Rain can't stop Hoosier runners from top finish

Severe weather tried unsuccessfully to ruin the afternoon for the Indiana Intercollegiates cross country meet Friday afternoon. Although tornado warnings highlighted the day for most of central Indiana, the story at the IU cross country course was the dominant effort put forth by the men's team. The team won both the team and individual titles. \nThe Hoosiers used pack running from the early portion of the eight kilometer race and finished with only 14 seconds separating the team's top runner from their seventh.\nThe team won the meet, beating runner-up Purdue by 25 points. Freshman John Jefferson was able to out-sprint previously unbeaten Boilermaker Kyle Orender to win the meet individually with a time of 28:46.\n"We haven't had anyone win this meet in a couple years. So while we wanted to dominate as a team, we also wanted someone to win individually," coach Robert Chapman said. \nFive of the meet's top seven finishers were Hoosiers. Freshman Sean Jefferson, twin brother of John, finished third in the meet, two seconds behind his sibling. Also scoring for the team were junior Bart Phariss in fourth, sophomore Tom Burns in sixth and freshman Eric Redman in seventh. \n"It felt great," Sean Jefferson said. "We were just trying to run relaxed and as a team."\nThe team's goal was to run comfortably and work on fixing potential weaknesses for later in the season, Chapman said. He added the team will face more difficult meets further in the season in which this meet should prove valuable.\n"This meet gave younger runners and everyone else a chance to work out any problems we're having before we get to upcoming bigger meets," sophomore Kurtis George said.\nRacing in their first eight kilometer race, the young runners were able to stick with the pack for most of the meet en route to finishing in the top five for the Hoosiers. \n"The race worked out how we wanted it to," Redman said. "We felt real good."\nAlthough pack running has been beneficial to the team so far, Chapman said as the meets progressively get bigger and more competitive, the team will likely have to run a more individual style of race.\n"We'd like to keep the pack going, but we won't be able to count on that," Chapman said, "That means we need some guys to step it up and run out front for us."\nThe Jeffersons made solid steps to becoming the team's front runners Friday although Phariss and redshirt freshman Stephen Haas are also working for the top spot, Chapman said.\nThe team will race again next Friday in Charlotte, NC for the Great American Cross Country Festival.