Hoosiers battle adversity in roller coaster season

The season came to an end for the team two weeks later as the Hoosiers finished seventh in the Great Lakes Regional. In the race, eight of IU's top 10 runners were not at full strength.\n"In the eight years I've been here, I've never had that much stuff to deal with," said IU coach Judy Wilson. "I feel like we were putting Band-Aids and duct tape on people and sending them out and saying, 'Here, go run.' We were probably the first team not to make the national meet, even in the end with all of that stuff."\nDespite missing out on its ultimate goal, Overton said she was convinced the Hoosiers laid the foundation for the future.\n"Although we may not have made it to nationals as we wanted to, I think we have definitely accomplished some goals as far as team unity and built a strong distance core for the track season," Overton said.\nFellow senior Kelly Siefker said she knows making nationals is not everything. Overcoming the obstacles strewn before the team was an accomplishment all on its own, she said.\n"I felt this could have been our year, but we just really didn't have all the pieces together at the same time," Siefker said. "Little things here and there and then it just didn't add up, but it didn't take away from how hard we worked and from how far we've come this season."\nTwo runners carried the weight of the team's hopes to the national meet as IU had one last peak to counter its lows. Juniors Lindsay Hattendorf and Gall qualified for the meet based on their top 10 performances in the regional. In the championship, Hattendorf finished 61st and Gall finished 32nd, earning herself All-American honors for the second straight year.\nNext year, the Hoosiers will return several of their top runners, but will be without Overton and Siefker, who have completed their IU careers.\n"(Siefker) and (Overton) are an integral part of our program," Gall said. "They both work so hard and have been really good role models and stay positive through adversity. They have been great for not only underclassmen to look up to but they keep all of us on top of our game. I'm so glad that we still have two more track seasons with them"