SOUTH BEND, Ind. ? The Indiana State cross country teams knew they had a big challenge on Friday at the 52nd Notre Dame Invitational and the results proved that, as the Sycamores women's squad ran to a 14^th place finish and the men's team finished in 16^th place in the annual event held at the nine-hole Notre Dame Golf Course on campus. 

ISU's women's team was the first to run on the day and finished 14^th in the 5k Gold Race.  Grand Valley State (126) took home the team title in the race, with Liberty (147) and Santa Clara (167) close behind in second and third place.  Calvin College (174) finished in fourth place, just three points ahead of Ball State (177) in fifth place.  The Sycamores finished ahead of Kent State, Ohio State, Florida Atlantic and Youngstown State as well as in-state foes IUPUI, IPFW and Valparaiso.

Sophomore Kayla Alexander (18:31) was the top finisher for ISU in 27^th place overall.  Senior Karla Negron (18:47) was next in 48^th and junior Heather Stembridge (19:02) followed in 70^th.  Sophomores Adriane Wunderlich (19:21, 98^th) and Emily Pugh (19:31, 105^th) rounded out the top five for the Sycamores.  In addition, freshman Ariel Hall ran well in the women's open race, finishing in 21^st place with a time of 19:52.

“We came out really flat and nobody ran very strong,” said women's head coach John Gartland.  “Our finish this year is disappointing because we were first in this race a year ago and two years ago we finished fourth, with the individual champion as well.  We just didn't compete well as a team today and that resulted in us finishing in the middle of the pack.  However, Ariel Hall did run well in the open race, so that was a bright spot on the day.”

On the men's side, ISU was up against 11 nationally-ranked teams in the 10k Blue Race and finished in 16^th overall out of 23 teams.  Host Notre Dame (92) ran to the team title, holding off North Carolina State (106) and Providence (124) in the top three.  Michigan (138) finished in fourth place and Florida State rounded out the top five with 147 points.  The squad beat some quality teams in the race, finishing ahead of Boston College, Montana State, North Carolina and Kent State.  Butler, who came into the race ranked ahead of the Sycamores in the Great Lakes Region, finished in 20^th while Missouri Valley Conference foes Wichita State and Northern Iowa finished in 22^nd and 23^rd overall.

The Sycamores were led by sophomore Scott Keeney (24:55), who finished in 56^th place.  Sophomores Randy Placencia and Scott Koressel were the next finshers in 86^th and 88^th places, respectively, with identical times of 25:27.  Freshman Michael Disher (25:45, 103^rd) just edged out teammate Eric Schulz (25:45, 104^th) to round out the scoring for the Sycamores in the highly-competitive race.

“The quality of competition in this race was so high today and the times were extremely quick,” said men's head coach John McNichols.  “Our finish (16^th) was not far off last year's when we finished 14^th, but we were disappointed to be beaten by Southern Illinois who finished in 14^th this year.  We stayed close to Southern Illinois for most of the race, but their top runner put some distance on us at the end and we just couldn't close the gap.  Man for man, we ran pretty well and as a group, we really moved up late in the race which was encouraging.

Both teams are off next week and will prepare for the Indiana State Pre-Nationals, which will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course on October 13.