Sept. 17, 2004
Women's Results: Overall | Division 1 | Division 2 | Open
Men's Results: Overall | Division 1 | Division 2 | Open
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In the strange scoring that accompanies the Indiana Intercollegiates, the Purdue women's cross country team captured the overall crown but finished second in the large school division standings. The Boilermaker men placed fourth in both the overall and large school standings.
The Indiana Intercollegiates is divided into small school and large school divisions, with standings for both divisions and overall standings (all runners regardless of division) being calculated.
In the overall women's 5K, the Boilermakers out-kicked rival Indiana for a first-place finish. Purdue scored 50 points in the overall race while the Hoosiers accumulated 57. However, once the small school division was removed from the overall standings, Indiana edged the Boilermakers by one point, 45 to 46.
"I am very pleased with the race the women ran today," head coach Jack Warner said. "Lindsay (Zinn) ran a great race; all the girls ran great. Knocking off IU in the overall shows what this team can go, and it gives us something to build on."
Zinn, the 2001 Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten, finished fourth in the overall women's standings with a time of 17:58. That is the junior's best time in a 5K event since her stellar freshman season.
Seniors Amber Ferner and Kara Lahey each finished in the top 10 with sixth- and ninth-place showings, respectively. Ferner posted a time of 18:14 while Lahey ran the 5K circuit in 18:28, out-kicking IPFW's Ashley Ritchey across the line.
"We ran really well as a team this afternoon," Lahey said. "We were able to run as a team, and because we did that we were able to win as a team."
Sophomore Rachel Kroll finished 15th with a time of 18:59 and junior Corrie Whisner completed the Purdue scorers with a 16th-place 19:03. Juniors Laura Farley and Kaleena Cappel also ran sub-19:30 races, with Farley pacing a 19:15 (23rd) and Cappel circling the course in 19:21 (26th).
In the men's 8K event, Purdue scored 133 points to finish fourth in the team standings behind Indiana (1st, 20), Indiana State (2nd, 59) and DePauw (3rd, 126).
"The guys have a long way to go to be where I would like them," Warner said. "They ran more as a team today, but need to get the fifth, sixth and seventh guys up in the pack. Individually, Justin Stadt and Justin Gauthier ran solid races for us today."
Stadt and Gauthier finished one second apart for 18th and 19th places, respectively. Stadt's race of 26:47 was 16 seconds better than his time one week earlier in Terre Haute at the Indiana State Invitational. Gauthier's time of 26:48 was a 22-second improvement on last week's showing.
For the second consecutive week, the top four runners for the Purdue men were freshman as Eric Hammond and Zach Wilder joined Stadt and Gauthier in the lead pack. Wilder placed 24th with a clock of Hammond, running his first collegiate 8K race, finished 27th with a 27:03 time. The fifth scoring Boilermaker runner was Joshua Robinson's 56th-place 27:50.
The Purdue harriers have a week off before traveling north to South Bend for the Adidas Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, Oct. 1.