The IUP women’s cross country team finished sixth out of 28 teams while the men were 14^th out of 24 squads at the Spiked Shoe Invitational held Saturday morning in State College.

The women had 241 points to finish as the highest ranked non-Division I team, trailing only Syracuse (64), Penn State (76), Maryland (79), Navy (132) and Connecticut (190).  They beat out teams from Division I Kent State, Army, West Virginia and Pittsburgh as well as PSAC rivals Kutztown (ninth), Bloomsburg (10^th) and Slippery Rock (11^th).

The men were fourth among Division II schools, finishing with 383 points, just behind East Stroudsburg (10^th), Slippery Rock (12^th) and Bloomsburg (13^th).  Syracuse also won the men’s race with 50 points.

Nicole Blaesser and Jorge Medina once again were the top individuals for IUP.  Blaesser was sixth overall and No. 1 among Division II runners with a time of 21:28 on the 6K course.  Her time was the fastest ever for an IUP woman at the meet, beating by six seconds Mindy Sawtelle’s time from a year ago.

Medina took a fifth place finish, covering the 8K distance in a time of 26:13.  Only Jeff Weiss of Slippery Rock in fourth place was ahead of Medina in the Division II portion of the meet. 

Behind Blaesser on the women’s side were Maureen Newell (48^th, 23:09), Stacie Stockard (67^th, 23:27), Erica Hoffman (68^th, 23:28) and Laura Blaesser (98^th, 23:55).

Medina was followed by Eric Kruttschnitt (59^th, 27:35), Nate Shelly (85^th, 28:29), Adam Shinsky (118^th, 29:08) and Bobby Boston (121^st, 29:19).

Both IUP teams return to State College in two weeks to compete in the Penn State Invitational.

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