TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? The Indiana State men's and women's cross country teams will head to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday in hopes of securing a place in the 2008 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships with a strong performance at the 2008 NCAA Great Lakes Region Cross Country Championships at the Purdue Varsity Cross Country Course. Race time is set for 11 a.m.
The top two teams in each region earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, while the top four individual finishers not on a qualifying team secure a trip to nationals as well.
The ISU men's team heads into the meet as the No. 13 ranked team in the region. They will be facing off against a strong field that features four of the top 30 teams in the country, including the 2008 Big Ten Champion Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers are ranked sixth in the country overall and are joined on the list by a pair of conference foes in No. 9 Michigan and No. 28 Indiana. Also included in the field is 27th-ranked Notre Dame, who placed second at the 2008 Big East Conference Championships. Rounding out the top-10 of the latest regional rankings is Michigan State, Butler, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State and Cincinnati.
The Sycamores head into the meet on a strong note, after finishing just three points behind champion Southern Illinois at the 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship. ISU was picked to finish in third place in the pre-championship coaches poll, but rallied to finish second thanks to a strong team effort.
Three Sycamores earned all-conference honors with strong performances, including junior Scott Keeney who was the team's top finisher in third place. Sophomore Michael Disher was fourth overall in the race to earn his first all-conference award, while junior Eric Schulz continued his strong fall season with a sixth-place finish to earn his first all-conference honor as well. Junior Scott Koressel and senior Kyle Walsh also had strong efforts and rounded out the scoring for the Sycamores in 12th and 15th places, respectively. All five will need to have similar efforts in order to help the Sycamores earn one of the automatic berths in the NCAA Championships.
The ISU women's team will also be competing against a very strong field, with Wisconsin entering the weekend as the top-ranked team on the women's side. The Badgers are the top-ranked team in the region and are ranked No. 8 in the national poll. Michigan State and Michigan could give Wisconsin a strong challenge as well, as they sit second and third in the region and 10th and 17th nationally.
The Sycamores will hope to improve on their sixth-place finish at the MVC Championships and will be looking to a pair of upperclassmen to lead the way. Senior Heather Stembridge, who has been the most consistent runner for the Sycamores throughout the season, earned all-conference honors with a strong eighth place finish at the meet. She should be joined at the top by junior Kayla Alexander, who ran a strong race at the MVC Championship to finish in 19th place. In addition, freshman Kacie Klem should also place near the top of the standings for ISU after she finished in 13th place at the conference meet.
