November 21, 2006
(INDIANAPOLIS) The Indiana Invaders' Julia Rudd won the women's 6K title at the Genesee Valley Cross Country Invitational while the Indiana Invaders men's team posted a team title on November 19, 2006.

Rudd, a multi-time All-American from UW-La Crosse, had a comfortable winning time of 22:03 in a very muddy tactical race over the Genesee Valley Park course winning by nearly 40 seconds.

In the men's race, the Invaders had eight finishers in the Top 20 and five runners in the Top 10 scoring athletes for a winning score of 25 points. The Invaders were led by Hunter Spencer taking second overall as the first scoring athlete in the 8K race. Spencer was joined in the Top 10 scoring athletes by Ted Turner (3rd), John Poray (4th), Caleb Bailey (7th), Aklilu "Aki" Wondifraw (10th) followed very closely by new team member Jesse Davis in 11th.

Coach Greg Harger said, "The race conditions were classic old school cross country with the week of rain leading up to race day and then on race day the mix of light rain, sleet and a few snow flakes. This was a good end of fall base training with a team outing for the men where times are completely irrelevant and the focus is on mental competition in frustrating and challenging conditions. From a coaching standpoint we could profit from a few more races like this as you learn so much under these conditions. Everyone profited from this outing today." Harger added, "Rudd managed her race in the context of her early training with us and the challenging conditions with precision and controlled confidence. She is showing encouraging training responses that bode well of the coming years. Spencer ran a very disciplined, conservative race early working with several of his teammates ensuring the pack stayed together and worked together getting around and through the many and varied hazards the course presented. The coach's team game plan likely cost him the win but he knows we are all training for much bigger race days on the track in 2007. These guys, with half of them being middle distance track athletes, really took some pride and competed very well as a team whether they were having a good day or not. I was especially pleased with the manner in which those out of the scoring mix finished out their race on this day."

The Indiana Invaders, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998, presents an innovative approach to track & field by providing a resident-based, athlete-centered support system unique to the sport in the United States.