Tough conditions in South Bend

Staff Report | Posted: Sunday, October 2, 2011 11:42 pm

The Eastern men's and women's cross country teams competed Friday at the Notre Dame Gold Division Invite in South Bend, Ind.

Despite low temperatures in the 40s with winds blowing at 20-30 mph, and top gusts reaching 40 mph and above, and an extremely wet course due to severe rain in the area over the past week, the Panthers came out in the top 10.

The women placed sixth overall against 20 teams.

Grand Valley State won the meet with 40 points, followed by Northwestern with 56 points, Central Michigan University with 61 points, Indiana State with 173 points and Bradley University with 219 points.

The top finisher for the Panther women's team was red-shirt junior Olivia Klaus for the third straight meet.

Klaus placed 28th out of 170 total runners in the 5K course with a time of 18:31.

Other scoring finishers for the Panther women include Erika Ramos in 41st with a time of 18:48, Britney Whitehead in 51st, Megan Gingerich in 53rd and Caitlin Napoleoni in 65th.

The Panther men placed eighth overall against 20 teams.

The top finisher for the Panther men was red-shirt senior Brad LaRocque for the third meet straight. LaRocque placed 30th out of 165 total runners on the 8K course with a time of 25:50.

Other scoring finishers for the Panther men include Danny Delaney in 52nd with a time of 26:08, Bryce Basting in 56th, Graham Morris in 71st and Matt Feldhake in 73rd.

The Panther men and women will return to action in two weeks for the Bradley Classic in Peoria.