August 02, 2025
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Running: Eller, Schwarz defend their titles at Reagan Run

By BY ERIC
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Kyle Eller nears the finish line Saturday to win the Reagan Run for the second straight year. Eller, a Lowell, Indiana native and senior-to-be at the Air Force Academy, ran the 5K course in 15 minutes, 45 seconds. (Philip Marruffo)

DIXON – The reigning champions of the Reagan Run were back to defend their crowns on Saturday, and both did so successfully.

Kyle Eller, a Lowell, Indiana native who will in a few months begin his senior year on the cross country team at the Air Force Academy, won the Reagan Run for the second time.

Dixon’s Brittany Schwarz was the women’s champion for the third year in a row.

Eller claimed the repeat win by crossing the finish line in 15:45.

“I was trying to start off kind of conservatively, trying not to die at the end,” Eller said. “Just going out, trying to compete with some good runners.”

Rock Falls native Brayden Hamblen was part of a strong group close behind Eller, the Rockets cross country runner about to embark on his senior season in high school finishing 9 seconds behind the 2015 Mountain West Conference champion in 15:54.

“He came on at the 2-mile mark and we stayed together until the last 600 meters,” Hamblen said. “He definitively just took off and he beat me a little bit.”

A slew of runners crossed the finish line, one after another, for the next five spots. Hamblen’s former teammate Seth Williams, Addison Smith, Sterling junior-to-be Jacob Gebhardt, and Dixon’s Skyler Mitchell and Blain Masterson were in that group.

“I ended up working up to them, and then we worked together to just keep on going through the last half-mile,” Eller said.

This is the third time Eller has run this race, and he is getting a feel for the course.

“I love just starting off on the hill, letting people go a little bit, and then going up the hill and then catching up in the woods,” Eller said. “It’s a great race, a beautiful course to have the middle part in the woods.”

Schwarz was the first female runner to cross the line, finishing in 18:54. That matched her winning time from 2015, and was 6 seconds faster than her first Reagan Run win in 2014.

“I came in today hoping to get the three-peat,” she said. “From what I knew, I was leading the entire time until I came around that last corner and I saw the one girl in front of me. I knew I had to get her to get it again.”

The UIC runner is the third female runner to win three in a row – and the first one not named Jessica. Jessica Schauff won three in a row from 2003-2005, and took four titles in 5 years. Jessica Langford won four in a row from 2009-2012.

“Especially with my experience in college now, I have stronger endurance and just a little more experience,” Schwarz said. “It helps a lot to know the course like the back of my hand.”

Dixonite Nicquelette Fazekas and Byron native Emma Hildreth were second and third in the women’s division. Dixon’s Amie Wiseman and Sublette’s Emily Bocker rounded out the top five.