October 2, 2004
Cross Country
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEN EARN FOURTH-PLACE FINISH AT LOYOLA INVITATIONAL;
WOMEN FINISH ELEVENTH

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Indiana State men’s cross country team finished fourth out of 25 teams at the 32nd Annual Sean Earl Loyola Invitational. The Sycamores earned 151 points and posted the second-best team finish among Division I schools. Senior Aaron Harding paced the Sycamores, completing the 8k course in a time of 24:54, which was good for tenth place.
   Sophomore Sean Bowman earned a top-20 finish, posting a time of 25:06. Bowman finished in 16th place. Jordan Fife finished in 25:30, which was good for 35th place. Freshman Blaine Zimmerman turned in another strong performance, earning 39th place with a time of 25:35. John Nay’s time of 25:53 was good for 60th position, while Dustin Strosnider came across the finish line in 26:10 to claim 82nd place.
   “This was a difficult course for the men,” noted head women’s coach John Gartland, who filled in for head men’s coach John McNichols on Saturday (Oct. 2). “The early stages of the course are narrow and we were squeezed back a few positions, but our guys responded and made up ground in the middle portion of the course to deliver a strong performance.”
   Loyola finished first with a team score of 93. Grand Valley State finished second with 112 points, while Universal Sole compiled 115 team points. Drake earned 166 points which was good for fifth place, while UIC amassed 184 points to take the sixth position.
   Eastern Illinois (251), Marquette (153), North Dakota State (264), and Saginaw Valley State (277), rounded out the top ten. Drake’s Bobby Anderson finished the course in 24:20, which was tops among the 249 competitors.
   The ISU women’s team finished eleventh with 278 points. Sophomore Laura Engle led the charge for ISU, finishing the 5k course in 17:44, which was good for fifth place. Heather Stembridge’s time of 18:29 was good for 45th place. Dani Prince crossed the tape in 18:38, which placed her 64th among the 210 entrants.
   Leah Durr completed the course in 19:08, which placed her in 90th place. Maile Venable was close behind Durr, finishing in 19:12, which was good for 93rd place. Sarah Jarvis’ time of 19:21 put her in 102nd .
   “I felt we really competed hard today,” noted Gartland. “We finished as the seventh Division I team and even though we finished behind SMS, but were able to finish ahead of other MVC rivals such as UNI, Creighton, and Drake. Laura Engle broke through today, earning a fifth-place finish in a very talented field.”
   DePaul’s Leah Rygh took the top individual honors, finished the course in 17:24. Marquette claimed the team championship, with a team score of 79. Ball State finished second with 134 points, while SMS took third place, amassing 138 points. Kent State followed the Bears by 39 points, claiming the fourth spot with 177. Host Loyola earned 184 points, which was good for fifth place. Universal Sole (187), Grand Valley State (201), Nebraksa (203), Western Ontario (247), and Malone College (253) rounded out the top ten.
   The Sycamores return to action on Saturday, October 9, when they take part in the Saluki Invitational, hosted by Southern Illinois.

Results