SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Indiana State cross country continued its preparation for the MVC Championships later this fall as the teams competed in one of the toughest meets in the country Friday afternoon at the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.
 
The Sycamore men placed 14th while the Sycamore women placed 19th. The Sycamore men tallied 382 points while the women finished with 474 points.
 
"On the women's side we competed pretty well. Our top three all ran personal bests and finished really strong," assistant cross country coach Brad Butler said. "We were able to beat a team that got us at our home meet. We held out a few runners, so we are looking forward to racing at full strength soon."
 
"The men had another solid 1-5 split, but we still need to work on getting out faster," Butler continued. "We moved up fairly well throughout the race but need to be more confident. We look forward to getting stronger the next two weeks, and our next opportunity at Bradley."
 
Indiana State veteran Jackson Krieg paced the men with a time of 25:55.2 in the 8K to finish 56th overall. Senior Cale Kilian finished just nine seconds behind (26:04.7) to take 62nd overall. Negus Bogard (26:30.0), Cael Light (26:31.4) and Wyatt Wyman (26:34.8) finished 87th, 88th and 90th respectively to round out the scoring for the men.
 
Redshirt senior Jocelyn Quiles placed 18th in the women's 5K to lead the way for the Sycamores. She finished with a time of 17:49.4, which was a season-best time for the O'Fallon, Mo., native. Sydney Partyka finished with a time of 18:42.1 to place 69th in the field while Erica Barker (95th - 18:57.1), Maggie Falater (145 - 20:05.9) and Devon Zeck (147 - 20:10.9) also scored for ISU.
 
After an off weekend, the team will return to action on October 15 at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois. Races are set to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Cross Country and Track & Field teams, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.