TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State men's cross country team is making its fifth consecutive appearance in the Great Lakes Regional Rankings at No. 14 as announced by the USTFCCCA.
 
The USTFCCCA Regional Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each of the nine respective regions. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams' strength with current season results (if applicable) in determining team finishing order at the upcoming NCAA Division I Regional Cross Country Championships.
 
This year the NCAA Regional Championships will be held on Friday, November 10 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
 
The men improved their spot by one position to No. 14 after spending a week at No. 15. ISU finished 33rd out of 41 teams in the men's Red Seeded 8K race at the Pre-Nationals meet in Louisville.
 
Indiana State faced off against national powerhouses such as No. 2 BYU, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 7 Colorado and No. 8 Oregon.
 
"The men started us off with a solid day against some top level competition. We knew we were going to be in a large race with some really good programs and I was proud of the way they fought through the middle," head coach Kyle Walsh said. "Five of our seven guys ran their all-time fastest cross country 8K, so we leave here with our head held high and momentum on our side, and we beat a couple pretty good teams as well. There's definitely some regional opponents right ahead of us that we will match up with again in four weeks at the NCAA Regional at our place, so we kind of have a target on the teams ahead of us, and we will continue to hold off some of the teams we've beaten this year."
 
Five of the seven runners for the men recorded new personal records, and they were led by junior Akis Medrano who crossed the line at 24:29.8 in 101st place, which is ninth all-time at Indiana State. Quentin Pierce also set a personal-best time at 24:52.80, finishing 150th overall. Behind Pierce was Blake Kramer who surged at the end to finish with his new personal best, 25:08.1. Both Ryan Cash and Corey Alfredson followed Kramer, destroying their previous personal records by posting times of 25:10.8 and 25:14.7, respectively.
 
Finishing with 784 points, the Sycamores edged out Houston (790), Texas Tech (801), Rice (826), Central Michigan (852), Dartmouth (910), Eastern Washington (954), Kansas (1011) and Arizona State (1096).
 
The Sycamores can now focus on the MVC Championships, hosted by Missouri State on Saturday, October 28. ISU will host the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday, November 10 beginning at 11:15 a.m. at the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
 
For the latest information on the Cross Country team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.