The Iowa State women’s cross country team won the Illinois State Invitational on Friday night with help from some newcomers.

The Cyclones were sparked by some great performances from young runners and a career-best finish by a junior.

Syndey Pounds, Jana Peterson and Amber Grady finished second, third and fourth, respectively, for the Cyclones.

It was the best finish for Pounds in her career.

“I was not disappointed, even though I felt I could have won the race,” Pounds said. “I lost to a really great runner at her home course.”

Pounds blamed her unfamiliarity with the Illinois State course and her decision to pull back with about 1 kilometer to go as the reasons she could not pull out the win.

Head coach Dick Lee said he was just looking for his young team to give Illinois State a tough challenge.

“I think everyone just stepped it up a little and did a remarkable job for us,” he said.

The first-place team finish was the first for the Cyclone women since Pounds, a junior, has been at Iowa State.

“We had two freshmen and another first-year sophomore running in the race, and I didn’t know how they would respond to the meet,” Pounds said. “They were a little nervous at first, but they all came through for us in the end.”

One of the freshmen who came through for the Cyclones was Jana Peterson, who finished third in the meet.

The ISU men’s cross country team, ranked No. 1 in the nation, did not finish as well as the women at Illinois State, but they had a good excuse.

Running with only two of their top seven runners, the Cyclone men finished third in the six-team meet.

Head Coach Bill Bergan traditionally does not run his best runners until the Minnesota meet, which is in two weeks.

Still, there were some good individual performances.

“I was particularly pleased with the way Simon O’Connor and Justin Gottschalk ran for us,” said Kevin Bourke, assistant head coach.

Simon O’Connor, a sophomore from England, finished fourth in his first race for the Cyclones.

“We used this meet to get some of our younger guys some experience,” Bourke said. “The team score was not important to us.”

The Cyclone coaching staff chose to sit out the majority of their top runners to cut down on the weariness and injuries that can occur throughout the season.

“Everything we do is geared toward the national championship meet,” Bourke said. “Nonetheless, I’m really pleased at how well the people we took to Illinois State competed.”