Women’s Cross finishes 15th at Regional

The Sycamore women's cross country team reached their goal of finishing 15th of the 33 teams at the NCAA Division I Great Lakes Regional Championship Saturday in Toledo, Ohio.

The women were not ranked in the top 15 entering the meet, and defeated highly competitive teams such as Xavier, Marquette, and Western Michigan. This year's finish ties for the third best performance at a regional meet since moving to the Great Lakes Regional in 1997.

Senior Kacie Klem led the 6K race for the Sycamores with a time of 21:41.7, breaking her previous personal best of 22:21 set in 2008. Her performance was the fourth best in ISU school history. Klem finished 46th of the 277 total runners.

"Kacie finished her career on a really high note," head coach John Gartland said. "And for Jessica, it's her first time under 22 minutes. So upfront, they really led us well."

Gartland said that Klem's outstanding fitness this year benefitted her race.

"Despite the longer distance, she was just so much more fit and strong that she was able to carry through the race," he said.

Also running and establishing Sycamore career bests were sophomore Jessica Zangmeister, 52nd in 21:50; junior Andrea Prusz, 91st in 22:26; freshman Nicole Lucas, 112th in 22:44; senior Kristy Twitchell, 121 in 22:55, and sophomore Kalli Dalton, 162nd in 23:39. The top five finishers for the Sycamores joined ISU's top-20 all time list.

Prusz encountered a malfunction, losing her shoe approximately 1000 meters into the race. Without her completion of the race, the women wouldn't have reigned to the top 15 in the region.

"Andrea really saved the day for us with a courageous effort. It helped it was a golf course, but still, 3 miles without a shoe. That was impressive," Gartland said.  

Despite Gartland's absence from the meet due to an illness, he was highly communicative and knew the results faster than if he had been at the meet. With technological assistance, he was able to congratulate the women on their finish and personal triumphs with texts, he said. This was the first cross country meet he had missed in 24 years.

"I am so proud and pleased of the team," Gartland said. "Rather than the sour taste of a really disappointing meet two weeks ago, we ended on a really positive note."

Terre Haute will be hosting 31 teams that qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championship. The men's race will begin at approximately 12:08 p.m. followed by the women's race at approximately 12:58 p.m. (ET) on Monday at the LaVern Gibson Champion Cross Country Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.