The Iowa State men’s and women’s cross country teams had a couple of impressive showings at the Big Eight Championships at Lawrence, Kan., on Friday. The women finished second to top-rated Colorado and the fifth-ranked ISU men’s team finished third behind two teams rated in the top five in the nation.

The ISU women’s team finished ahead of No. 20 Missouri and No. 22 Nebraska. The young Cyclone women were propelled to the second-place finish by having four runners place in the top 18, three of them underclassmen. Junior Sydney Pounds finished third, freshman Emily Martini came in 14th and sophomore Stacey Armstrong and freshman Jana Peterson rounded out the top 20 finishers for the Cyclones at 16th and 17th, respectively .

The second-place finish was especially impressive for the women considering they finished seventh at the Big Eight Championships last year.

“I think the whole team ran really well,” Martini said. “I think it gives us a lot of confidence going into regionals by knocking off Missouri and Nebraska.”

On the men’s side, No. 4 Oklahoma State snapped ISU’s four-year Big Eight Championship winning streak. The Cyclone men finished third behind OSU and No. 2 Colorado.

“I think, overall, as a team, we competed well,” said head men’s coach Bill Bergan. “This is the strongest the Big Eight field has been since I’ve been here.”

The Cyclones had three top 10 finishers. Dmitry Drozdov finished fifth, Saul Patla ran seventh and Corey Ihmels came in 10th.

Patla drew extra praise from Bergan for his seventh place finish.

“Saul’s improvement has just been phenomenal,” Bergan said. “There is no doubt in my mind that he will continue to improve.”

Patla is a sophomore who transferred to Iowa State this year from a college in Kenya.

“When I came here I did not run as well as I could because of the changes from going to another country,” Patla said. “Now I feel more comfortable and I’m running pretty well.”

Bergan said it will be difficult for his squad to repeat as national champions but he is still optimistic about their prospects at the regional and national meets.

“I still feel good about our team’s chances of having a successful season, he said.” We have a young team with a lot of potential.”

The men and women will compete next at the NCAA regional meet at Stillwater, Okla., on Nov. 11. The NCAA Championships will be held at the new ISU cross country course on Nov. 20.