Men 4th, women 17th at Great Lakes Regional

Jordan Kyle is headed back to Nationals for the second year in a row, but it is unclear if the rest of his team will follow him.\nBy placing fifth in the Great Lakes Regional competition Saturday in Bloomington, Kyle earned an automatic bid to compete in the championships.\n“I thought (Saturday) went really well,” Kyle said. “It is a challenging course, but I put myself out there to stick with the front pack.” \nAs a team, the IU men placed fourth and were right on the bubble as to whether they would earn an at-large bid to Nationals.\nIU coach Ron Helmer said he was proud of his team, but was not optimistic that the Hoosiers would get a berth.\n“The team did everything we wanted them to,” Helmer said. “This was not the result we wanted, and we were too slow to come on (as a team).”\nThe rest of the Hoosier team saw four other runners place in the top 34 in a competition that had 203 competitors.\nPatrick Smyth of Notre Dame won the race as an individual, while Wisconsin and Michigan placed in the top two to earn automatic bids to Nationals. \nThe women’s cross country team has a clear fate after placing 17th in the meet, a finish low enough to end its season. Sophomore Sarah Pease, who had aspirations to run as an individual, will not get the chance after placing 27th.\n“I felt I ran a pretty good race, but I needed to finish higher and be All-Region (to get an invite to Nationals),” she said.\nHelmer said the women’s team needed more runners to be competitive.\n“This is a young team, and if we find more people to run, we’ll be better next year,” Helmer said.\nMichigan and Michigan State earned automatic bids to Nationals and Nicole Edwards of Michigan took home the individual title. \nThe NCAA Championships will take place Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.