TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State men's and women's cross country teams will head to South Bend, Ind., to compete at the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday, Sept. 28.
The races, which will be held at Burke Golf Course, begin for the Sycamores at 2:30 p.m. (ET) with a combined men's and women's open race. The Women's Gold Division Race begins at 3:15 pm and will be followed by the Men's Gold Division Race at 4:00 p.m.
"The Joe Piane Invitational typically serves as our midterm exam to see our progress from combining 12 weeks of summer training with six weeks of fall training and find out where we stand versus very tough competition," head coach
Kyle Walsh said. "We are a month from the MVC Championships so it's time to progress in our racing and I feel the men's and women's teams feel strong and confident heading into the stiff competition at Notre Dame."
The men's race will feature 21 Division I programs, as the Sycamores enter the race at No. 13 in the latest Great Lakes Regional rankings released on Sept. 25. Besides the Sycamores, there will be five other regionally ranked schools, as well as Division III No. 1, Calvin College competing. At their previous outing, Indiana State finished second at the Indiana Intercollegiates, finishing behind only Purdue. Junior
Akis Medrano led the way for the men, with a sixth-place finish at 25:53.2, and
Seth Cousins followed, finishing 10th with a time of 26:32.7.
Corey Alfredson was the only other Sycamore in the top 20, crossing the finish line at 27:05.1 and finishing 17th.
"We get to go up against five regionally ranked opponents as well as many strong programs flying in from around the country. The men and women will look to finish towards the top of the meet and improve upon our seventh and ninth place finishes last year," Walsh said.
The women enter the competition as No. 13 in the Great Lakes Region and also compete with five other regionally ranked opponents. At the Indiana Intercollegiates two weeks ago, the Sycamores pulled off a second-place performance behind five top-15 performances. Leading the way was senior
Taylor Austin, who placed second overall at 22:25.00 and sophomore
Alli Workman also earned a top-five finish, crossing the line in fifth at 22:37.5. The Sycamore women topped in-state rivals Indiana and Ball State, falling only to Purdue.
"Double duos consisting of
Akis Medrano and
Seth Cousins, and
Taylor Austin and
Alli Workman look to lead our squads for the third meet in a row," Walsh said. "They've looked extremely strong through our hardest training block of time and I'm excited to watch them push towards the front pack at Notre Dame."
The events begin at 1:00 p.m. (ET) with the Women's Blue Division Race and continues with the Men's Blue Division Race at 1:45 p.m. Following the open race will be the Gold Division, starting with the women at 3:15 p.m. and ending with the men at 4:00 p.m.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Track and Field team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook and
Twitter.
