely from the Big Ten race two weeks ago, and ran with a lot of confidence and came out of it feeling pretty good. Hopefully we can have a nice bounce back as we get ready for Louisville."
Iowa State and Oklahoma State earned the automatic bids to NCAA Championships, while Tulsa and Illinois tied with 98 points. Tulsa won the tiebreaker for third over the Illini based on head-to-head scoring of the top five finishers. The 98 points scored by the Illini was the fewest since the 1986 squad scored 91 on their way to a runner-up finish and a bid to NCAA Championships.
"I think the guys competed really hard," Stewart said following the race. "You're in a race where a lot happens in the last 2K, and we put ourselves in a position to have a really nice day. I'm really proud of our guys' effort, and I think we did everything we needed to do today to have the outcome we wanted to have."
Running on a flat Iowa State course, five Illini ran times that ranked in the top-10 on Illinois' all-time list. In addition to Davis' 29:06.2 mark, Reiser (29:20.9), Zack Smith (29:48.4), Billy Magnesen (29:48.6) and Jack LaLonde (29:49.9) each move into the all-time list.
Maintaining his place in the top five for the entirety of the race, Davis moved into third at the race's midway point, and then moved up to second by the 8K mark. Neck and neck with Hassan Abdi (Oklahoma State) entering the final 2,000 meters, the Illini sophomore ran the final fifth of the race five seconds faster than the Cowboy senior to win the race.
"In his time here as an athlete. Jesse has grown more than any athlete I've ever coached," Stewart said of the junior runner. "What he's done for this team over the last six weeks while battling with an injury, and being tough, and showing the character he's shown, speaks volumes about what type of kid he is while competing at less than one-hundred percent."
Staying along side Davis for the majority of the race, junior Jesse Reiser earned All-Region honors for the second straight season, posting his best regional finish, 12th, of his career. The 29:20.9 time marks more than full minute improvement over his pervious 10,000-meter record of 30:34.6 at the 2015 regional at Kansas.
The other three Illini point scorers came across the finish line within a second of one another, as redshirt juniors Zack Smith (27th/29:48.4) and Billy Magnesen (28th/29:48.6) placed third and fourth on the team, followed by redshirt freshman Jack LaLonde (30th/29:49.9) in fifth. Each setting a new 10K personal record, the trio of Illini now ranks sixth through eighth on the all-time list.
"I thought Jack LaLonde had a tremendous day," said Stewart. "Jack is a kid that came into our program and just wanted a chance to run at this level. He's taken the opportunity and done a lot of great stuff with that, putting himself in the position next year to come back next year and be a top-15, top-20 guy at this meet. Zack [Smith] and Billy [Magnesen] continue to show consistency. Zack Smith did a really nice job moving up through the race and Billy has had such a nice bounce back year compared to a year ago when I know he was frustrated with how things went for him. Those guys ran tremendously tough today, and I'm really proud of the effort they've shown."
Redshirt junior Dan Lathrop (39th/30:00.9) and redshirt sophomore Zach Dale (66th/30:23.1) wrapped up the seven Illini runners, as both set new 10,000-meter marks in the race.
The Fighting Illini will now wait to see if they receive an at-large bid to next Saturday's NCAA Championships. With 18 automatic bids earned across the country on Friday, 13 at-large spots will be announced tomorrow (Nov. 11) afternoon. Jon Davis has already earned an automatic bid individually by placing in the top four of the non-automatic qualifying teams' runners.
For complete coverage of Fighting Illini cross country, visit FightingIllini.com, follow the Illini on Twitter (@IlliniMXC and @IlliniWXC) and Instagram (@IlliniMXC and @IlliniWXC) and like Fighting Illini Men's Cross Country and Fighting Illini Women's Cross Country on Facebook.
Illinois Individual Results (Full Results):
1.Jon Davis, 29:06.2
12. Jesse Reiser, 29:20.9
27.Zack Smith, 29:48.4
28.Billy Magnesen, 29:48.6
30.Jack LaLonde, 29:49.9
39.Dan Lathrop, 30:00.9
66.Zach Dale, 30:23.1
Team Scores:
1.Iowa State – 69
2.Oklahoma State – 74
3.Tulsa - 98
4.Illinois - 98
5.Minnesota - 144
