Cross country teams ready for conference
By Adrian Kendrick
The men’s and women’s cross country teams returned home from the Border Wars Cross Country Championship to prepare for the GLVC conference on Oct. 20th.
The University of Indianapolis men’s and women’s cross-country team’s are preparing to run at full stride as the season begins winding down.
On Oct. 6 the ‘Hounds battled 90-degree heat at the Border War Cross Country Championship hosted by Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Ill.
The women’s team placed 6th in the field of 25 and was led by senior LeAnn Sarka with a 9th-place finish. The men took 15th of 27 and were paced by junior Adam Settle with a 16th-place finish.
The teams each finished in 15th-place in their Gold Division races on Sept. 29 at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill. The invitational consisted of Division II, Division III and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes teams.
Sarka led the women’s squad with a 17th-place individual finish, and Settle paced the men’s team with a 42nd-place finish.
Head coach Kathy Casey said the competition was more challenging because the teams had run the Maroon race in the past seasons. There were too many teams in the competition this year, so the Greyhounds were asked to participate in the Gold race.
The more challenging competition didn’t hurt the teams’ performances, Casey said.
“Most of the team ran season best or lifetime best times,” said senior co-captain Brad Robinson.
Casey said that overall the team has taken the necessary steps each week, raced well, and now needs to top it all off at the conference meet.
“Our goal is to be in the top three on the men’s and women’s side and to have two women and men be all conference.” Casey said. “I believe we can do that.”
Sarka said that the team has improved a lot from the beginning of the season.
“I feel we will get better as we continue,” she said.
According to Casey, the team is well-rounded, so what is seen on paper is not always the true indicator of what progress they have made, how they’ve improved or how good they are.
“They have put in a lot of dedicated hours and I am really proud of them,” Casey said.
Casey said that the teams set personal goals and team goals for the races because it gave them direction.
“Our team is a work in progress. With each meet we get closer to becoming the whole pieces of the puzzle,” Casey said. “We have been building towards what our team needs to do and we want to save our best race for the last.”
The UIndy cross country teams will host the GLVC championships Oct. 20th at Butler University.
