Men finish 2nd, women 3rd at Indiana Intercollegiates

Sophomore Jordan Kyle said before Friday’s Indiana Intercollegiates in West Lafayette that he needed to run his own race to do well in the meet. Mission accomplished for Kyle, who won his second straight race to open the season with a time of 24 minutes and 39 seconds.\nIU coach Ron Helmer said afterward he was impressed with his team, though he knows they will improve more as the season progresses. \n“The guys ran great, but we’ll be a better team when we get everyone going,” Helmer said.\nAs a team, IU finished second with 55 points, while Indiana State won the meet with 47 points. \nRunning for IU along with Kyle were juniors Timothy McLeod, Brennon Plotner and Mark Fruin, who finished the meet in fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively. Sophomore Tyler McCreary and junior and Indiana Daily Student staff writer Paul Coover placed 36th and 59th respectively. Competing as a whole in the meet on Friday were teams from Indiana of all sizes, as Purdue, Southern Indiana and Butler finished in positions three through five, with scores of 136, 138 and 186 respectively.\nOn the women’s side, sophomore Sarah Pease led IU in sixth position with a time of 18 minutes and eight seconds. \nHelmer was proud of Pease and saw major improvement over last week for the women’s team as a whole. \n“Sarah Pease ran real well, and we “ran far better race than a week ago,” Helmer said.\nAlso running for IU were senior Maura Ratcliff, freshman Natalie Goolik, junior Caity Lauer, sophomore Jenny Kulow and junior Lauren Keefe who finished the race in 19th, 28th, 30th, 37th and 41st places, respectively. \nPurdue won the meet on the women’s side with 49 points, while Ball State finished second with 74 points. \nThe Hoosiers placed third as a team, with 120 points. DePauw and Indiana State rounded out the top five with 120 and 130 points, respectively.\nThe Hoosiers return to competition Sept. 29, when they travel to Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational. \nHelmer said he is looking forward to the future of IU cross country despite some early trepidation. \n“We have work to do, but I am pretty optimistic (about the rest of the season),” Helmer said. “The men should be really good as a team, and the women are getting better, even though I am not sure how that all meshes and cuts together.”