It’s tough to finish in the top half of a meet against national competition, especially when the No. 3 runner on the team is unable to compete.

That is the dilemma that the ISU women’s cross country team faced this weekend in sloppy running conditions at the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota. The Cyclones finished just out of the top half of 29 teams, finishing 16th behind Utah Valley State.

Sophomore Lisa Koll led the Cyclones once again with a seventh-place finish, finishing the 6K course in a time of 21 minutes, 39 seconds against many of the top runners in the country.

“Lisa had a great race,” said coach Dick Lee. “That is a huge improvement over last year.”

Koll finished 99th at this meet last year.

Freshman Kelsey Bulat followed up Koll’s seventh place, finishing 35th with a time of 22:20.

Lee was impressed with Bulat’s performance. “That was a very good race for her in her first big collegiate meet,” Lee said.

Jenny Mockler, the No. 3 runner for the Cyclones two weeks ago, was unable to run because of a viral infection, Lee said.

Lee said the goal coming in was to finish somewhere between 15th and 20th.

“The rest of the team did an outstanding job running without their No. 3 runner of two weeks ago,” Lee said. “The racing conditions were good, but the course looked like a cattle yard in places with 6-to-8-inch-deep loose sod and mud, and people were actually losing shoes going through it.”

The women harriers’ next meet will be the Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. on Oct. 14.