Published: October 31, 2009 11:39 pm         

College Roundup: ISU outduels SIU for men’s MVC cross country title

Sycamores place five runners in top 10, win by one point

Peoria, Ill. — Indiana State and Southern Illinois’ close battles in men’s cross country continued Saturday in the 2009 Missouri Valley Championships.

The two-time defending champion Salukis were the near unanimous pick to win by the coaches led by the strong 1-2 punch of Mohamed Mohamed and Jeff Schirmer, who were expected to finish in the front.

Instead, the Sycamores got a little help from Illinois State’s Scott Krapf, who passed the SIU duo and won the race in 25:47 in sloppy competitions.

With some strong finishes, the Sycamores put a pack of four runners behind SIU’s duo to win the race 32-33 over SIU. The Sycamores won their first men’s titles since repeating in 2005 and 2006. SIU and ISU tied in 2004.

The ISU women’s team finished fourth after being picked sixth in the pre-championship poll.

In the men’s race, ISU’s fifth runner, Craig Padgett came in 10th, meaning all five ISU runners earned All-MVC honors. Padgett outkicked Southern Illinois’ Jason Ordway to the line to give ISU the team win.

Senior Eric Schulz led the Sycamores in fourth place, and Scott Keeney was fifth to secure his fourth All-MVC honor, the first ISU men’s runner to do so.

“The kids did a really great job today on one of the muddiest courses that I can remember us ever competing on for a conference championship,” McNichols said. “The team lead kept changing throughout the race and wasn’t decided until the final 400 meters.”

Schulz was happy to lead the Sycamores, who hope to perform well enough next week at the Great Lakes Regional to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships.

“We knew we had to cram as many being Mohamed and Schirmer as we could,” Schulz said. “To get five all-conference runners, you don’t see that very often. To do that was something special. To pull out the win was that much more special.”

In the women’s race, favored Wichita State pulled away for the easy win. ISU was fourth with 96 points, just three behind Bradley and 10 behind Illinois State. Allison Malone was All-MVC with her seventh-place finish.

“On the one hard it was a vast improvement for us,” John Gartland, Indiana State women’s cross country coach, said. “On the other hand, it was a very, very frustrating finish because we were just 10 points out of second and just three out of third. I really felt like we just missed a really big opportunity today.”

South Vermillion graduate Julia Costello was 15th for ISU, and Terre Haute North graduate Kayla Alexander was 19th.

• • •

In other cross country:

• Rose men place fourth at HCAC — At Cincinnati, Rose-Hulman’s men’s cross country team placed fourth in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships hosted by Mount St. Joseph on Saturday.

Junior Tyler Kreipke led the Engineer effort with all-conference honors and a sixth place finish. Kreipke ran a time of 26:58 for eight kilometers in the effort.

Manchester won the meet.

• Rose women third at HCAC — At Cincinnati, Rose-Hulman’s women’s cross country team placed a strong third at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships on Saturday.

Senior Melissa Rogers recorded a second-place finish in the meet and all-league recognition with a six-kilometer time of 23:46 to lead Rose-Hulman’s second-best league performance in school history.

Creasy Clauser was named HCAC Freshman of the Year and claimed all-conference honors after a fourth-place finish in the meet. Clauser ran a time of 24:06 to lead the league newcomers.

Manchester won the event.

Basketball

• ISU women play today — The Indiana State women’s basketball team plays today at 2 p.m. in Hulman Center in its first exhibition game. The Sycamores take on Division II Bellarmine.

Swimming

• Engineer men third, women second — At Bloomington, Ill., Rose-Hulman’s men finished third while the women placed second at the Illinois Wesleyan triangular swimming meet Saturday.

The men had two first-place efforts while finishing second four times and third three times.

The men were led by junior diver Michael Gerdov, who won the one-meter diving with a score of 254 and won the three-meter spot with a score of 270.

Freshman John Huster won first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:08.97.

On the women’s side, the women had three first place finishes.

The women were led by freshman Carley Shumate, who finished with a first place in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:25.18.

Senior Deborah Aleksa got a first place finish in the 1,000 freestyle, swimming the distance in 11:53.19.

Volleyball

• ISU loses to Aces — At Terre Haute, ISU’s volleyball team lost 3-0 to Evansville in a Missouri Valley Conference match.

Jodilynne Stoker had 10 kills to lead the Sycamores (6-21, 2-11), who lost 25-19, 25-17, 25-20.

n Rose hits 20-win mark — At Terre Haute, Rose-Hulman’s volleyball team split two matches Saturday as they defeated Illinois College but fell to conference foe Bluffton.

Today’s win marks the first time in school history an Engineer volleyball team has won 20 matches in a season.

In Saturday’s second match Rose-Hulman defeated Illinois College 25-14. 25-9, 25-16. The Engineers faced conference foe Bluffton to start the day, falling 21-25, 27-29, 25-27.

The volleyball team returns to action next Saturday for the first round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament as they will play at 2 p.m.

Soccer

• Engineers’ men complete perfect HCAC run — At Terre Haute, Rose-Hulman scored all four goals in the second half to earn a 4-0 men’s soccer victory over Mount St. Joseph to complete a perfect Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season on Saturday.

The Engineers will serve as the top seed for the HCAC Tournament beginning on Tuesday at 2 p.m. with a matchup against Hanover College.

Rose-Hulman senior Rhys Evans had two goals on nine shots. Senior Kyle Chmielewski and junior Joe Salisbury added second half goals for the Engineers.

Rose-Hulman improved to 12-5-1 on the season and 8-0 in the HCAC.

• Engineers’ women rally — At Terre Haute, Mount St. Joseph jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Rose-Hulman women’s soccer team rallied with three straight goals to help clinch the number one spot in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday.

The Engineers were led by junior Eli Baca who scored all three goals for the Engineers. .

With the win, Rose Hulman improved to 8-9 on the season and 7-1 in the HCAC. The win secured the matchup with Transylvania, while Mount St. Joseph travels to Hanover in the other tournament semifinal on Wednesday.