Led by an 11th-place finish from Jesse Davis, the Ball State men's cross country team placed third out of five teams at Saturday's Miami Invitational.
The Cardinals totaled 80 points, behind Miami (22) and Central Michigan (36), but ahead of Cincinnati (113) and Northern Kentucky (127).
"It was a pretty good meet; we're happy with how most ran," said assistant coach Jim Trautmann. "A couple of our top five contenders didn't run well, and some others were injured, but when we get them back we should be tough.
Head coach Jim Sprecher noted that some other runners stepped up, including Davis (26:23) and fellow freshman Kyle Hinkelman (22nd, 27.28). In between those two were Aaron Hoover (14th, 26:36), Terry Goodspeed (17th, 26:58), Brian Runyon (18th, 27:01) and Steve Schilling (20th, 27:20).
"Jesse and Kyle ran outstanding races," Sprecher said. "They ran the second half of the race really well, and usually with freshmen it's other way around. I think the Butler meet (last week, when Sprecher ran just freshmen for experience) accomplished its purposes."
Trautmann added that the team competed well against the other teams.
"We were really happy with our confidence level," he said. "We beat Cincinnati, one of the top 10 teams in the region. Throughout the race we were battling the top teams, so that's encouraging.
"We had a great team attitude and competition, and that shows well for our future."
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