Three freshmen place in top 15 tolead men's team
The Ball State men's cross country team earned a third placefinish this weekend at the Miami Invitational behind the effort oftheir freshman.
Freshman Justin Stadt, Stephen Cohen and Jeff Kent were the topthree runners for Ball State. Stadt had the best finish with a timeof 26:21.08, earning him ninth place. Cohen placed 12th with a timeof 26:34.42 and Kent placed 15th with a time of 26:50.36.
"Those freshman are outstanding," Head Coach Jermaine Jonessaid. "They stepped up big."
It was also the first time the freshman ran an 8K course at thecollegiate level, and they will only get better as they adapt Jonessaid.
Finishing in the fourth and fifth team spots were sophomore ZachScherer and senior Jeremy Smith. Scherer finished 16th right behindKent with a time of 26:57.58 and Smith was only one spot behindScherer in 18th with a time of 27:09.21. Kevin Lister was rightbehind Smith in 19th place with a time of 27:11.87.
Rounding out the top 25 were Justin Gauthier in 22nd, KyleHinkelman in 23rd and Sean Dillon in 25th. Alan Hemmelgarn was notfar behind finishing 28th. Seniors Sal Impellitteri and SteveSamuel, who are both still in the process of returning frominjuries, finished 32nd and 36th, respectively.
This was the first time this season that the team has faced MACopponents. Miami ran really well on their home course, but theCardinals still finished ahead of Buffalo.
"They really ran a great team race," Student Assistant MichaelJohnson said.
The team needs to stay healthy and they will continually getbetter as the season progresses. "We peak towards the end of theseason," Johnson said.
"We have to have our confidence as high as it can be when Nov. 1rolls around," Jones said.
Senior Aaron Hoover did not run this weekend after placingfourth at the Indiana Open two weeks ago. Coaches decided to keephim fresh for when the team travels to Bloomington on Friday forthe Indiana Intercollegiate.
"We're going to take it a little easier this week," Johnson saidabout practice. The team will have one or two hard days, but forthe most part the mileage will be dropped."
The Ball State women's cross country team finished third thisweekend at the Miami Invitational. Seven teams participated in themeet, including a top 20 team in the University of Michigan. BallState faced three other Mid-American Conference teams in Miami,Akron and Buffalo.
Women finish less than minute behindsecond-place Miami
Michigan dominated the meet with a total time of 1:30:03.32,followed by Miami with a total time of 1:32:38.05. Ball Statefinished less than a minute behind Miami with a total time of1:33:16.30. They did, however, beat the other two MAC teams; Akronand Buffalo.
Senior Crystal Meeks led the team with a time of 18:05.40,earning her sixth place in the field of 75 runners. After winningthe Butler Open two weeks ago, junior Jill Scully finished in 10thplace with a time of 18:11.02. Sarah Huddleston helped the topthree runners for the team remain solid with her 14th place finishand time of 18:30.26.
Rounding out the top five runners for the second week in a rowwere freshman Rose Lehe and Amanda Ponsot. Lehe finished 21st witha time of 18:57.62 and Ponsot finished 31st with a time of19:32.00.
"We're going to be counting on them this year," Head Coach SueParks said about the freshman.
The final four runners for the Cardinals included NicoleHartford in 36th place, Aubrey Gaffer in 39th, Lindsay Keazer in40th and Lindsay Moldstad in 42nd.
Parks was very pleased with the times the team ran, five out ofthe seven runners that ran the course last year improved upon theirtimes significantly. The team does, however, still need to work onclosing the gap between the fourth and fifth runners.
"We're continuing to improve week by week," Parks said. "(Thegap) definitely needs to close up to less than a minute."
The team will continue to work hard in practice this week as itprepares for the Indiana Intercollegiate at Terra Haute onFriday.
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