ST. LOUIS, Mo. ? Indiana State men's cross country runner Scott Koressel has been named the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Male Cross Country Athlete of the Week by the conference office, after winning the men's Division I race at the Bradley Open last Friday. Koressel earned the win in his first career race as a Sycamore and the weekly award is also the first of his career.
The sophomore from Evansville, Ind., finished ahead of 37 other runners with a personal-best time of 25:28 in the men's 8k race at the 22nd Annual Bradley Open held at Detweiller Park in Peoria, Ill. Koressel finished just ahead of teammates Michael Disher (2nd), Eric Schulz (3rd) and Scott Keeney (5th) to help lead ISU to its second-straight men's team title at the meet, finishing ahead of MVC foes Bradley and Northern Iowa in the team standings.
ISU head coach John McNichols was proud of the way his rookie runner performed in his first collegiate race and hopes there is more to come.
“Scott really stayed true to the plan we set up before the race, which is sometimes hard to do for young runners,” said McNichols. “He, along with the rest of the guys in the top five, ran clean races and never faltered in the heat or let the course get to them. What makes his performance even more impressive is the fact that he was running in his first collegiate 8k race and finished in first place. This honor is well-deserved for Scott and I just hope he continues to run that strong the rest of the season.”
Koressel and the rest of the Sycamores return to action on Friday, September 14, at the Indiana Intercollegiate hosted by Purdue.
