WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.--University of Evansville senior cross country runner Andrea Sonnenschein (Poy Sippi, Wis./Berlin) finished 10th out of 162 runners in the women’s 5,000-meter event on Friday to pace the Purple Aces at the annual Indiana Intercollegiate Championships at the Purdue Varsity Cross Country Course in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Sonnenschein clocked in with a 5-K time of 18:25.11 as she posted the 11th-fastest time on record at UE.  Fellow senior Andrea Hoy (33rd-19:02.95), rookie Melissa Truex (67th-19:50.34), and sophomore Courtney Heller (69th-19:53.05) all set personal-best 5-K times on the cross country course, as all three clocked in under 20 minutes to help lead the UE women to a 10th place team finish in the 20-team meet.

On the men’s side, sophomore Greg Pulscher (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) finished just one second shy of posting a personal-best 8-K mark, as he clocked in with a time of 26:08.38 to place 25th out of 194 runners.  Freshman Ryan Witters (72nd-26:58.74), sophomore Brian Joyce (85th-27:17.47), and rookie Adam Gilbert (93rd-27:28.81) all finished within 30 seconds of one another en route to posting career-best 8-K marks on the cross country course.  Overall, the UE men finished 14th out of 23 teams in a fast field.

“Overall, I was pleased with how the teams ran,” said UE head coach Don Walters.  “We still need to tighten that gap between our first runner and the next pack on the men’s side, because in big meets like this it can easily cost you places, but overall I was pleased.

“I thought that the women ran a great race.  Andrea Sonnenschein did a good job of setting the pace, and then to have your two, three, and four runners PR is great.  Hopefully, we will be able to build on what we did today and continue to get better on both the men’s and women’s sides.”

Purdue’s Katie Morrical cruised to the women’s individual title in a time of 17:39.20 while helping the female Boilermakers to the overall team title.  On the men’s side, Indiana’s Jordan Kyle sprinted to the 8-K title in a time of 24:39.34, but it was not enough to grab the Hoosiers the team title, as Indiana State took home the overall title.

Evansville will return to the course next Saturday, September 22 when the Purple Aces will take part in the Saluki Invitational hosted by Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.  The meet is set to begin at 10:00 a.m.

Individual UE?Results From Friday’s Indiana Intercollegiate Championships

Women’s Main Race (out of 162 runners, all times for 5-K)
10.  Andrea Sonnenschein    18:25.11
33.  Andrea Hoy            19:02.95
67.  Melissa Truex        19:50.34
69.  Courtney Heller        19:53.05
75.  Arrena Svoboda        20:05.22
92.  Megan Bowlds        20:27.38
94.  Jaclyn Kern        20:28.13
101. Jaclyn Dippel        20:38.70
111. Franny Enzler        20:53.56

Men’s Main Race (out of 194 runners, all times for 8-K)
25.  Greg Pulscher    26:08.38
72.  Ryan Witters    26:58.74
85.  Brian Joyce    27:17.47
93.  Adam Gilbert    27:28.81
107. Ethan Merkel    27:53.75
112. Collin Jamieson    28:00.65
114. Brian Denny    28:01.66
125. Michael Romine    28:13.69
129. Steven Matthews    28:18.54

Women’s Open Race (out of 69 runners, all times for 5-K)
38. Katie Bowlds    22:09
43. Christina Sherrill    22:37
57. Kimberly Libertino    23:46
61. Katelyn Sandy    24:44
65. Meredith Turner    25:27

Men’s Open Race (out of 106 runners, all times for 8-K)
23.  Max Cordier    28:27
36.  Michael Wieser    29:14
37.  Chris Atkins    29:16
40.  Andrew Kunz    29:22
56.  Zachary Gromer    30:11
70.  Ben Kennard    31:06
77.  Alex Schroeder    31:44
83.  Kevin Todd        32:06