Strong Showing for IHCC Men at Ames

Ames -- The IHCC men's cross country team set a school record with their collective effort at the Iowa Intercollegiate Meet on Saturday. The top five finishers for Indian Hills averaged 30:11 over the 8K course, breaking the old IHCC team mark of 30:36 set at the national meet in 2008.

Coach Jim Streeby says lowering the record is one of his team's goals. "We need 57 seconds off the total time of the top five runners to average under 30 minutes," said Streeby. "The men really surprised me with their improvement on Saturday because we are still working very hard in our practice workouts."

Jon Gerling was 18th to lead the Indian Hills runners. Gerling's time was 27:48, just 13 seconds off the school record he set the week before at a meet in Grinnell.

Glen Morgan was next for IHCC in 43rd place with a personal-best time of 29:34, 46 seconds faster than Morgan's time at Grinnell. Coach Streeby said, "It was Glen's first time under 30 minutes for an 8K. I'm loving his progress and his promise for the future."

Steele Fiscus bettered his previous best time by 11 seconds with a time of 30:13. The IHCC coach predicts Fiscus could be running under 29 minutes by the end of the season.

Danny Schieffer is another runner that Streeby is excited about. Schieffer, who is a newcomer to the sport, has made amazing progress and, in his first 8K race, finished in 49th place in 30:30.

The fifth-scoring runner for IHCC was Marcus Clark who ran 32:49, 29 seconds faster than his previous best time.

Jordan Bradfield finished in 63rd place in 33:10, Zakk Ellingson ran 35:29 and Keenan Wyngarden ran 35:58 to round out the Indian Hills competitors.

Streeby said, "As a team, every one of our top five scoring runners played a crucial role. The team thing is so much fun and an important part of their progress. We finished in 8th place among the 10 teams that scored. All but two of the seven teams ahead of us were four-year schools."

The Warriors head to Davenport this Friday for the Brisman-Lundeen Invitational where over 700 runners are expected to participate.