Women's cross country places 8th\nThe IU Women's cross country team took an eighth place finish Friday in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C.\nThe top five for the Hoosiers was led by junior Kelly Siefker who placed 15th overall with a career best time of 17 minutes, 43.54 seconds. This time topped her former career best time by 13 seconds which she set two weeks ago at the Indiana Intercollegiates.\n"I'm pleased with my effort, but I'm not satisfied." Siefker said.\nSiefker was followed by sophomore Jessica Gall -- who was the Big Ten Athlete of the Week this week. Gall finished 27th overall in a time of 18:06.16. Senior Mindy Peterson crossed the finish line next for the Hoosiers in a time of 18:41.01, placing 56th overall. The top five for the Hoosiers was then rounded out by sophomores Kristin Whitezell in fourth and Lindsay Hattendorf in fifth.\nThe team had hoped to place higher than eighth, but Siefker still felt the team's performance was decent.\n"I think (the performance) was sub-par as a team," she said.\nThe race was won by No. 18 Duke who scored only 56 points total. Duke's Shannon Rowbury was the winner of the race with a time of 16:42.64. Her nearest competitor finished nearly 16 seconds after her.
IU finishes 7th at Notre Dame Invitational\nThe men's cross country team finished seventh Saturday at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend.\nJunior All-American Sean Jefferson led IU in the 8,000-meter race with a seventh-place finish, crossing the line in 23 minutes and 50 seconds, just 10 seconds back from eventual winner Josh Rohatinsky of Brigham Young University. \nSenior Tom Burns followed 35 seconds later in 34th place, and junior Stephen Haas trailed him one second later in 36th. Junior Eric Redman followed 10 seconds later in 50th place. Junior All-American John Jefferson rounded out IU's scoring in 56th place with a final time of 24:43. IU's only other finisher was junior Billy Coale in 182nd. \nIn other cross country news, Sean Jefferson was honored and received his NCAA Championships ring during the third quarter of Saturday's IU-Michigan football game for his victory in the indoor mile last year.
Field hockey team yet to win Big Ten matchup\nWith a fifth straight loss on the line, IU stepped up to beat the Bucknell University Bison on the road.\nThe Hoosiers (7-5) split a pair of weekend games -- dropping Saturday's game against Penn State in a heartbreaking loss.\n"Today we created more opportunities to score," IU coach Amy Robertson said after the win against Bucknell. "We still could have done a better job of finishing but we did what we needed to do."\nCoach Robertson also noted her team played well against Penn State and praised senior goalkeeper Katie Kanara after both games.\n"We controlled the second half and made some good passes," Coach Robertson said of IU's loss in a statement. "I thought Katie (Kanara) played extremely well."\nThe Hoosiers had a hard time finding the goal this weekend. The team's games combined featured a 20-13 disadvantage in shots on goal.\nRobertson's team is still looking for its first Big Ten win and will have a chance to find it next weekend when IU travels to Evanston, Ill., to take on Northwestern. The team will be continuing its seven game road trip with games against Northwestern and New Hampshire.
Hoosiers lose against Michigan State, Michigan\nThe good news for the IU women's volleyball team is that its four-match road trip to begin the Big Ten season is over. The bad news is that its record was 0-4 on that road trip.\nFriday night, the Hoosiers lost to the Michigan State Spartans in three straight sets (27-30, 27-30, 22-30). The team traveled Saturday to Ann Arbor, Mich., where it lost to the Michigan Wolverines in five sets (25-30, 30-22, 22-30, 30-23, 13-15).\nAgainst the Spartans, IU coach Katie Weismiller's squad struggled in the first game and were not able to come back. After the team struggled in the first, the IU defense held Michigan State to a .213 hitting percentage, but it was not enough as the Spartans went on to win.\nIn the third game against MSU, Michigan State displayed a dominant offense with a .455 hitting percentage winning the match in three sets.\nThe Hoosiers were led by seniors Katie Pollom and Christina Archibald -- who had 18 and 9 kills, respectively.\nAgainst the Wolverines Saturday, IU was not able to pull the victory out. In the decisive fifth game of the match, the score bounced back and forth but ultimately Michigan was too much, winning 15-13.\nIn the Hoosiers' Saturday match against the Wolverines, IU was led once again by Pollom (23 kills, .304 hitting percentage), and Archibald, who got her ninth career double-double with 18 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore setter Tasha Arsenych continued her strong play with 58 assists while freshman Christine Nilles set a new personal career-high with 27 digs.\n"We are getting so close and just not finishing," Weismiller said after the match in a statement. "This weekend, we had big leads we blew. We just have to figure out how to win a game"
