A surplus of talented teams set the tone for ISU’s season opening cross country meet Saturday at the Iowa State Cross Country Course. Northern Iowa, Colorado State, Iowa State and Kansas controlled the men’s 8,000 meter race. Leading the way for the women’s field were NCAA runner-up Arkansas, Iowa State, Iowa, Northern Iowa and Colorado State. There were no team scores kept. The Cyclone men found their first race of the season a difficult challenge as each of the other teams competing already had a race under their belts. Mike Mwangong picked up where he left off last year as the leader of the Cyclones by placing 5th overall (25:28) in the highly competitive field. “It was kind of a tough day for me with this being our first race,” Mwangong said. “The whole team was at a little disadvantage since the other teams had already run a race this season.” ISU head coach Kevin Bourke was disappointed with how the team started off the year, but knows improvement will come. “We ran well but didn’t run that great,” Bourke said. “I think everyone on the team can run so much better.” The Cyclone men entered the meet without two of their top runners so that could’ve possibly had something to do with the rusty effort. Kenyan runners Daniel Kinyua and Philemon Too were both held out of competition due to injuries. Both should be ready in two weeks when the team makes the long trek to North Carolina-Greensboro for their next meet of the season. With another competitive field tentatively set for the meet, Mwangong knows that he and his teammates will need to be well prepared. “We will need a good two weeks of practice for North Carolina,” Mwangong said. “Daniel [Kinyua] and Philemon [Too)] should be back, so we will improve very much.” Rounding out the top four finishers for the ISU men were Tait Steines (25:29), Peter Hess (26:22) and Chris Francois (26:42) placing 13th, 19th and 24th, respectively. Steines improved his personal best by more than 40 seconds which is good news for the team and coach. UNI’s Matt Nemeth finished first overall (25:14) followed by Colorado State’s Byran Berryhill (25:21). Sophomore sensation Kelly Brinkman ran an excellent race for the Cyclone women, covering the challenging home course in a time of 21:51, good for fourth place. Other top Cyclone finishers were Jessica Huff (22:51), Laurie Meythaler (22:54) and Cara Van Eck (24:00), placing them 15th, 18th, and 36th, respectively for the Cyclone harriers. Arkansas lead the women’s race with a one-two finish by Lili Kleinmann (20:42) and Tracy Robertson (24:42). “I was really excited, really pleased, and really surprised with how I did,” Brinkman said. “There were so many tough teams running today and I was thrilled to run as well as I did.” Another Cyclone who was extremely happy was women’s head coach Dick Lee. “For our opening meet, I was very pleased with how the kids ran,” Lee said. “You always have kids that will run above expectations for the first meet, and some that will struggle.” Running with a top 10 squad like Arkansas and Colorado State, soon to be top 25, undoubtedly helped the women in preparation for the challenging season ahead. “The team has been practicing hard together with a good core of runners who can work at a high level,” Brinkman said. The ISU women now turn their attention to two weeks as they join the men at North Carolina-Greensboro for a meet that is shaping up to be very intriguing. For many of the women, this will be their first experience running on the East coast against eastern schools. “It will be exciting to run at a new course with such a high level of competition to go against,” Brinkman said.