TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It was a historical day at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course on Saturday, as new course records were set in each of the first four races at the 2007 Pre-Nationals Meet hosted by Indiana State.

The action got started with the men’s 8k Blue Race, where Northern Arizona took the team title with 124 points. Iona followed in second place with 136, followed by California (157), Virginia (203) and Alabama (207) to round out the top five. Lopez Lamong of Northern Arizona was the individual champion in the race with a time of 23:02.3, which broke the previous course record of 23:12.6 set by Liberty’s Josh McDougal. Incidentally, Robert Curtis of Villanova finished in second place with a time of 23:09.4 which also would have broken the old course record.

However that new record would not last long, as McDougal ran to a first-place finish and re-took possession of his course record with a time of 22:56.4 in the men’s 8k White Race. Jacob Korir of Eastern Kentucky was second with a time of 23:00.6, which also topped the old standard set in the earlier race. Texas-El Paso (129) was the top team in the race, followed by Colorado (155) in second place. North Carolina State (182), Michigan (209) and Notre Dame (261) rounded out the top five.

After the men finished setting new course benchmarks, it was the women’s turn to set some new records of their own. The women’s 6k Blue Race was first and Stanford took home the team title, followed by Florida State in second place. The Seminoles were the runners-up, thanks to a first-place individual finish from Susan Kuijken whose time of 19:55.5 broke the old course record of 20:01.4 by nearly six seconds. Michigan State (178), Minnesota (192) and Georgetown finished in third through fifth places in the team standings, respectively.

Once again, the new mark would not last long, as Jenny Barringer of Colorado won the women’s 6k White Race with a new record-setting time of 19:48.3, the fourth new course record of the day. Princeton (149) was the top team in the race, followed by Arizona State in second place with 171 points. The rest of the top five was made up of Michigan (173) in third place, Washington (187) in fourth place and Illinois (189) in the fifth spot.

The men’s and women’s open races were next and had a lot to aspire to after the record-breaking performances in the first four races. The men’s 8k open race was first and Wisconsin’s Brandon Bethke was the top individual with a time of 24:17.2. He was followed by Matt DeSilva of Purdue (24:35.8) and Tony Nalli (24:41.1) to round out the top three. In the women’s 6k open race, it was a couple of runners from Lamar who stole the show. Clerc Koenck (20:56.6) and Renee Graham (21:04.5) finished in first and third places, respectively, while McKayla Plank of Iona finished in second place with a time of 21:02.2.

Many of the teams who participated on Saturday will return to Terre Haute on Monday, November 19, for the Division I Cross Country Championships. Teams will qualify after competing in their respective regional meets.