Indiana Invaders Second at USA National Club Championships

December 15, 2002

(INDIANAPOLIS) Stephanie Dueringer led the Indiana Invaders to second place with her 5th place team finish at the Fall USA National Cross Country Championships in Rocklin, California on the campus of Sierra College on December 14th. One point separated the Invaders from third place Boston Athletic Association, 87-88. The NIKE Farm Team captured top honors in the women's race with a total of 28 points.

In team scoring, Dueringer was fifth, Keisha Banks took seventh, Susie Motl was 18th, Mary Duerbeck was 19th, Leah Nilsson was 38th, and Kim Lorenz was 59th.

Coach Greg Harger said, "With a totally revamped line-up from last year, the women ran their race and showed the makings of things to come for this team. All things considered, we have to be very proud of this rebuilding year effort where we were able to finish second. Every athlete on the roster made major contributions to todays performance." Harger added, "One of the elements that I'm most proud of for this team is their understanding of our emerging team history. We have finished no worse than 2nd at the national championships in our 4 years and we have a great competitive rivalry that has emerged between 3 teams if you look at the last 5 National Championships. This years champions, the NIKE Farm Team won in 1999 and were runners-up in 2001 and 3rd in 1998 while the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) team won in 1998 & 2000 while finishing 3rd this year. We have just one team title and each of them hold two titles from the last 5 years championships. Our average team finish is better over the last 5 years but averaging 2nd is not the goal and that fuels our drive for 2003. We will take up the challenge of trying to be the first of these three teams to win out of our geographic territory as the Farm Team's title came in the two west coast championships and the BAA won the two east coast championships with our championship coming in the only non-coast championship in the last 5 years. Next year we are headed back east so we will have to be prepared to overcome the recent geographic trend and a very strong defending national champion team which will also be up for the challenge of being the first team to successfully defend their title in recent times."

In the men's competition, the Invaders led by Geoff Fleming in 8th overall captured seventh place as a team. In team scoring, Fleming took 8th, Donnie Fellows finished in 27th, Gareth Wilford was 39th, Jason Bialka took 54th, Todd Moroney was in 84th, and Rick Sluder finished 116th. Hansons Running Shop dominated the men's race with 35 points over the runner-up NIKE Farm Team's 57 points.

"The men's team score did not reflect their progress from last year's team. In the men's team competition we do not yet have the depth needed to handle the unforeseen loss of a top performance like we had in this race. In great competition settings like this when you have a top runner not score you go from a top 5 team to second tier. Unlike the recent past, we now have a core group of men that know that they can compete as a team in the top 5 and now we will use that knowledge in preparation for the 2003 contest so that we might prove ourselves against the top teams," said Harger.

Harger also commented, "Meet Director John Rubio, his staff, the local officials, and volunteers did a great job with the entire event. They put on quite a show despite extremely challenging weather conditions. It's an honor for our athletes to compete in front of such an appreciative audience."

Fall USA National Cross Country Championships http://www.venuesports1.com

History of the Championship: http://www.venuesports1.com/xcnatls/history.html

For additional information on the Indiana Invaders, please contact Greg Harger at 317 289-4018 or online at: ([email protected]) http://www.indianainvaders.com

Coaches and Race Directors:
E-Mail us Your Press Releases!!

Send to [email protected]