A bad start hindered the Iowa State women’s cross country team Saturday at the Roy Griak Invitational.

The Cyclones finished 13th in the 25-team field with a total of 305 points. Arizona State claimed the team title with 53 points to outdistance second-place BYU which totaled 73 points.

At the beginning of the race, the Cyclone runners got caught in a logjam of competitors and fell far behind. Over the last 4,000 meters, the Cyclones ran much better and finished strong.

“We ran 4K of the race really well, but we didn’t get out and get positioned during the first 1,000 meters,” Cyclone coach Dick Lee said. “Most of the girls were well behind early in the race but fought back. If we just would’ve had a better start, then I think we could’ve reached our goals.”

Lee attributed the trouble at the beginning of the race to the narrow race area of the course.

“It was a narrow and difficult course. There was a new starting area, and after 300 meters, it got narrow. A large group of runners had to funnel into a slim area so a lot of teams were affected,” Lee said.

Crossing the finish line first for the Cyclones was Andrea Crapisi, who finished 41st in a time of 18:34. Alienor Gilchrist was right behind three seconds later to finish 43rd. Emily Martini finished 69th in 18:57, and Laurie Meythaler recorded a time of 18:59 to place 71st.

“Our front four ran a solid race today. Everybody was disappointed with their places, because they wanted to finish 20 places higher than where they ended up,” Lee said.

Making their Cyclone varsity debut were freshmen Jessica Huff and Kelly Brinkman. Huff finished 81st in 19:08, while Brinkman nearly cracked the top 100 as she placed 101st. The seventh Cyclone runner competing was Laura Bahnson who finished 131st.

The individual title went to freshman Sheela Agrawal of Duke who narrowly topped Lisa Aguilera of Arizona State for the win. Agrawal’s winning time was 17:31, just one second better than Aguilera.

The Cyclones compete again Oct. 9, hosting the Iowa State University Memorial Invitational.