NORTON, Ohio - The IU Indianapolis men's cross country team closed out the season with a 13th place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships on Friday (Nov. 15), held at the Silver Creek Cross Country Course, just outside of Akron.
Nate Kaiser led a balanced bunch of Jaguars to the finish line, placing 52nd overall, and redshirt freshman
Luke Shappell placed 68th among 213 runners in his first collegiate 10K.
Head coach
Justin Roeder's team outperformed the No. 14 ranking it received in the most recent USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional rankings after the league championships.
"It was a solid day for the men today. Coming off a great conference performance, we were really excited to race the 10K distance," Roeder said. "Our guys pride themselves as championship competitors and after these past two competitions, I'd say they live up to their words.
"I'm very proud of this group of men as they were able to mesh together with half the roster of veterans and the other half rookies. They left their individual egos at home and raced for team success. I'm excited for what's in store for these guys as they now look to take on their indoor and outdoor track campaigns."
As has been the case throughout his collegiate career, Kaiser was the team leader from the opening gun, ultimately finishing in a time of 30:32.3. Shappell continued his strong rookie season with a time of 30:48.1 and
Grant Moon placed 84th at 31:06.6.
Matt Mitsch was just off Moon's pace at 31:21.3 to finish 88th and true freshman
Riley Nixon rounded out the scoring five at 31:51.0 in a return to his home state.
Mitchell Gits ran 32:15.3 and
Joey LaPatra crossed at 32:36.3.
Butler's William Zegarski edged Purdue's Douglas Buckeridge for the individual title in a time of 29:12.7. Notre Dame won the team title with 70 points and Wisconsin was second with 82 points. The Jaguars finished with 409 points, edging Eastern Michigan for the No. 13 spot.
The Jaguars will now turn focus to the indoor track season with the team schedule being posted later this month.
