SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - The IU Indianapolis women's cross country team ran to a runner-up finish at the Jaguars Invitational on a steamy Friday (Sept. 20) at the Blue River Course in Shelbyville. Senior Ellie Cates clocked a time of 18:54.18 to place fourth among 43 runners. Dayton collected the team title with 33 points, followed closely by the Jaguars with 44 points. The Jags outdistanced Horizon League foe Northern Kentucky by four points for the runner-up spot. 

Cates ran with the lead pack for the bulk of the race before falling off the pace in the final mile. 

"We knew it was hot coming in, but I'm really happy with how the team did and how we approached this race, compared to the last one," Cates said. "Today I was really trying to focus more on placing, rather than time because I knew it was hot. I tried to get that mindset of just sticking with the pack. It did spread out a little bit during the last K, but now I know what I need to work on."

Dayton's Marissa Pritchett ran to the victory at 18:29.70, followed by NKU's Grace Biddle's time of 18:35.66. 

The Jaguars had a strong pack behind Cates as Carina Alanis was eighth at 19:45.82 and senior Laci Provenzano was ninth at 19:51.50. Freshman Ella Colclesser was tenth at 19:52.80 and sophomore Grace Bragg rounded out the team's scoring five in 13th place at 20:07.72. 

"(We) learned that they're a tough group. We talked a lot about running as a team. I knew from jump - about 1K, 2K in - that they really came out here to compete," head coach Antonio McDaniel said. "We're a whole group. We've got some newcomers helping out. Carina is a transfer, Ella is a freshman who's up there, Grace Bragg is back and moving up. Then we've got some other ones in there too who are kind of interchangeable.

The Jaguars' depth extended beyond the team's top five finishers as Hannah Robbins was 18th at 20:41.91 and true freshman Mary Fritch was 20th at 20:44.43. 

The meet was originally slated for Friday night, but was moved up nearly seven hours to avoid the high evening temperatures. Even with the move, temperatures hovered in the low 80s during the meet and the course was extremely dry as Central Indiana has been without precipitation in weeks. 

The Jaguars will return to action on Friday, Oct. 4 when they head to South Bend to participate in the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational.