EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Senior John Mascari won the men's 8K while sophomore Taylor Austin paced the women as Indiana State Cross Country kicked off the 2015 season at the Evansville Early Bird Invite on Saturday morning.
MEN
Senior John Mascari paced the field as he won the opening 8K of the season at the Cross Country Course at Angel Mound. Mascari came in with a winning time of 24:28.7 while teammate David Timlin came in next for the Sycamores in sixth place (26:04.3). Redshirt sophomore Levi Taylor came in narrowly behind Timlin with a 26:04.4 and Daniel Swem was eighth overall (26:36).
As a team, Indiana State finished just five points (30) behind winner Louisville (25). Marshall (73) and Evansville (115) came in third and fourth, respectively.
WOMEN
Sophomore Taylor Austin guided the Sycamore women to a second place team finish. Austin came in fourth overall (18:30.1) while teammate Brooke Moore picked up a seventh place finish in her career debut (18:53.8).
Louisville took top honors with 17 team points followed by the Sycamores, Marshal (87) and Evansville (100), respectively.
QUOTES FROM THE COACHES
Men's Coach John McNichols
“The story today was the temperature as the race ended with 90 on the thermometer. Our guys showed fitness and held their races together in tough conditions. John Mascari put on a surge in the last mile to take the lead. (David) Timlin and (Levi) Taylor raced together the whole way and (Daniel) Swem was not too far behind and showed how well his summer training went.”
Women's Coach Kyle Walsh
“We did a nice job of working in groups and progressing through the race. We dug ourselves a bit of a hole early in the race by starting too far back, but the women remained competitive by moving up each kilometer. Taylor Austin did an excellent job leading us front today by battling with Louisville's top girls. Freshman Brooke Moore was the surprise of the meet running #2 for the Sycamores placing 7th overall. It was fun watching this young squad open up competition today. We've got a long way to go but we hope to see great improvements when we return on October 31st for the MVC Championships.”
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