The Cyclones finally had all seven runners healthy enough to toe the line at the Gil Dodds Invitational at St. James Farm in Warrenville. As the only community college, the men took 16th out of 18 teams, and every Cyclone earned a PR.

Moraine Valley ran against some top-ranked NCAA Division III and NAIA colleges and universities, holding their own among nearly 300 runners.

"We knew this was a much larger meet than the previous two – almost 300 runners compared to 100 in the other two – and that was going to make for some fast times," said Head Coach Dimitri Dimizas. "The guys did well, staying controlled the first mile and passed as many people as possible."

Jack Kajmowicz (28:24.2, 173rd) and Andrew Sima (28:26.7, 177th) finished near each other, "which is something we'll need in the championship races," Dimizas said.

Joel Vargas-Cortes and Noah Rigoni-Kreczmer were together until the latter rolled his ankle about halfway through and had to drop out. Vargas-Cortes crossed the line in 29:55.4 in 234th place. In his college debut, Demario Angarita ran in 34:17.4 in 280th followed by Robert Slezak (35:59.2, 286th) and Nate Diaz in his debut (39:40.9, 290th).

"Demario performed better than expected; Robert continues to improve; and Nate also made his debut in a solid effort," Dimizas added. "All in all, there were a lot of good PRs, which will help boost their confidence heading into some tougher meets."

The Cyclones have two weeks until their next race, the Brissman-Lundeen Invite on Sept. 30.