Rye Qualifies for Nationals, Earns First-Team All-Heart Honor at League Meet
Baldwin City, Kan.–Claire Rye (So., Plymouth, Iowa, Biology) will return to nationals after guiding the William Penn women’s cross country team at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Saturday.
As a team, WPU was 10th out of 16 squads with 306 points, while Benedictine took the crown with 49 points.
Central Methodist’s Sarah Kirby won the 6K race in a time of 21:55.24. There were 126 runners in the field.
Rye hit the finish line in 10th place at 22:51.10.
The sophomore, who also qualified for nationals last year, becomes just the third Statesmen to reach the final race on multiple occasions.
Her 10th-place effort also secured first-team all-Heart laurels, the first of her career. Additionally, her all-conference award is the first for William Penn since 2014.
“Claire put herself in position early on, and knew what it took to not only qualify, but finish in the top 10 to earn her first all-conference honor,” Head Coach Caleb Silver said.
Rye will now travel to Vancouver, Wash. on Friday, November 20 to compete in the NAIA National Championship.
Kennedi Wahmhoff (So., Manton, Mich., Elementary Education) joined her teammate in the top 40, placing 38th at 24:27.44.
“Kennedi took a risk early, and then held her ground for one of the best performances in school history,” Silver said.
Amelia Hernandez (Fr., Lubbock, Texas, Nursing) was next in 99th at 28:50.73, while Nathaly Peralta (So., Dallas, Texas, New Media) ended up 109th (30:18.90).
Audrey Etter (So., Remsen, Iowa, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) concluded the team’s scoring (118th, 32:27.18).
“Amelia, Nathaly, and Audrey all battled well in the second half of the race, and gained ground within the last mile to help us finish in the top 10 as a team for the second year in a row,” Silver said.
“This season has been a stepping stone for the future of this program,” Silver said. “We endured a lot of physical battles that were out of our control, so we were grateful to finish the conference meet with five healthy athletes. Overall, they ran with heart today, and I could not be more proud of the way they fought together all season.”
