Nearly 200 runners from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois turned out for this year's Mid-West College Club Cross Country Championships, played host to by the Ball State Runners Association.
The meet was held on the Delta High School course on the grounds of The Water Bowl, northeast of Muncie.
"This is one of the only times to really compete," Lambert Deckers, the runner's association faculty advisor, said.
Deckers added that the meet was for anyone that has "an interest in running at the club level."
The runner's association club president Brian Beightol was in charge of the meet and said that it was much better than last year's event.
"This is a friendly course for lots of people," Beightol said. "This year, we had double the turnout of runners."
The top five individual placements for the women's event went to runners from Illinois, Miami (Ohio), Indiana University, Purdue, and the Purdue Triathlon club, respectfully.
The overall team placements had the University of Michigan winning the men's and women's events.
The Ball State University men's team placed second with a total score of 78 points, and the women's team earned third with 105 total points.
"The wind was pretty bad this year," Chris Thornberry, who placed 93rd for the Ball State team, said. "There were more runners and lot of competition this year, too."
"We wouldn't be able to do as well in college because [running is] a stress reliever," Abels said.
She added that she enjoys the competition and looks forward to running because she knows that the people at the meets have the same mutual interest of running.
Courtney Rowe-Bultinck has been a member of the club since it started and said that she enjoys running in the "Monster Mash Dash" and is also looking forward to running the "Jingle Bell Run" in Indy.
"They put bells on your shoes," Rowe-Bultinck said. "And they have free messages for all of the runners."
More information about the Ball State Runner's Association can be found online at the www.bsu.edu/recreation.
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