Ball State University
Sam Bell Invitational
Four Freshmen Lead Cardinals to Second-Place Finish at IU's Sam Bell Invitational
August 29, 2025 | Cross Country
Following a pack of IU runners in a 4K race on their home course, all four Ball State freshman finished in a pack between 8th and 14th place, just 30 seconds apart.
"Today's competition was solid. It was exciting to see our young ladies get out and compete for each other," said Ball State track & field and cross country coach Adrian Wheatley. "We have a young group, just getting their first race under their belt is always exciting. Our top four finishers were all true freshmen, which is really encouraging for the direction this program is going."
Kaitlyn Kauppila paced the Cardinals with a 4K time of 14:35.50. She was the third freshman to finish the race, behind a pair of IU competitors. Kauppila finished in eighth place, with her teammates following in 10h, 12th and 14th place -- Emily Decker (14:43.35), Rosie Gonzalez (14:55.59) and Sadey Seyferth (15:05.55).
Sophomore returner Tori Jackson finished in 20th place for the Cardinals with a time of 15:33.90. Kendyl Thrasher (15:58.78)Â finished 22nd out of 40 runners as Ball State's five scoring runners all finished in the top half of the field. All six runners finished with times under 16 minutes."I believe we have a solid foundation that we are going to continue to build upon and moving our cross country program in the direction in which we wanted to be," added Wheatley. "I'm looking forward to the rest of the season."
Â
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
Players Mentioned
