Following what head coach Jim Sprecher called "an interesting trip" to Bloomington, the men's cross country team placed in the middle of the pack at the Indiana Intercollegiate meet, Friday.
The Cardinals totaled 110 points in finishing fourth out of seven teams in the Division I race. Host Indiana won the meet with just 21 points, followed by Purdue (46), Indiana State (76), followed by the Cardinals.
"Not all of the teams could make it because of the tornado," Sprecher said, referring to the inclement weather that rolled through central Indiana Friday afternoon.
"It normally takes us two hours to get to Bloomington and it took us four. We got delayed at Martinsville because of the debris and emergency personnel trying to get through."
Sprecher added that the weather didn't affect the racing, but it did delay the start and caused the official times to be incorrect and unavailable.
"The weather was nice from a racing standpoint - cool and rainy," he said. "It was a little sloppy, but it wasn't a huge factor."
Indiana University took five of the top seven places on its way to winning the meet. This was IU's second Indiana Intercollegiate title in three years. Freshmen twins John and Sean Jefferson finished first and third, respectively for the Hoosiers.
Junior Aaron Hoover was Ball State's top finisher, as he crossed the line 15th, followed by freshman Jesse Davis in 20th. Rounding out the scorers (the top seven) were sophomore Michael Olson (30th), senior Terry Goodspeed (32nd), junior Steve Samuel (34th), sophomore Andrew Tarcin (36th) and freshman Kyle Hinkleman (38th).
Sprecher said that while some runners impressed, some others need to race better if the team is to reach its full potential.
"There's two ways to succeed," Sprecher said. "Either you have frontrunners or you have a good pack time. If we're going to be competitive, we need to move the pack up some.
"Aaron and Jesse were bright spots again, Michael Olson really moved up after not having scored for us, and Terry continues to move up. Andy had a strong race for usually being a middle distance guy; it's nice to see him contribute. For us to really compete though, both Steve Samuel and Steve Schilling need to move up.
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