The Iowa State men’s and women’s cross country teams broke in the new cross country course with a pair of solid performances on Saturday at the ISU Classic.

The men took second-place honors and the women finished 12th out of 22 teams, at the first meet ever at the on-campus cross country facility. The Cyclone men finished ahead of fourth-ranked Northern Arizona and No. 10 Tennessee.

“We competed well against tough competition,” said men’s head coach Bill Bergan. “I am really pleased with our effort.”

One member of the team who drew extra praise from Bergan was Corey Ihmels. Ihmels, battling bursitis in his ankle, finished eighth.

“This meet instills a lot of confidence in our team,” Ihmels said. “In two weeks, we are going to surprise a lot of teams at the Big Eight Championships.”

Dmitry Drozdov had another strong performance for the Cyclones, finishing in fourth place. Drozdov expressed a desire not to be over-confident going into the Big Eight meet.

“In a way, I’m happy I didn’t win,” Drozdov said. “I went into the race with a strategy of winning it, but it is more important that I run a good race at the Big Eight Championships. I am glad my time was faster than at Minnesota.”

Another ISU runner who had a strong performance was Simon O’ Connor. The first-year runner from England came back from 30th place to finish at 15th place.

The young ISU women’s team did less than expected against a challenging field that included nine teams ranked in the Top 25.

“As a team we did not run as well as we did at Minnesota,” said Dick Lee, women’s head coach. “They were nervous because it was the first big meet of the season at the new course. This will help us later on down the road. Our focus now turns toward the Big Eight meet.”

Sydney Pounds finished 17th and Jana Peterson finished 30th for the women.

“I had a pretty good race,” said Pounds. “What made me happy was that I was able to pass so many people at the end of the race.”

Pounds used a strong kick at the finish to surpass five runners and finish in the top 20.

Both coaches were cautiously optimistic about their team’s chances at the Big Eight Championships in Lawrence, Kan., on Oct. 27.

“Right now, our runners know that Colorado and Oklahoma State are running better than them,” Bergan said. “But we should go into the meet with a lot of confidence from the way we have been running.”

“Colorado is heads and tails over everyone else in the conference,” Lee said. “After that, it should be a three-way battle for second between Missouri, Nebraska and us.”