CHANNAHON, Ill. — Senior Nora Loebbert and freshman Alec McDonald each set personal records Saturday as the Indiana University Northwest men's and women's cross country teams closed the 2026 season at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, hosted by the University of St. Francis.
The RedHawks women placed sixth of nine teams with a scoring-five average of 26:30, and the men finished eighth of eight teams with an average of 34:06.
Loebbert led IU Northwest's women across the 6K course in 24:57.8, placing 36th of 95 runners. The time lowered her previous best of 25:20.1 by more than 22 seconds and updated her place on the program's all-time top-10 list. Freshman Sierra Grant followed in 51st at 26:16.4, and junior Katie Plopper, the program record holder, placed 55th in 26:39.1.
Zaria Gildon (27:19.3, 62nd) and Addison Waddell (27:19.9, 63rd) finished within a second of each other to round out the RedHawks' scoring five. Alivia Roberts (28:26.2, 71st), Chloe Miller (28:26.4, 72nd) and Ally Fremouw (29:16.7, 75th) also competed for IU Northwest.
On the men's side, freshman Eli Tyrpin paced the RedHawks over the 8K course, placing 44th of 77 runners in 28:43.8. McDonald took five seconds off his best with a personal-record 31:37.5 for 60th place, and Owen Tyrpin followed in 67th at 35:25.1.
Freshman Christopher Kotul ran a personal-best 38:15.8 for 74th, lowering his previous 8K best by more than seven minutes. Davion Thomas (36:30.4, 70th), Jordan Warnell (40:45.7, 76th) and Jaydon Jefferson (45:26.7, 77th) also competed for IU Northwest.
The CCAC Championships marked the final meet of the RedHawks' 2026 schedule, which included program records for both Plopper and the women's team average this fall.
