IOWA CITY – While the Tritons only ran two women at the Hawkeye Invitational on the Ashton cross country course, they were in good form. Sophomores Taylor McCreedy and Chloe Garcia Grafing finished in 37th and 38th positions respectively. The Triton duo accomplished their goals of shaking off the rust for their first competition of the season over the 4k course running times of 16:25 and 16:26 respectively.
"I was happy with how they executed our game plan today. We didn't want to feel like we were pushing at all and had more left when we finished. Despite that both ladies ran times that placed them among the top-25 all-time in school history. I am confident that when we need them race hard, they will be well prepared," said Head Coach Dee Brown.
The men's team finished second of three teams behind the host, NCAA Division I, Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes scored 21 points to the Tritons 41 points followed by the University of Milwaukee at 75 points. Iowa Central was led by freshman Aye Devany over the 6km course in a time of 18:37. Devany was crowned the meet champion because of his 3-second victory. His time was also sixth-best in school history for Iowa Central.
The Tritons had a very strong showing for their first competition this year. Their top-five runners all posted times that ranked among the top-30 in school history. Finishing second for the Tritons in seventh place was Housem Hrabi in a time of 18:57. He was followed closely by returning All-American, Yared Kidane in ninth place at 19:00. Will Sacay finished in 15th place at 19:11 followed by returning All-American, Zander Cobb in 18th place at 19:26. Rounding at the field for Iowa Central was sophomore Brady Hogan in 21st (19:44), freshman Joseph Asahi Wright in 24th (20:02) and sophomore Marco Lopez in 29th at 20:48.
"While we might have run a bit faster than intended today, nearly all of our athletes who competed ran even or negative splits like we had planned. We have a very deep field of men this season. We plan to keep our heads down and focus on building each other up and staying healthy, " said Head Coach Dee Brown.
The Tritons will travel to Decorah, IA next Saturday for the Luther College All-American Invitational where the women will race 5km and the men will compete in a 4 mile race.