Laetitia Raoult (Guingamp, France / Florida International) followed up her impressive debut with a strong encore on Friday, leading the Valparaiso University cross country team at Illinois State's Redbird Invite in Normal, Ill. She turned in a top-5 finish and enjoyed the program's fastest time in the women's 6K in a decade.
How It Happened
- Raoult stopped the clock in 21:53.7, placing fourth of 85 in the women's 6K behind only Illinois State's Mattison Plummer, UNI's Emma Hoins and Illinois State's Lauren Schultze.
- Raoult's time was the third fastest in program history and fastest since Jessica Richardson ran a 21:12.4 at the 2014 Bradley Classic. The only times faster than Raoult in program history are Richardson and Laura Rolf, who owns the record at 20:45.35 at the 2006 Mid-Continent Conference Championship.
- The second-fastest time by a Beacon came from Vivian Rahmel (Springfield, Ill. / Sacred Heart-Griffin), who turned in a 23:39.8 to place 31st. Freshman Ally Higbee (Oconomowoc, Wis. / Oconomowoc) was third on the team at 24:12.7.
- Valpo's top finisher on the men's side also cracked the program record book, as Karson Hollander (Crystal Lake, Ill. / Crystal Lake) stopped the clock in 24:57.50 in the 8K, boasting a 10th-place finish in a 91-runner field. His PR put him seventh on the program's all-time list.
- The second Beacon to finish in the men's race was freshman Tim Jochum (Glen Ellyn, Ill. / Glenbard South), who was 30th in 26:18.60, followed closely by Brooks Julian (Olney, Ill. Richland County [Southeastern]) at 26:20.90, good for 32nd.
- As a team, the Valpo women were sixth of 11 and the men were fourth of eight.
Results
Click here for results.
Up Next
The Beacons will compete in the Mizzou Gans Creek Classic on Friday, Sept. 27 in Columbia, Mo.
