The Illinois State mens cross country team, running with a wind chill of 17 degrees below zero, placed 29th at the NCAA Championship Meet Monday in Ames, Iowa.
Defending champion Arkansas took first place, followed by Colorado, Providence College and Stanford.
We had a solid meet, placing 29th in the country is nothing to be disappointed about, head coach Jeff Pigg said. It was a solid day, but not outstanding for us. When were running against the top teams in the country, an average day for us gets us 29th.
Senior Lars Juhl was the top Redbird finisher, coming in at 31:58.2 over the 10K course, good for 132nd. Mark Reed cross the line in 32:19.2 for 168th while Robert Breit and Peter Madsen finished 183 and 184, respectively.
Lars did a great job today, Pigg said. Rob ran his best race of the year. He really stepped up and did a good job for us.
Christian Goy, a sophomore from Germany, finished 191st while junior Kevin Bailey came in 243rd. Freshman Todd Quednau, who placed 252nd, lost his shoe in the first 100 meters of the race and ran the entire course with only one shoe.
Todd ran the entire race on frozen ground with only one shoe, Pigg added. To have him do that, even though it really tore up his foot, was very inspirational.
This season saw the Redbirds earn their first Missouri Valley Conference title since 1993 and an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship.
Im very proud of them and what they accomplished this year, said Pigg. We did a lot of exciting stuff and the guys did a great job. Any team that finishes in the top 30 in the countryhas nothing to feel bad about.
