By: Cam Sassano
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The men’s and women's cross country teams kicked off their season on a hot Friday morning at the Sam Bell Invitational with an incredible start to the season, taking first and second place in both the men's and women's races.
The story of the meet was none other than Indiana’s own Katy Zang. The freshman’s first meet as a Hoosier was one to remember, setting the course record in the 4k with a time of 12:36.2. Zang’s time was nearly a minute faster than the competition. The women's team continued its domination at the Sam Bell as Indiana locked down 5 of the top 7 spots with third and fourth-place finishes from Maddie Rocchio (13:46.1) and Lily Myers (13:48.9). Rounding out Indiana’s top five finishers were freshman Jasmine Martoglio (14:01.5), finishing 6th, and Louisville transfer Lucinda Rourke (14:05.0), securing the 7th spot for Indiana.
Not much changed on the men’s side as the Hoosiers took 4 of the top 7 spots led by a fourth place performance from Tony Provenzano (18:19.3). Indiana picked up fourth, fifth, and sixth place finishes from Dominic Ellis (18:23.3), Alex Bruns (18:26.5), and Liam Bauschke (18:28.3). Closing out the men’s top five finishers was Ahmend Saleh (18:44.3) grabbing the 12th spot.
Coach Eric Hains was very pleased with Katy Zang’s performance, saying, “Obviously, when you look at the women's side, Katy, you know, setting that course record, probably running more than a minute faster than anybody else has run on this course before. You know, she's had a great senior year into her summertime, and so that was a huge highlight for us.”
Although coming off a big win, Coach Hain’s still has high expectations for this team and expects big things this year, saying, “Our expectation is to be relevant in every competition we're in, and so we want to go and compete. You know, wherever we're at, we want to be finishing the upper third of that race. You know, the Big 10, the regional meet. We've got a couple of really big races where lots of teams are going to be there, and so we just want to be able to compete in those large environments.”
UP NEXT
The Hoosiers will have 2 weeks to recover and prepare for their next meet, the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute on September 19th.
