The Hawkeye women’s cross-country team finished fifth of nine teams at the Sept.11 Illinois State Invitational.

Loyola won the event, Illinois State came in second, and Illinois finished third.

Hawkeye sophomore Madison Waymire took third place, crossing the finish line with a time of 17.52.6. In only her second race as a Hawkeye, she finished in the top five for the second-consecutive time. The sophomore finished fifth last week at the Hawkeye Early Bird Invitational.

Waymire was the only Hawkeye to finish in the top 10. The rest of the Hawks who rounded out the top 50 was junior Tess Wilberding (14th), freshman Andrea Shine (26th), sophomore Courtney Bruns (32nd), junior Carolyn Newhouse (35th), and junior Alana Jones (45th).

Even with six Hawkeyes finishing in the top 50, head coach Layne Anderson believes the harriers haven’t lived up to their potential. He knows it’s a long season, and he wants the runners to continue to work on their weaknesses.

“There was some progress on the women’s side, but there are areas we need to improve,” he said in a release.

But he was quite pleased with Waymire.

“Waymire was our leader again,” he said. “She looked good and controlled throughout the race.”

The Hawkeyes’ next meet will be Oct. 2 in South Bend, Indiana, for the Notre Dame Invitational. The Hawks will have plenty of time to improve, and, because the competition will only get tougher, Anderson knows his team will need to be in top shape.

“We will be spending these next couple of weeks getting everybody healthy for the Notre Dame Invitational,” he said in the release. “It will be a super competitive meet, and we need to run well individually and as a group on both sides.”