LOUISVILLE – For Morehead State cross-country runners James Clements and Karen Lutes it continues to be seasons of success and disappointment. After battling mononucleosis and a variety of injuries during his freshman campaign in 2002, Clements continues to drop his times this season.

In Saturday’s Cardinal Classic in Louisville, Clements was Morehead State’s top finisher. The sophomore from Waddy, Ky. bettered his time from the same meet last year by a minute, finishing the 8,000-meter course in 26:07 and in 28th place. Clements and the rest of his Eagle teammates finished fourth among the 18-team field at Saturday’s meet. Freshman Adam Stanley continued a successful campaign with a 39th place finish. Stanley finished with a personal-best time of 26:32. “I expected to run somewhere in the low 26’s but I took out a little too fast,” Stanley said. “I was a little run down by the fourth mile.” Stanley was pleased with MSU’s fourth place effort on Saturday. “I think our team is really going to be tough by the end of the season,” said Stanley. “We don’t really have one stud, but we got a group of some really good runners.” Rounding the Morehead top-five were sophomore Josh Sheets (41st/26:43), and freshmen Jose Solis (43rd/26:46) and Vic McHenry (48th/26:58). “We finished a little better than I expected as a team,” said Head Coach Dan Lindsey. “These guys really trust our system and that is very encouraging for our future.”

The struggles continued on Saturday for Morehead State senior Karen Lutes, arguably the best runner ever at MSU. After winning two Ohio Valley Conference individual crowns during last season’s indoor campaign, Lutes has had a shaky start to her season thus far. She was still the youthful Lady Eagles top finisher in 22nd place. She finished the 5,000-meter course in 18:52. “Things are bound to come around for me sooner or later,” said Lutes. “I don’t really know what’s wrong, but I’m going to keep training and hopefully the results will come.” Following Lutes for the Lady Eagles, which finished 7th out of 18th teams, were junior Alessa Velez (41st/19:36) and freshman Sarah McClellan (45th/19:49). Rounding out the MSU top-five were freshmen Aubrey Walker (57th/20:08) and sophomore Alicia Brown (97th/21:37). Both squads will be back in action on October 17th at the EKU Invitational.