SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The IU Indianapolis men's cross country team earned a fourth-place finish in the Gold Race of Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invitational on Friday (Oct. 3), using a balanced effort to finish near the top of the leaderboard. Sophomores Joey LaPatra and Luke Shappell led the way, placing 21st and 22nd, respectively. The Jaguars finished with 185 points, despite not having a runner among the top 20.  

LaPatra crossed in a time of 24:55.3 and Shappell finished at 24:55.6. LaPatra shed 39 seconds from his prior best and Shappell took 13 seconds off his previous season best.

"I definitely had mixed emotions about the finish. On one hand, I was really excited to finish with a big PR, but on the other hand I was nervous for the team standing," LaPatra said. "Fourth was solid for us today, all things considered. I'm excited for Angel Mounds in two weeks."

Redshirt freshman Nick Cook turned in a personal best time of 25:07.0 to finish 36th overall and true freshman Eli Oetken made his uniform debut with a time of 25:22.2, finishing 45th. Sam Grimes capped the scoring five with a time of 25:38.6, taking 28 seconds off his previous best, and sophomore Riley Nixon was next in line at 25:48.6, placing 71st overall. 

Nolan King (25:57.4), Carter Schorr (26:58.5) and Joey Ashman (27:27.0) rounded out the IU Indy finishers. King was 84th with a new PR and Schorr was 133rd with a 12-second personal best.  

Green Bay's Noah Jahnke won the race in a time of 23:58.5 while University of Chicago won the team scoring with 126 points. St. Thomas (Minn.) and Western Ontario finished ahead of the Jaguars while IU Indy closed just ahead of Windsor, Kansas State and Indiana State. 

"Today was a solid effort for our guys, especially given the warmer racing conditions," Interim Head Coach Justin Amburgy said. "LaPatra had a big day, closing hard over the final 2K. Eli Oetken and Sam Grimes made massive improvements and stepped up into the last two scoring spots. 

"While we faced some setbacks in both the open and gold races, the youth and depth of this team should continue to show progress throughout October."

Earlier in the day, a collection of Jaguars competed in the Open Race as true freshman Isaac Riggs led the way among the attached entries with a time of 25:54.9. Noah Price ran a time of 26:21.3 and Cameron Smith finished at 26:34.5. 

All total, seven Jaguars who ran in uniform registered new personal bests on Friday. 

The Jaguars will return to action on Friday, Oct. 17 when they compete in the Angel Mounds Invitational in Evansville, Ind.