Running to the top

Making its first trip back to the LaVern Gibson Championship course in Terre Haute since its 14th place finish at the 2002 NCAA Championship meet, the IU women's cross country team put its No. 18 ranking on the line. The men's team also competed Friday, taking the first five spots Friday at the Indiana Intercollegiate Meet.\nThe women placed four runners in the top 10 en route to scoring 36 points to give the Hoosiers the team title over defending champion Purdue, who scored 67 points.\nSenior Audrey Giesler, for the first time in her collegiate career, took home top individual honors by placing first with a five-kilometer time of 17:47, edging second--place finisher senior Jessica Crowder from Indiana State. Giesler said she was excited for the team since it was the first time it won the Indiana Intercollegiates since 1988.\n"It's kind of a low-key meet for us, but it's a good way to get the season going," Giesler said. "If we are ranked 18th, we should come in here and expect to win."\nGoing into the race, Coach Judy Wilson said one of the strategies was to get Giesler, junior Mindy Peterson and sophomore Lindsay Hattendorf to run together. But she said that didn't work out as well as she had planned.\n"I probably should have said 'Let's let the first Ball State girl lead and tuck in behind her' and then they wouldn't have gone out so fast," Wilson said. "Because it really hurt Lindsay. It just took her out too fast, and she paid for it in the last couple (kilometers)."\nComing back from a season off, seniors Chris Powers and Chad Andrews of the men's team crossed the finish line together at their Friday meet along with sophomore Sean Jefferson in a three--way tie for first place.\nSophomores Eric Redman and Stephen Haas were next for the Hoosiers placing fourth and fifth, respectively. The Hoosiers also took seven out of the first 10 spots.\nCoach Robert Chapman said he was pleased with his team's effort.\n"We wanted it to be a control tempo effort the first 4 or 5K, so we ran in a pack," Chapman said in a statement. "This is neat for the team, and even though we finished well, we're not as race sharp as we would like to be to compete at the level we want. Hopefully, we'll get that over the next few weeks."\nThe women's team next heads to the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis. The men have this week off before they go back to Terre Haute in two weeks to compete in the ISU Invitational.\nStaff writer Alex Witteveld contributed to this story.\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.