Indiana men’s and women’s cross country competed in the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Friday, placing sixth and 13th overall, respectively. Fifteen Big Ten teams raced in the competition.
In the 6k race, three Hoosiers finished with times in the top 100 out of the 21 runners for IU. Junior Mariah Wehrle had the best time for the Indiana women with a pace of 20:01.6, taking 29th place in the competition. Sophomore Katelyn Winton finished with a time of 20:49.8 and placed 87th place while junior Tori Schmidt clocked in at 20:53.1 and took 92nd.
Cross country head coach Eric Heins believes that the women’s cross country team is building up toward success, but there is still work left to go.
“I think you’ll see them run some pretty fast times on the track,” Hein said. “We haven’t quite learned how to run cross country as a team.”
The women’s side has shown they can improve and continue to work as a team.
“They’ll go out there a put one more hard effort,” Heins said. “For somebody like Mariah (Wehrle), she has continued to improve throughout the season.”
The men performed well in the 8k race, finishing in the middle of the standings for the competition. There were six Hoosiers who claimed spots in the top 100 for the event, including three freshmen.
Junior Martin Segurola finished 11th, as he was the highest placer of any Indiana runner in the event. Senior Skylar Stidam took 12th, junior Abe Eckman placed 36th, freshman Tony Provenzano finished in 59th, freshman Dylon Nalley took 70th and freshman Nate Killeen finished 95th.
When looking to the future of Indiana cross country, specifically the men’s side, Heins believes that they are motivated to compete against top teams and improve for the next stage of the season.
“I think that these guys are motivated to try and improve on their finish at the regional meet,” Heins said. “They’ll see some of the teams like Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin at the Great Lakes Regional. Those guys want to put out a good effort there.”
Indiana’s next stop is Norton, Ohio for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 15.
