Giesler leads way for team at early meet\nThe IU women's cross country teams traveled to Waterloo, Iowa, Saturday for the Pre-NCAA cross country meet. The meet allows teams the opportunity to compete on this season's NCAA National Cross Country Championship course against many of the top teams from around the United States one month before the actual national championship takes place.\nThe IU women's team finished 22nd overall with 551 points in a field of 32 teams. Brigham Young University, ranked No. 1 in the FinishLynx/NCAA Women's Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, finished first overall with 86 points.\nBYU women's coach Patrick Shane said the Pre-NCAA meet was a positive experience.\n"We did well but we were very tired because we trained right through the race," Shane said. "We will have time to rest more for Nationals and we will be better when we come back again in November."\nSenior Audrey Giesler led the way for the Hoosiers, finishing with a 6k time of 21:07, good for 28th place. Junior Mindy Peterson finished second for the Hoosiers, 93rd overall with a time of 22:01, sophomore Kelly Siefker finished 108th overall at 22:11, junior Julie Shields 158th at 22:57, freshman Kristin Whitezell 164th with a time of 23:02, and sophomore Allison Miller finished 165th at 23:03.\nIU women's coach Judy Wilson said the team is trying to fill some gaps left by injuries sustained to the team and that those runners filling the gaps have no big meet experience and are learning the hard way.\n"Today, we got out well, but between 1 and 2k, things fell apart early," Wilson said. "Audrey Giesler (28th, 21:07) ran well and Kelly Siefker (108th, 22:11) was ok."
Hoosiers take eighth, beat higher ranks\nThe No. 25 IU men's cross country team came home with an eighth place finish in the 25 team field at the Pre-NCAA meet Saturday.\nThe Hoosier runners returned home from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after competing in their toughest meet of the year. \nAlthough the team finished eighth, they beat some of the top ranked teams in the nation, including No. 6 Central Michigan, No. 16 Virginia and No. 23 Portland. \nSenior Chris Powers led the Hoosiers with an 18th place finish. Powers was followed by sophomore Sean Jefferson in 37th place, sophomore Eric Redman in 42nd, senior Chad Andrews in 96th, and junior Tom Burns rounded out the Hoosiers' scoring in 103rd. \n"I would give Chris an 'A' for today, and the rest of the team around a 'B' or 'C'," IU coach Robert Chapman said in a statement. "While we still have work to do, this puts us in decent position for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships (Nov. 24 in Waterloo). But we still have to run better at Big Tens and Regionals to secure that bid."\nIn the team race, No. 1 ranked Stanford led the way with 25 points, 70 points ahead of the second place finisher, Iowa. \nThe men's team has this weekend off before traveling back to Iowa for the Big Ten Championships Sunday, Nov. 2.
IU gets mixed results at Purdue Invitational\nThe Hoosiers got their first taste of competition this season over the weekend at the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette.\nFacing off against Toledo Sunday in singles competition, sophomore Neil Kenner was unable to continue the success of Saturday in falling to Khalud Al-Nabhani 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4. The rest of the Hoosiers won out against the Rockets with junior Tom Bagnato defeating Freddy Gomez 6-2 and 7-6, freshman David Bubenicek beat Todd Wojtkowski in straight sets 6-2 and 6-1 and sophomore Dmytro Ishtuganov defeated Cristobal Toral 6-4 and 7-6.\nThe Hoosiers were able to maintain their success from Saturday in doubles as Bubenicek and Bagnato were victorious, as well, in defeating Peric and West, 8-5.\nSaturday, the Hoosiers squared off against Western Michigan in singles play. The team was able to take two out of five matches against the Broncos. The two victorious players were Kenner, who defeated Ravi Pathanjali in straight sets 6-4 and 6-2, and McCarthy in defeating Justin Kates in 7-6 and 6-3.\nThe Hoosiers next squared off against rival Purdue, also in singles play. The Hoosiers were not so successful as only one player was able to win a match against the Boilermakers. Kenner defeated Troy Haven 6-3 and 7-6.\nThe last match of the day was a doubles square-off against Toledo, and IU was able to sweep three matches against the Rockets. The tandem of Kenner and Ishtuganov prevailed 8-5 over Al-Nabhani and Tran. The final doubles match of the day for the Hoosiers concluded in victory with Bubenicek and Bagnato defeating Toledo's Toral and Curran 8-3.\nThe Hoosiers will resume play in the ITA Region IV Championships Qualifying in East Lansing, Mich.
