Cyclones Travel to Terre Haute, Peoria

10.13.2009 | Cross Country

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State cross country teams will get a chance to match up against some of the best runners in the nation this weekend at the Indiana State University Pre Nationals Invitational, Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind. The men's and women's races will begin at 11 a.m. and 12:20 p.m., respectively.

Iowa State's seventh-ranked women's cross country team and the 17th-ranked men's team will both be running against seven of the top 10 teams in the country. The men's and women's fields consist of 71 and 73 teams, respectively.

“I think it's no different than the way we went into the (Roy Griak Invitational),” head coach Corey Ihmels said. “We want to be a better team when we leave. Obviously we've progressed in the weeks since we competed, and this gives us an opportunity to see where we rank up and get ready for the conference meet in two weeks.”

This year's Pre Nationals will give both teams a look at the top talent in the Big 12 Conference. The men's field will include fourth-ranked Colorado while the women's field will include No. 12 Baylor and No. 19 Colorado. The Big 12 Championships will be held Oct. 31 in Columbia, Mo.

At the 2008 Pre National meet, the Cyclone men finished 10th, with senior All-American Guor Marial and junior Hillary Bor finishing in the top twenty-five. This will be the first time the Cyclone women have competed at the Pre Nationals since 2007, when then-junior Lisa Koll's fifth-place finish led Iowa State to a 17th-place finish out of thirty five teams.

Iowa State will also be competing at the Bradley Classic in Peoria, Ill. The Cyclones will compete at the Bradley Classic Friday at 4:00 p.m.

Athletes competing this weekend include:

Men: Devin Allbaugh, Hillary Bor, Clayton Carper, Garett Eklof, Daniel Fadgen, Joel Limo, Rico Loy, Guor Marial, Yonas Mebrahtu, Josh Mellman, Ben Murphy-Baum, Daniel Murray, Charlie Paul, Brandon Rooney, Alex Whitesell and Jory Zunich.

Women: Rachel Bell, Kim Brown, Marley Crusch, Ines Fischer, Grace Kemmey, Lisa Koll, Kayla Marsh, Meaghan Nelson, Kellein Oettle, Taylor Petersen, Brittany Rover, Betsy Saina, Dani Stack, Semehar Tesfaye, Katie Thompson, Alphine Tuliamuk and Paige Ties.