TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It was a beautiful day in Louisville as the Sycamore men's and women's cross country teams put together several strong performances and competed well with some of the top teams in the nation at the Pre-Nationals meet.
 
The Sycamore men placed 33rd overall out of 41 teams with a team score of 784, and the women placed seventh out of 29 teams with 296 points.
 
The men were entered in the seeded Red 8K race, and got to race against national powerhouses such as No. 2 BYU, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 7 Colorado and No. 8 Oregon.
 
"The men started us off with a solid day against some top level competition. We knew we were going to be in a large race with some really good programs and I was proud of the way they fought through the middle," head coach Kyle Walsh said. "Five of our seven guys ran their all-time fastest cross country 8K, so we leave here with our head held high and momentum on our side, and we beat a couple pretty good teams as well. There's definitely some regional opponents right ahead of us that we will match up with again in four weeks at the NCAA Regional at our place, so we kind of have a target on the teams ahead of us, and we will continue to hold off some of the teams we've beaten this year."
 
Five of the seven runners for the men recorded new personal records, and they were led by junior Akis Medrano who crossed the line at 24:29.8 in 101st place, which is ninth all-time at Indiana State. Quentin Pierce also set a personal-best time at 24:52.80, finishing 150th overall. Behind Pierce was Blake Kramer who surged at the end to finish with his new personal best, 25:08.1. Both Ryan Cash and Corey Alfredson followed Kramer, destroying their previous personal records by posting times of 25:10.8 and 25:14.7, respectively.
 
"I'm really proud of Akis for having the breakthrough he's been looking for with a new personal best, leading our team against some really good guys. Overall, if we put it together with all five guys on the same day, we can make some noise at conference and mix it up with anybody in the Missouri Valley," Walsh said.
 
Finishing with 784 points, the Sycamores edged out Houston (790), Texas Tech (801), Rice (826), Central Michigan (852), Dartmouth (910), Eastern Washington (954), Kansas (1011) and Arizona State (1096).
 
Isaac Bentz, Ryan Kritzer and Kyle Collins represented ISU well in the men's Black 8K race. Bentz led the way, finishing 130th and posting a time of 26:13.4. Kritzer ran his strongest race of the season so far, earning a time of 26:38.5, and Collins followed at 27:43.4.
 
The ISU women had a strong showing today in the women's Black 6K race, finishing seventh with 296 points and defeating teams such as Texas Tech (300), Clemson (300), Western Michigan (307), Butler (315) as well as Missouri Valley Conference rival Southern Illinois, who finished 22nd with 542 points.
 
"The women definitely bounced back in a much better performance than at South Bend two weeks ago. Four of the top five ran all-time personal bests in the 6K, and they didn't let heat become a factor," Walsh said. "We beat some of our regional rivals and definitely put ourselves in position towards the front of the race, which is what we talked about. When you execute the race plan and you race tough in the middle, which is what they did, you usually leave with the results pretty happy. At Notre Dame we got buried early and were too far back and tried to move up, and in this race we put ourselves in a position early, held on and finished very well."
 
Leading the way for the women was the duo of Alli Workman and Megan Doty, who finished 35th and 36th, respectively. Workman managed to stay with the front of the pack throughout the race, and earned a new personal best time of 21:50.51. Doty finished only one second behind her, also finishing with a new personal record of 21:51.14.
 
Senior Taylor Austin followed Workman and Doty, finishing 50th at 22:04.96. Rounding out the top 100 for the Sycamores was Michaela Ward, who crossed the finish line at 22:40.14. Colleen Madden was the fifth scorer for ISU at 22:48.6. Both Ward and Madden finished with personal best times.
 
"Overall, both teams leave here with their heads held high with momentum on our side into the conference championship and we're looking forward to going to Springfield in two weeks," Walsh said.
 
The Sycamores can now focus on the MVC Championships, hosted by Missouri State on Saturday, October 28. ISU will host the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday, November 10 beginning at 11:15 a.m. at the Lavern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
 
Men's Red 8K Race Results:
101. Akis Medrano - 24:29.80 (PR)
150. Quentin Pierce - 24:52. 80 (PR)
180. Blake Kramer - 25:08.10 (PR)
185. Ryan Cash - 25:10.80 (PR)
197. Corey Alfredson - 25:14.70 (PR)
208. Seth Cousins - 25:21.50
277. Logan Hambrock - 26:41.90
 
Men's Black 8K Race Results:
130. Isaac Bentz - 26:13.40
155. Ryan Kritzer - 26:38.50
201. Kyle Collins - 27:43.40
 
Women's Black 8K Race Results:
35. Alli Workman - 21:50.51 (PR)
36. Megan Doty - 21:51.14 (PR)
50. Taylor Austin - 22:04.96
99. Michaela Ward - 22:40.14 (PR)
117. Colleen Madden - 22:48.60 (PR)
176. Jessi Conley - 23:31.59
182. Cami Hansen - 23:36.80
218. Abigail Grider - 24:14.39
247. Emma Hayward - 25:18.10
250. Danielle Muse - 25:41.96
252. Gabby Brown - 25:49.89
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Track and Field team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.