September 13, 2002

Matt Helbig and Leah Zidon Lead Bulldogs at Iowa State Open

The Truman men's and women's cross country competed on Friday afternoon at the Iowa State Open, a non-scoring meet with competitors from Iowa, Iowa State, Drake and Northern Iowa.

Matt Helbig led the Bulldogs men's team in the 8km race by finishing sixth overall with a time of 25:43. Alan Heincker also cracked the top 10 with a time of 25:55, hitting 10th place exactly. Only the University of Iowa had more runners in the top 10 claiming seven spots.

Other finishers for Truman were: Andy Person (18th, 26:25), Pat Boyle (27th, 26:52), Mike Nelson (29th, 26:59), Dan Boyle (35th, 27:17), Dan Wilhite (36th, 27:21), Chris Elledge (37th, 27:22), Scott Downard (41st, 27:36), Mark Chrismer (45th, 27:47), Ryan French (46th, 27:54), Aaron Wells (47th, 28:05), Jon Carl Rosario (50th, 28:21), Jeremy Ross (53rd, 28:31), Trey Robinson (55th, 28:51) and Aaron Cooper (59th, 29:58)

On the women's side, which included just teams from Iowa State and Northern Iowa, Lead Zidon and Jennifer Tesmer had top 10 finishes. Zidon was fifth overall with a time of 19:33 on the 5km course while Tesmer was eighth with a time of 19:52.

Other Bulldog finishers on the women's side were: Dani Rawlings (14th, 20:40), Abbie Smith (15th, 20:41), Pam Bird (18th, 20:50), Sarah Armstrong (19th, 20:59), Kasye Hahn (22nd, 21:38), Nicole Gandy (24th, 21:41) and Candice Hoskins (25th, 22:20).