Cross country teams compete at invitational

The Roy Griak Invitational this weekend gave the men's and women's cross country teams their first encounter with nationally-ranked competition. Both teams were up for the challenge.\nThe men placed 17th out of 31 teams, topping Butler, which placed 23rd. Leaving Nebraska and Purdue in their dust, the women finished 13th in the field of 29 teams.\nAlthough both teams had higher goals for the meet, they were satisfied with the outcome.\nThe men's team had to overcome the loss of its No. 2 runner, sophomore Chad Andrews, because of illness. Andrews was key in the men's team win last week during the Iintercollegiate meet held at IU. Senior Chris Ekman was also out, recovering from an injury.\nEven so, senior Dan Billish remained optimistic about the results. \n"The team mentality is at the level we want it to be," he said. "It was our first exposure to big-time national teams, but things just didn't necessarily go as we'd planned."\nSenior Aaron Gillen, the team's No. 1 runner, placed 14th Saturday, finishing the 8K race in 24:49. He was followed by sophomore Chris Powers and freshman Bart Phariss, who ran 25:22 and 25:39, respectively. \nRunning sixth for the team, junior Kevin Chandler finished with a time of 26:01.\n"I wanted to do a little bit better than what I did," he said. "I didn't trust myself. I didn't attack it the way I should have, but now that I know that, it has set me up for a good next race at Notre Dame." \nChandler said most of the team did not feel as negatively as he did. He and Billish agreed the team is ready to show that it can compete with elite teams.\n"Our mentality is that we are a top 20 team in the nation," Billish said. "We treat our training like that."\nThis attitude has fueled the men's primary goal of winning the Big Ten championship this year. Billish said it's a "rebuilding year" for the conference and a Big Ten victory would help the team gain a bid to the national championship in Ames, Iowa.\nThe women are also pursuing their NCAA championship dreams, and this meet helped their cause. Of the 12 teams that defeated them Saturday, 11 are ranked in the top 21 teams nationally. \nAlthough the team placed relatively well, coach Judy Bogenschutz said the women ran conservatively in their first 6K race.\nSophomore Amanda Bell placed first for IU, finishing 21st with a time of 21:46. Sophomore Allyson Hammond was seven seconds behind, followed by junior Stephanie Magley and junior Erin Womble, 88th and 91st place, respectively.\nSenior Courtney Bell, who ran fifth on the team, said she was pleased with her improvement this week compared with last week's disappointing finish.\n"Usually I go out too hard and I don't stay with the girls," Courtney Bell said. "This time I stayed with the girls, and it paid off. I never knew why I was dying in the middle part of the race."\nShe said longer distances, especially the new 6K distance, are a challenge because she considers herself an 800 meter-track runner.\nSince the level of competition at the meet was greater than anything the runners had encountered this season, they learned a few lessons about high-intensity racing.\nAmanda Bell had been aiming for first place in the meet, and she said her 21st place finish made her re-evaluate her performance.\n"I'm not too down on myself, but I need to realize that there are girls that will be up there and stay up there," she said. "It's not like high school. The biggest challenge I've faced is realizing there are a lot of good girls here in college."\nStill, Bogenschutz has faith in the strength of the young team. She said if each member of the team had run more aggressively at her goal pace, about 30 seconds faster, the team would have placed as high as 7th.\n"This is potentially the best (women's) team since '91," she said. "We just have to go out and prove it. They have a chance to make nationals, but we're a little bit behind. We need to run up to our potential in the next three meets, or we're not going anywhere"