Collette Liss, Priscilla Hein, & Suzanne Castruita at the start of the women's race. Hein & Liss at the finish line Men's Runner-up Kyle Baker (left) & Todd Moroney (right) Judy Porter & Stephanie Dueringer

NOVEMBER 27, 2000

(INDIANAPOLIS)-- The Indiana Invaders second appearance as a team at the 2000 USA Fall Cross Country Championships on November 25th in Boston, Mass. produced notable improvements for the 2 year old club.

The men's squad, led by Kyle Baker's 2nd place finish, showed the biggest improvement from an eighth place finish in 1999 to fifth in 2000. While the women's team, led by the strong duo of Collette Liss and Priscilla Hein (4th & 5th), took second place for the second consecutive year.

The Wisconsin Runner Racing Team (1,6,8,13,32 = 60 pts.) won the men's championship race in the narrowest of victories over the Hanson's Running Shop (3,9,10,16,23 = 61 pts), the Farm Team (4,19,22,26,27 = 98 pts) finished third followed by Reebok Boston (17,28,34,40,43 = 162 pts) in fourth, and the Indiana Invaders (2,5,14,18,141 = 180) rounding out the top 5 teams in the field of 27. The Invaders' 180 points total came from the respective team finishes of Kyle Baker, Rick Sluder, Gareth Wilford, Todd Moroney, & Joe Parks.

Matthew Downin of the Wisconsin Runner Racing Team was the individual national champion over the 9855 meter course in a winning time of 29:01 over Baker's 29:05 and Chad Johnson's 29:06.

The Boston Athletic Association (5,15,20,21,29 = 90 pts.) won the women's race thirteen points ahead of the Indiana Invaders (2, 3, 23, 31, 44 = 103 pts.) Rounding out the top 5 teams in the field of the country's top 15 teams was Fila Track West (7,17,18,37,38 = 117 pts.) in third, Reebok Boston (4,10,19,41,54 = 128 pts.) was fourth and Greater Lowell Road Runners (1,24,32,34,51 = 142 pts.) in 5th. The Invaders' 103 points total came from the respective team finishes of Collette Liss, Priscilla Hein, Suzanne Castruita, Judy Porter, and Stephanie Dueringer. Hope Sanders also made her post-collegiate cross country debut as the Invaders 6th runner with a 47th place finish in the team scoring.

Kim Fitchen of NIKE International was the individual national champion over the 6017 meter course in a winning time of 20:04 over Carrie Tollefson's 20:17 and Sarah Hann's 20:20.

The Invaders saw strong improvement in both team and individual performances in their second year of team competition at the USA Fall Cross Country Championships. "In the last 12 months, we are most excited about our men's team clearly taking a major step toward the level of performance that we expect from our teams. In the team scoring, Baker improved 12 places from 1999, Wilford 8 places, and Moroney 19 places, plus in Rick Sluder one year out of college, we really saw the makings of a championship team emerging. ", said Head Coach Chris Buhler. He added, "In Kyle Baker, we knew we had added a national caliber front runner to our team and in Rick Sluder we've discovered a late bloomer who really set the field straight with the Invaders' mentality on racing by forcing the pace throughout the first half of the race. We are very pleased with our prospects for strengthening our 5 through 8 runners, both men & women, and contesting for the national titles in 2001.

Full meet results are available at:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/00/ma/Nov25_USAFal_set1.asp

For further information on the Indiana Invaders, please contact Greg Harger at (email) or online at: http://www.indianainvaders.com/athletes/