ISU MEN PLACE FIRST AT EVANSVILLE CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Junior Aaron Harding led a group of four Sycamores in the top eight to a first-place finish at the Evansville Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.

ISU took top honors with 31 points, followed by Louisville with 47, Evansville with 86 and Southern Indiana (“B”) with 126. Saint Louis rounded out the top five with 127 points.

Harding won his second meet of the season with a time of 25:47. Sophomore John Nay also had a strong race as he placed fifth with a mark of 26:27. Freshman Jordan Fife (7th - 26:33) and junior Dustin Strosnider (8th - 26:33) concluded the pack of Sycamores in the top 10.

“Aaron (Harding) ran the most competitive race of his career today,” ISU men’s cross country coach John McNichols said. “John (Nay) also had his best meet of the season this morning.”

Senior Josh Kendall took 14th with a time of 26:56 followed by junior teammate Craig Dismore in 15th with a mark of 26:59.

“We accomplished just what we needed to in this race,”  McNichols said. “At this time of the year, this is exactly what we needed. It is definitely something we can build off of for the conference meet. I am very encouraged by what I saw out there today.”

The Sycamores are off next week as it prepares for the MVC meet on November 1 at Des Moines, Iowa.