Oct. 31, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

Big Sky Conference Championship Results

Greeley, Colo. - The Idaho State men's cross country team finished exactly where it was predicted to in the pre-season poll with a seventh-place finish at the Big Sky Conference Championship in Greeley, Colo., Saturday.

Senior John Ricardi, returning to action after missing the last two competitions, led the Bengals with a 28th-place finish in a time of 27:03.3. Ricardi, interning as a civil engineer for Idaho Roads, played an integral part in getting his team to the competition this weekend as both Idaho State and Weber State were held up in Laramie, Wyo., with bad roads. While the roads were officially closed, Ricardi and Idaho Roads were able to plead their case to their Wyoming counterparts to allow the buses, deemed "heavy enough" by the police, to resume their journey to Greeley.

"It took us 50 hours to get there," ISU Head Coach Brian Janssen said. "It was a difficult situation sitting on the bus and in the hotel lobby. We were eating whatever we could get at grocery stores like deli sandwiches and trying to make the best of the situation."

Coming in second for the Bengals and 33rd overall was sophomore Keane Shuler with a time of 27:23.2. Following Shuler for 34th place was junior Zac Barrett with a time of 27:32.3.

Rounding out the top five for Idaho State were junior Mike Tucker and freshman Bryce Jenkins finishing 43rd and 45th respectively. Tucker ran the 8K course at the Boomerang Golf Course in 28 minutes, 6.6 seconds while Jenkins followed with a time of 28:14.5.

"I think we struggled a little bit on both sides," Janssen said. "We came into this season with a lot of optimism, but we just weren't able to put the pieces together. The trip down here didn't go very smoothly either. I think that we are a better team than what our finishes show, but there have been just too many things such as illness and weather, that have plagued us and that are out of our control. For example, Gemma Maini has a dislocated rib and Josh (Wageman) is sick. It's just been one of those things where we were hoping for big things, but every time we turned around there was another obstacle in our way."

The Bengals finished the championship race with 176 points, just six points behind sixth-place Sacramento State (170). Northern Arizona won the event with 19 points behind first, second and third-place finishes by juniors David McNeill, Jordan Chipangam and Ben Ashkettle respectively. McNeil finished the course in a time of 24:35.8. Montana State finished second with 68 points while Montana finished third with 76. Weber State finished fourth with 91 and Eastern Washington placed fifth with 144. Portland State and Northern Colorado rounded out the Big Sky competition with PSU earning eighth place (226) and the Bears finishing ninth (273).

The is the second straight seventh-place Big Sky finish for Idaho State, as they defeated Portland State and Northern Colorado in last year's contest. The Bengals will compete again at the NCAA Regional, Saturday, Nov. 14, in Albuquerque, N.M.