Brown leads Central men at Les Duke Invitational

GRINNELL-Central College men’s cross country sophomore Jack Brown (Norwalk) won his second individual title in as many weeks, this time winning the Les Duke Invitational Saturday.

The Dutch also won the team title with 26 points while the hosts from Grinnell College were second with 54 points.

Brown, who won last week at the opening Central Dutch Invitational, cross the line in 25 minutes, 58.5 seconds to win the 8,000-meter race.

“This is tough day to run an 8K,” coach Joe Dunham said. “It was deceptively hot and humid. Our guys battled through it very well.”

It was all Norwalk natives at the top for Central as Donovan Card (sophomore, Norwalk) was fourth (26:07.0) and Derek Webster (senior, Norwalk) was fifth (26:19.1)

Randy Jimenez (senior, Liberty Center, Southeast Warren) was the fourth Dutch runner to finish, taking seventh overall (26:40.2)

“It was exciting to see our front pack move and work together early in the race,” Dunham said. “We got broken up a little bit as we got into the second half, which is something we need to clean up and get better at.”

Two of Central’s top seven runners were freshmen. Austin Vander Werf (Saint Charles, Interstate 35 HS) was the fifth scoring athlete in ninth place (27:04.4) while Nathan Vander Waal (Pella) was seventh for Central and 13th overall (27:22.6).

“I was really proud of our freshmen class,” Dunham said. “They showed a lot of toughness.”

Taylor Thunstedt (junior, Westby, Wis.) was the sixth member of the varsity unit to finish, taking 12th (27:14.9)

Central has a long break from competition before heading to Terre Haute, Indiana on October 4. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is hosting a deep field of teams on the course which will host the national meet in November.