The Iowa State men’s and women’s cross country teams had impressive showings at the University of Minnesota Invitational on Saturday.

The men finished third and the women seventh, in a field that included numerous ranked squads.

Dmitry Drozdov took medalist honors for the men. It was the first collegiate first-place finish for the senior from Penza, Russia.

“This win gives me a lot of confidence,” Drozdov said. “I did a lot better than I thought I would.”

Drozdov stayed with the pack for most of the race, although he was down by about 80 meters, with a thousand meters to go.

That’s when Drozdov decided to make his move.

“With 800 meters to go, I figured I had nothing to lose,” Drozdov said. “There were two runners in front of me and I just really accelerated for the rest of the race.”

Drozdov finished 20 meters in front of his second-place competitor. He said his win was inspirational for the team.

“My teammates are real excited about my strong finish,” he said. “They didn’t know I had won until after they had finished running.”

Drozdov is optimistic about his team’s chances of repeating as national champions at the NCAA Championships, which will be held at Iowa State’s home course on November 20.

“Right now I think we are one of the top three teams in the nation,” he said. “I think we have a good shot at winning nationals.”

The women’s squad finished higher than Big Eight rival Nebraska, which came into the meet ranked 16th in the nation. This pleased head coach Dick Lee.

“I am really pleased with how well we ran,” Lee said. “It was a big meet and I saw a lot of improvement.”

Sophomore Sydney Pounds finished 13th and freshman Jana Peterson finished 14th for the women.

“I think this was our best performance of the season,” Peterson said. “We all were excited by our team finish because of the high level of competition at Minnesota.”

This was the first major meet of the season for both squads. Both teams have next week off before preparing for the ISU Classic on October 14.

This will be the first meet ever at the new cross country course, located just west of the Towers Residence Halls.

Men’s head track coach Bill Bergan likes his team’s chances going into the ISU Classic.

“The squad is coming along nicely,” Bergan said.

“We just need to find some balance on our team between our first place finishers and our fifth and sixth place finishers.”