The heat and hills were obstacles for the Cyclones' first 8K of the season, but they stuck together for an eighth place finish at the Spartan Classic at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course in Geneva, IL.

Although the men's race started an hour after the women, the sun was unrelenting. These were not the fastest times, but Head Coach Dimitri Dimizas notes that cross country is about placing, which the Cyclones did a good job of today.

"The plan was to go out in a controlled effort the first mile and then push the rest of the way. Andrew looked good early and kept his pacing the whole way through. We asked the rest of them to pack together at the start and then start passing people. They did a good job with that. However, there's still a lot of work to do if we want to have a chance at a championship," Dimizas said.

Andrew Sima led the Cyclones, crossing the finish line in 28:55.50 for 40th place out of 115 runners from four-year universities and some community colleges. Joel Vargas-Cortes was next (72nd, 31:22.40) followed by Demario Angarita (81st, 31:48.20), Noah Rigoni-Kreczmer (88th, 32:34.50), Brennan Rudolph (92nd, 33:19), Jacob Madera (94th, 33:31.40), Robert Slezak (101st, 35:37.20), Jesse Correa (106th, 37:51.20) and Josue Trujillo (110th, 39:52.80).

Next week's race at the Gil Dodds Invite in Warrenville should bring some fast times while giving the team another opportunity to practice racing together.