Eastern’s men’s and women’s cross country teams took to the course with top teams from across the nation this weekend at the NCAA Pre-Meet at Furman University in South Carolina Saturday.

Eastern’s men finished 24th while the women were 32nd.

The big story in the men’s race wasn’t who finished in what place, but who didn’t finish at all. Senior standout Jason Bialka was forced to drop out of the race with a sprained ankle, about three miles in.

“He just looked great. He was running with the lead pack of about seven or eight and was having just a beautful run,” head coach John McInerney said. “Then he rolled his ankle and of course, that was big. At the worst he would have finished in the top 10 and he probably would have been close to third or fourth.”

McInerney said it was when the field of 223 runners made its way into a wooded section of the course that Bialka sprained the ankle.

“I was waiting for him at the four-mile mark and I got that sick feeling in my stomach when the leaders came around and he wasn’t there,” McInerney said. “Then after a while I went looking for him and found him in the medical tent.

Fortunately, Bialka’s injury isn’t extremely serious and McInerney said he may able to run on the ankle again as early as Wednesday.

“He didn’t feel he ran well two weeks ago at Indiana State when he finished fifth, but he was way ahead of the guys that beat him there,” McInerney said. “He has to feel confident after that run and having his fitness level where it is.”

In the men’s division of two races, Eastern competed in the Black Race with 35 teams. No. 2 ranked Stanford won the race with 56 points with three runners in the top ten as Grant Williams finished second with a time of 24:31 in the 8K race. David Kimani of Alabama won the race in 24:06.

Senior Kyle O’Brien finished 57th as Eastern’s first finisher in a time of 25:42. Josh Vance completed the race 20 seconds behind O’Brien in 77th place while Adam Mariott (108), Andy Derks (165) and John Sipple (191) rounded out Eastern’s scoring.

“Kyle felt like he should have been in the top 30 and that’s the way most of our guys felt,” McInerney said. “Josh Vance had a real nice race to finish 77th.”

In the men’s Gold Race, No. 1 Colorado upheld its national standing with a 62-point win. The Buffaloes placed three runners in the top 10, including second place Jorge Torres. Boaz Cheboiywo of Eastern Michigan won the race in 23:31.

In the women’s division, Eastern competed in the 34-team Purple Race. No. 1-ranked Colorado slid to a fourth-place finish with two of its top runners out with injuries. No. 11 Georgetown finished first with 48 points while Michigan State and Arizona State rounded out the top three finishers. Colorado’s Molly Austin won the 6K race in 20:48.

For Eastern, senior Beth Martin finished first for Eastern at 107 with a time of 23:06. The next Panther to cross the finish line came over one minute later with Stephanie Bone (176) in at 24:08. Lauren Rapacki finished at 179 while Katie Springer and Angie Simone were the last to score for Eastern at 205 and 211 respectively.

“Beth just didn’t get her self out,” McInerney said.

“She had a pretty solid run, but she’s capable of being in the top 50. Stephanie and Lauren ran together well and really pushed each other.”