Not many people gave tiny Life College of Georgia much of chance of winning Saturday’s Iowa State Memorial Classic men’s cross country meet before the race. Not with NCAA Division I schools Iowa State, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Drake and Creighton in the field.

Life, ranked third in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, made believers out of the doubters by edging No. 23 ISU, 49-54, for the team title.

“(Life officials) called me asking if they could come and I said ‘sure, I like the competition’,” Iowa State Head Coach Kevin Bourke said. “I’m glad we had the competition, it is just going to make us better getting ready for the conference (meet).”

Life’s Silah Misoi, Sammy Nyamongo and Ralf Dahmen finished first, second and third, respectively. Misoi finished with a time of 24 minutes 37 seconds.

ISU had four runners finish in the top 12. Corey Ihmels finished fourth with a time of 25:45, Simeon Wright was eighth, Kevin Farrow was 10th and Saul Lempirikany was 12th.

“We stayed together as a pack really well,” Bourke said. “I was real pleased that we ran together our top four guys. Corey, Simeon, Kevin and Saul were together for the majority of the way.”

The second-place finish is the highest for ISU in its first three meets.

The Cyclones finished ninth at the Minnesota Invitational and third at the Illinois Invitational.

“It was fun to see the team do so well,” Ihmels said. “We are finally starting to run the way we should.”

Ihmels is a senior from Williston, S.D. A two-time All-American he was a member of the 1994 Iowa State national champion team.

“With the teams we’ve had in the past I’ve always been there to just tag along, now I’m kind of one of the leaders,” Ihmels said. “It’s been kind of tough in a way but I think it’s good for me, too.”