Freshman twins push team to 4th place conference finish

WEST LAFAYETTE -- Led by freshman twins John and Sean Jefferson, the 18th ranked men's cross country team ran to a fourth place finish at the Big Ten conference meet in Purdue Sunday.\nThe Jeffersons have been the stars of the season, running most meets side by side as the number one and two runners all year long. John finished fourth with a time of 24 minutes, 7 seconds on the eight kilometer course and Sean finished five seconds later in sixth place. \nThe twins are the first Hoosier freshmen to earn all conference honors since American record holder Bob Kennedy in 1988. \n"That was a great job by John and Sean," coach Robert Chapman said. "Those guys are going to have unbelievable careers. Just look at what they're doing as freshmen." \nThe team matched last year's finish with their fourth place team standing. Junior Bart Phariss finished 19th for the team, freshman Eric Redman finished 32nd and sophomore Tom Burns finished 37th. Chapman said before the race that the gap between the team's fourth and seventh runners should begin to narrow. This was true through four kilometers where juniors Jon Little and Nathan Purcell and freshman Stephen Haas ran with the team's number five runner, Burns. Chapman said that the move up to ten kilometer races should benefit the team in this aspect. \nLast year's fifth place finisher at nationals, Wisconsin, dominated the team competition Sunday finishing with all five scoring runners in the top ten. At one point of the race they had the top five runners. Wisconsin came into the meet ranked 11th. \nChapman said that the team did not cut back mileage for the meet as is customary for a meet such as Big Tens. They kept their mileage up in a gamble that they will be better prepared for Districts in two weeks and Nationals on Nov. 25.\n"We knew we ran the risk of giving up a spot or two here, but hopefully it will pay off later on," Chapman said. \nJohn Jefferson said that not cutting back mileage did not affect his race.\n"We've been steady with the mileage so this race felt just like any other race," he said. \nThe next race for the team will be back in West Lafayette for Districts on Nov. 16. If the team finishes in the top three as a team, they will automatically earn a spot in the NCAA Championship meet Nov. 25 at Terre Haute. However a good performance also gives them a chance at an at-large bid. \n"Our focus is on Nationals but first we've got to get in," Chapman said. "Hopefully it will work out but if not, then we?ll just move on to indoors. We'll come back in two weeks and see what happens." \nAt Districts the team will see the increase to the 10-kilometer race, which they expect to help them.\n"It will definitely be better for Bart (Phariss), who is more of a distance guy," Sean Jefferson said. "Also once our other guys cut their miles down, we'll be clicking for Districts"