SPORTS

Indiana represented in NCAA cross-country

Star report

Saturday will go down as one of the most momentous days ever for cross-country in Indiana. Not only were the NCAA Championships run at Terre Haute, but:

• Northern Arizona sophomore Futsum Zienasellassie, a North Central High School graduate, finished fourth in the 10,000-meter men's race. He ran on the same grounds where he won three state titles.

• Butler was third in women's team standings. It represented the third-best NCAA finish in school history, behind runner-up finishes in men's basketball in 2010 and 2011.

• Indiana University was eighth in men's team standings, capping a storybook season in which coach Ron Helmer led the Hoosiers to the nationals after fighting cancer and kidney failure.

Oregon freshman Edward Cheserek upset favored Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech to win the men's race, clocking 29 minutes, 41.1 seconds over the soft, muddy course. The Kenyan-born Cheserek beat Zienasellassie in a high school nationals two years ago.

Colorado was the men's team champion with 149 points, edging Northern Arizona's 169. Defending champion Oklahoma State was third with 230.

Indiana, which came in ranked 20th, scored 304. It was the third top-10 finish in four years for the Hoosiers, who were seventh 2010 and 2011 for their best finishes since 1977. Notre Dame was 23rd.

Zienasellassie, who was eighth through 8K, clocked 30:05.7, 6 seconds behind Kinutha.

Also finishing in the top 40 were Louisville's Tyler Byrne (North Harrison), 29th; Indiana State sophomore John Mascari (Terre Haute North), 32nd; Notre Dame's Martin Grady, 35th, and Purdue's Matt McClintock, 37th. Butler's Tom Curr was 41st.

The Hoosiers' top two were Evan Esselink, 45th, and Jason Crist (Franklin Central), 48th. Their top four were separated by just 18 seconds.

Dartmouth's Abbey D'Agostino, after running third and second the past two years, won the women's 6,000 meters in 20:00.3.

Providence won the women's title with 141 points, followed by Arizona, 197, and Butler, 200. Michigan was fourth with 215. Indiana was 26th and Notre Dame 29th.

Butler had no runners in the top 25 but featured a tightly packed 15-25-45-52-63 finish (with individual runners displaced). The Butler women, who were also third in the Big East and Great Lakes Regional, had never finished higher than 25th in the NCAAs. Butler's men were fourth in 2004.

Mara Olson was Butler's top finisher, 26th in 20:37.7. Katie Clark was 41st, Olivia Pratt 65th, Kirsty Legg 73rd and freshman Lauren Wood 88th.