COLLEGE

College cross country: Area runners boost IUPUI

Tim Creason
Tribune Correspondent

SOUTH BEND -- Slowly, but surely, there is a transformation taking place with the men's cross country program at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

No longer are the Jaguars a doormat. Not in the state of Indiana, not in the Summit League, not in the Great Lakes region.

In fact, since former South Bend St. Joseph standout Joey Zielinski, former Mishawaka star Miguel Lozano, and former LaPorte leader Mitch Hubner arrived on campus, IUPUI has become one of those teams that other teams worry about.

They showed their stuff Friday, finishing fifth in the gold division race at the 58th annual Notre Dame cross country invitational. Zielinski led the way, clocking 25:40.7 on a hot and steamy 8,000 meter course at Burke Golf Course. He finished fifth among individuals.

Lozano was IUPUI's No. 2 finisher, taking 29th in 26:16.8. Hubner, who didn't have his best day, was 109th in 27:30.4.

There were 23 teams and 192 finishers in the men's gold division.

This week, the Jaguars showed up in the US coaches association regional rankings for the first time … ever. IUPUI is ranked No. 10 in the Great Lakes Region.

"It's the first time we've ever been ranked,'' points out Jaguar coach Chuck Koeppen. "The whole athletic department was abuzz.''

Zielinski was in contention to win Friday's race until hitting the wall with a mile to go. “I was just hanging on at the end,” he said.

Zielinski said this week's ranking -- a baby step it may be -- has fueled a newfound pride among the Jaguar runners.

"It's huge,'' Zielinski said. "Cross country is a team sport. It's great to hear things like that.''

"We're still a young team,'' says Koeppen. "Most of our guys are freshmen and sophomores. That class with Joey and Miguel and Mitch is a tremendous class.''

ND women 6th, men are 7th

It may have been their own invitational, but Notre Dame coaches Joe Piane and Tim Connelly were glad to get this meet over with.

"The thing is, we're really good,'' said Piane, the men's coach. "We just didn't show it today.''

The Irish men finished seventh, while Notre Dames women were sixth, in a blue division field that included lots of nationally-ranked teams.

Columbia's men proved to be far better than their No. 30 ranking, winning the team title with 113 points. No. 7 Tulsa was runner-up with 124. No. 22 Notre Dame scored 236.

Jeremy Rae, a senior, stuck with the lead pack throughout the 8,000-meter men's race and came home fifth to lead the Irish. He clocked 24:33.9. Anthony Rotich of UTEP won the race in 24:18.6.

Martin Grady was 32nd and JP Malette 59th for Notre Dame.

No. 2-ranked Florida State held off No. 15 New Mexico, 77-82, for the blue division women's title.

No. 19 Notre Dame scored 205.

Duke senior Juliet Bottorff clocked 16:43.8 over 5,000-meters for an easy blue division victory. Notre Dame's lead runner, Kelly Curran, was ninth in 17:18.3.

Alexa Aragon fell during the race but got up and worked her way up to 16th in 17:29.5. Emily Frydrych was 47th for the Irish.

"We just didn't get out fast enough'' said women's coach Connelly.

BLUE MEN

Top 10 team scores: Columbia 113, Tulsa 124, Princeton 147, Minnesota 155, Colorado State 189, New Mexico 202, Notre Dame 236, Virginia 279, Southern Utah 283, Florida State 309.

Top 10 finishers: 1, Anthony Rotich (UTEP) 24:18.6. 2, Luke Caldwell (New Mexico) 24:22.3. 3, Matt McClintock (Purdue) 24:26.5. 4, John Simons (Minnesota) 24:31.7. 5, Jeremy Rae (Notre Dame) 24:33.9. 6, Jannis Topfer (Illinois) 24:36.1. 7, Marc Scott (Tulsa) 24:38.1. 8, Chris O'Hare (Tulsa) 24:38.7. 9, Tyler Udland (Princeton) 24:39.2. 10, Cosmas Boit (UTEP) 24:40.0.

Other Notre Dame: 32, Martin Grady 25:02.3 … 59, J.P. Malette 25:24.4 … 63, Walter Schafer 25:25.8 … 77, Patrick Lesiewicz 25:34.3 .. 81, Jake Kildoo 25:38.0 … 90, Michael Clevenger 25:41.9.

BLUE WOMEN

Top 10 teams: Florida State 77, New Mexico 82, San Francisco 96, BYU 187, Princeton 201, Notre Dame 205, Bradley 269, Southern Methodist 274, Lamar 305, Duke 314,

Top 10 finishers: 1, Juliet Bottorff (Duke) 16:43.8. 2, Colleen Quigley (Florida St) 16:52.2. 3, Samantha Silva (New Mexico) 4, Hannah Walker (Florida St) 17:05.2. 5, Leigh Lattimore (Lamar) 17:10.2. 6, Samantha Hamilton (Youngstown St) 17:12.9. 7, Bridget Dahlberg (San Francisco) 17:14.3. 8, Eva Krchova (San Francisco) 17:16.0. 9, Kelly Curran (Notre Dame) 17:18.3. 10, Charlotte Arter (New Mexico) 17:18.7.

Other Notre Dame: 16, Alexa Aragon 17:29.5 … 47, Emily Frydrych 17:56.0 … 54, Gabby Gonzales 17:59.4 … 79, Sydni Meunier 18:20.2 … 120, Gabrielle Thivierge 18:41.8 … 154, Danielle Aragon 19:02.9.

GOLD MEN

Top 10 teams: Grand Valley State 40, North Central (Illinois) 78, Windsor (Ontario) 108, Cenral Michigan 124, IUPUI 150, Eastern Illinois 222, Ohio University 229, Clemson 241, Oakland 247, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 269

Top 10 finishers: 1, John Crain (North Central) 25:15.3. 2, Alan Peterson (Grand Valley) 25:35.7. 3, Ethan Lievense (Central Michigan) 25:36.8. 4, Josh Moskalewski (Grand Valley) 25:38.5. 5, Joey Zielinski (IUPUI) 25:40.7. 6, Eric Delco (Bradley) 25:43.8. 7, Paul Janikowski (Windsor) 25:45.0. 8, Nate Ghena (Central Michigan) 25:49.1. 9, Brent Showerman (Grand Valley) 25:50.7. 10, Nick Falk (Windsor) 25:52.0.

GOLD WOMEN

Top 10 teams: Southern Illinois 52, Grand Valley State 63, Loyola (Illinois) 121, Central Michigan 126, Clemson 222, Belmont 246, Calvin College 269, Hillsdale 278, Texas-Arlington 285, Pittsburgh 306.

Top 10 finishers: 1, Courtney Frerichs (UMKC) 17:18.2. 2, Victoria Voronko (Eastern Michigan) 17:21.9. 3, Sadie Darnell (So Illinois) 17:33.3. 4, Kristen Levi (So Illinois) 17:41.0. 5, Jessica Janecke (Grand Valley) 17:42.5. 6, Megan Janezic (Loyola, Ill.) 17:43.9. 7, Krista Parks (Central Michigan) 17:45.4. 8, Tess Ehrhardt (Illinois-Chicago) 17:47.9. 9, Courtney Brewis (Grand Valley) 17:48.6. 10, Kelly Gallagher (So Illinois) 17:50.5.