SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - IUPUI senior Nate Kaiser earned a wire-to-wire individual win and the men's cross country team put up a dominant team performance in winning the 2023 Jaguar Invitational at Blue River Cross Country Course on Friday night (Sept. 15). Kaiser clocked a winning time of 24:24.97 to defeat his closest competition by nearly 15 seconds. Collectively, IUPUI put seven among the meet's top-10 finishers to close with 20 points, well ahead of second-place Oakland's 44 points. 

Purdue Fort Wayne-transfer Andrew Whitinger finished third in a time of 24:52.56 and Eric Petersen was fourth at 24:53.76. Junior Grant Moon was fifth at 24:54.95. 

The Jaguars left little to doubt as Nick Perkins (7th, 25:09.87), Mitchell Rans (9th, 25:18.27) and Will Clark (10th, 25:22.84) all finished among the top-10 in an impressive team performance. 

"It was good. It was a good home meet. More than anything, seeing all the Jags athletes and alumni and all that stuff made it absolutely everything," Kaiser said. "We always know in practice that we can do it, so it's really just a matter of getting on race day, being ready to go and really giving it everything we can for each other. It really makes it nice when all that hard work pays off on race day."

It marked Kaiser's second win in as many meets as he also won the season opening Mike Baumer XC Classic in Fairborn, Ohio, two weeks prior. On Friday, Kaiser did the work early, taking the lead from the opening gun and extending it before the midpoint of the race. His third and fourth kilometers were brilliant as he built a 10-second lead and never relented over the latter half of the race, partly fueled by a strong contingent of IUPUI fans lining the course. 

Whitinger was the team's No. 2 finisher for the second time in as many meets with Petersen and Moon in the same finishing pack. 

Head coach Justin Roeder's team had additional reinforcements deep down the lineup as Deion Guise was 15th at 25:43.08 and Mitchell Gits was 16th at 25:43.08. Matt Mitsch was 19th at 25:54.28. 

"It's just good to be back out here at a course that we all kind of know well," Petersen said. "It just felt good to be out there, running in a pack."

After finishing second to Ohio State in the season opening 5K, the Jaguars looked even tougher in their first 8K of the young season. 

"I don't want to give away too much about our training, but we're definitely a strength team - the longer the distance, the better," Petersen said. 

IUPUI will return to action in two weeks when the Jaguars compete at Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational in South Bend, Ind.