The Iowa men’s cross-country team held it own at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., placing 16th in a 34-team field.

Head coach Larry Wieczorek’s squad scored 422 points in the Blue race. The 8,000-meter event was held just outside the Indiana State University campus.

The Hawkeyes competed on the same course they will run on during the national championships — if Iowa receives an at-large bid by season’s end. The Hawkeyes did not receive a team invitation to last season.

Iowa’s top finisher, Jeffrey Thode, continued his excellent freshman campaign, finishing 19th overall with a time of 24:15. He has been the Hawkeyes’ top finisher in each meet this season.

All-Big Ten runner Jesse Luciano finished in 24:51, good enough for 68th. Junior Mark Battista at 87th, senior cocaptain Tommy Tate at 115th, and junior James Paul at 135th rounded out the rest of the Hawkeyes’ top five.

Battista, Tate, and Paul each ran 25-minute times, completing the race in 25:02, 25:23, and 25:33.

Iowa was without three of its top-five finishers for the second-consecutive meet. Junior Sam Bailin, sophomore Nick Holmes, and senior cocaptain Brenden Camplin were sidelined with unspecified injuries.

— by Sean Moran