Cross country teams sweep Indiana Intercollegiate

The IU men’s and women’s cross country teams dominated Friday at the Indiana Intercollegiate in West Lafayette.

In the women’s race, junior Chelsea Blanchard and sophomore Samantha Ginther finished first and second, respectively, and five Hoosiers total finished in the top 10 despite senior Sarah Pease not competing.

“Chelsea and Samantha dominated out there,” IU coach Ron Helmer said. “As long as we stay healthy, our team is deep and we showed that by finishing five of the girls in the top 10.”

The men matched the one-two finish of the women as junior Ben Hubers and sophomore Zach Mayhew took the top two spots, both finishing more than 10 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Hubers also won the Indiana Open last weekend.

“The men’s race ended up being closer than the women’s race as we tried to rest some of our runners, but in both races we accomplished what we wanted to,” Helmer said.

Three of the team’s All-Americans, sophomores Andrew Poore and De’Sean Turner and freshman Andy Bayer, did not compete in the race, a move Helmer said was meant to help keep the runner’s legs fresh.

Although the Intercollegiate is considered just a stepping stone for the rest of the season, Helmer said the familiarity of athletes and schools added some spice to the competition.

“There’s a certain pride issue in meets like this because some of these kids have been running against each other throughout their lives,” Helmer said. “When you are running against some of your old high school rivals, there’s that extra little bit of desire to go out there and do a great job. The last thing you want to do is go out there and lose to someone that you always used to beat, so there’s a lot of little things going on out there.”