Oct. 1, 1999
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ? The Purdue men?s cross country team took home 16th-place at the 1999 Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational on Friday, Oct. 1. The team competed in the top bracket (?Blue? bracket) which consisted of 23 teams, which was followed by an additional 17 teams competing in the ?Gold? bracket. The Boilers finished the day with a total of 377 points. Michigan and Georgetown both notched 81 points, which was good enough for the lead.
?I think that we competed well today against some very good competition,? head coach Mike Poehlein says. ?We faced off against some very talented young guys from Notre Dame, Michigan Georgetown and Idaho State. I think that we have gained a lot of experience from coming to a meet like this one.?
Again leading the Boilermakers for the fourth-consecutive meet was junior Donnie Fellows. The Mercer Island, Wash., native finished 13th in the 157-runner field, placing him in the top-15 in every meet this season. Fellows crossed the line in a time of 24:34.
The talented field of runners only allowed for one Purdue athlete to break the top-15 barrier, as junior Chris Boesch followed Fellows with a 77th-place finish, the second-highest finish for Purdue at this meet. Junior Tito Downer joined his classmate, finishing 14 spots behind him for a 91st-place finish. The Carmel, Ind., native ran the difficult course in 25:35.00.
Following the example of the upperclassmen, freshmen Robert Heise and Logan Wealing followed in 94th and 102nd place, respectively. Heise finished the race in 25:37, while Wealing crossed the line in 25:44.
Purdue will be back in action on Oct. 9, as the head to the University of Maine for the Keating Invitational.