IU places 30th at Nationals

The LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute was a sloppy, wet and muddy mess Monday. As the IU women's cross country team ran the course's two three-kilometer loops in the NCAA Championship meet, mud caked their spikes and legs. Rain from the preceding weekend riddled the course with slippery spots.\n"We all showered after the meet and some of us still have mud on us," sophomore Jessica Gall said.\nDespite the less than desirable course conditions, Gall finished in 18th place in a time of 20 minutes and 52.7 seconds to become IU's eighth ever All-American runner.\n"It was Jessica Gall day today. She is a tough, smart racer," IU coach Judy Wilson said.\nThe Hoosiers set their sights on a top-15 through 20 place finish but settled with a No. 30 finish with 700 points.\n"We are still in the top 10 percent of the country -- but we're certainly not satisfied," Wilson said.\nThe Hoosiers started the race in box No. 5, an inside spot on the starting line. Indiana State University's course's first turn happens early in the race at about 400 to 500 meters into the contest. Traditionally, runners sprint out faster and longer at nationals than they do at other races during the season, making it hard for a team pinned to the inside to get a good start.\n"We didn't find out what box we were in until the morning of and we were at a slight disadvantage to go out than some of the other teams," sophomore Lindsay Hattendorf said.\nHattendorf, who did not start contributing to the Hoosiers scoring efforts until about a month ago at the Pre-NCAAs meet because of lost training time from a stress fracture injury, finished third for the Hoosiers and 213th overall. Sophomore Kristin Whitezell took second for the Hoosiers and 173rd overall. Senior Mindy Peterson and junior Kelly Siefker rounded out the women's scoring attack finishing 219th and 229th respectively. Also competing for the Hoosiers were junior Larra Overton and senior Julie Shields.\nThis year marks the third straight year the Hoosiers qualified for the national meet. The IU women's cross country team accomplished this feat only one other time in the team's history -- during the 1988-90 seasons.\nThe University of Colorado won the meet with 69 points and Duke University and Providence University followed in second and third. Colorado men's team also placed first. The University of Michigan finished the highest out of the Big Ten schools with a sixth place showing. \n"It's been an amazing group of girls and we accomplished a lot this season," Gall said. "Today might not have been our best but qualifying for nationals for the third straight year maintained IU tradition." \n-- Contact staff writer Ryan Corazza at rcorazza@indiana.edu.