The rain clouds stayed away just long enough and the heat broke on Saturday for current and former Indiana State cross country runners to compete against each other at the annual Sycamore Pride
Alumni/Intrasquad Meet held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
The women's 3K races started the day off and the current Sycamores edged out the alumni by one point, 29 to 30, to earn the win in the race despite three of the top four finishers being alums. Recent graduate Dani Prince was the race winner with a time of 10:47.10 and she was followed by fellow alum Jessica Crowder in second place with a time of 11:01.40. They were joined in the top five by Sarah Jarvis, who finished in fourth with a time of 11:34.10.
“It was really fun being out here today, but also awkward at the same time,” said Prince. “I still talk with a lot of my former teammates and it was hard to compete against them today. I wanted to cheer them on, but as an alum I had to help our team try to win as well. I'm just glad I ran well and it was a great day to catch up with everyone.”
Sophomore Kayla Alexander was the top finisher among the current Sycamores, finishing in third place with a time of 11:12.70. Sophomore Adrianne Wunderlich rounded out the top five with a fifth-place finish at 11:38.30 and was pushed by junior Heather Stembridge (11:46.50) and freshman Allison Malone (11:53.70) in sixth and seventh places, respectively.
Head women's coach John Gartland was pleased with his young team's performance on Saturday.
“Our team is very young this season and it was great to see them beat a solid alumni squad,” said Gartland. “Dani, Jessica and Sarah are all still very competitive and were in very good shape today. So, for our team to defeat that veteran trio says a lot. We still have a long way to go to be competitive, but today's performance was certainly a step in the right direction.”
On the men's side, it was the alumni team who defeated the current Sycamores by a score of 29 to 30 in the 5K race. Alums Sean Bowman (16:01.50), Jordan Fife (16:08.10) and Justin Kunz (16:13.00) finished first through third place, respectively, to help secure the win.
“It was weird running past my teammates and not being able to cheer them on,” said Bowman, who still has one year of eligibility left in both indoor and outdoor track for ISU. “But, I was running with the alums and it was great for us to be able to get the win. I've been training and staying in really good shape for the upcoming season, so I think that really helped today.
The next seven runners were all current Sycamores and were separated by just 18 seconds. Sophomore Scott Koressel led the pack in fourth place with a time of 16:15.70 and senior Antonio McDaniel rounded out the top five with a time of 16:21.40. Freshman Michael Disher (16:25.70) was the top finisher among the men's newcomers, finishing in seventh place behind sophomore Randy Placencia (16:23.00) in sixth place.
Head men's coach John McNichols was surprised with the outcome of the race, but thought his team ran well against the experienced alums.
“This is the first time during my tenure in which the alumni have defeated the current team in this race,” said McNichols. “I knew heading into the event that Sean, Jordan and Justin were going to frontrunners and they all ran very well. As for our team, I was impressed how well they ran together and the spacing between the top finishers was very close. That kind of depth is going to be something that will help us this year as we progress and could help us win a lot of races this season.”
After a week off, the Sycamores will kick off the regular season at the Bradley Invitational on Friday, September 7, in Peoria, Ill. The meet is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. EST.
