State of the Cyclones: Reviewing men’s and women’s cross country

Hey folks, welcome to our most recent installment of this summer’s ongoing series, State of the Cyclones. This week we’ll be doing a combined feature on men’s and women’s cross country.

This season seems to have gone relatively well for our Cyclone runners; the men finished in the top 3 three times while the women went top 3 four times, including their fourth straight regional final.  The women would go on to finish 13th at the NCAA championship in November.

As far as specific results go, the men placed all five scorers in the top 8 in the season opening Bulldog Classic among other strong finishes overall.  The women’s Crystal Nelson finished first at the same Bulldog Classic, second at the Big 12 Championship, first at the NCAA Midwest Regional as part of the overall victory, and capped it all off by finishing 32nd at the NCAA Championships to earn All-American status.

Nelson in particular is only a soon-to-be junior, so the ceiling looks very high for her and the women’s team.  The men have a very even spread regarding the experience, which could mean the same thing moving forward.

My experience with Cross Country is almost none, but the results gleaned from the sport’s athletic site give me reason to think that Iowa State is well-poised to continue a run of good years.  Remember, this was the same program that produced Olympic distance runner Lisa Uhl.  Any fans not particularly invested in the team should show some love to a program that is taking the Iowa State name all over the country and world.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s entry into our series.  We are getting closer to the fall season and we only have a few more sports to go.  Stay tuned to Clones Confidential for more Cyclone breakdowns.