He may not be in the record books, but he has been a big part of ISU men’s cross country.

Jayden Russ competed in his final race in last week’s NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Russ, a senior from Brisbane, Australia, took 118th in the race, good for second place on the team.

After not being in Iowa State’s top seven last season, Russ earned a spot there this season. More importantly, said coach Corey Ihmels, he made his mark on the team by providing the senior leadership.

“He’s been consistent all fall athletically, but I think more than anything with him is just his leadership,” Ihmels said. “He came in early in the fall, and I think a little bit of it is he knew it was his last year, and he made the most of it.”

Despite the team finishing in a tie for last place at Nationals, Russ said getting to be a part of the first team in 10 years to make it to that point was something he was happy to be a part of. The program is headed in the right direction, he said.

“Even though it didn’t go the way I wanted, I’m happy that in my last season we did have a good year. And it was a good year, the program made some big leaps,” Russ said. “We can’t rank the whole season on this race, as far as it not being what we wanted. We took a step in the right direction.”

Ihmels went a step further, saying Russ was a big reason for the team’s success. He may not have been the best runner on the team, but his presence was felt in other ways.

“Jayden understood early in the fall that this was his last opportunity to make a mark, and he’s not going be anywhere in the record books, but as far as this program’s going, and where we want to get, he makes a huge impact on the team, with coaching staffs in where we want to go,” Ihmels said. “He’s going to be a guy down the line, when we reach the goals that we set, he’s going to be the guy that we look back on and say, ‘He had an effect on it from the start.'”

Unfortunately for Russ, the future is murky. Although he is scheduled to be a senior on the track and field team in the spring, the NCAA has ruled him ineligible because he competed on a team in Australia before coming to Iowa State.

The athletic department is appealing the ruling.

“I hope that goes well, because I really want to run track this year,” Russ said. “I think we’re going to do some good things, and I want to be a part of that.”