Central, Steffensmeier open with men’s cross country win
Central College
PELLA — A year ago, Isaac Steffensmeier (sophomore, St. Paul, Fort Madison HS) didn’t even run in the Central Invitational men’s cross country meet.
Saturday, the promising Central College sophomore won it, turning in a career-best 25:43.2 to edge teammate Cole Decker (junior, Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) on Central’s 8,000-meter on-campus course, and leading the Dutch to a title in the seven-team meet.
“That was a great effort by (Isaac) on a tough course,” coach Joe Dunham said. “I’m really proud of how mentally tough he was, especially in the second half of the race. He was very focused and able to put together a very good race today.”
Central placed five runners in the top 10 and scored 25 points, topping Loras by 10. Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) was third at 85.
Drew Jackson (senior, Johnston) was fifth in 26:04.7, with Jamie Vander Veer (senior, Harvey, Knoxville HS) seventh in 26:20.4, Eli Horton (senior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) 10th in 26:37.6, Jon Specht (freshman, Dubuque, Hempstead HS) 12th in 26:49.2 and Timothy Shepherd (senior, Knoxville) 13th in 26:51.2.
Dunham liked Decker’s showing as well.
“Cole is playing with a little race strategy right now,” he said. “We certainly learned a few things today that are going to help him down the road. He’s one of the hardest workers we have on the team. He’s running really well, but he’s just got tired legs.”
That’s the case with several runners, Dunham said, as they’re coming off some heavy preseason workouts.
Dunham was actually encouraged by all-America honoree Horton’s 10th-place showing, as he’s coming off a an off-season injury that altered his summer training.
“He’s in great aerobic shape, he’s just not real strong physically,” Dunham said. “But he’s put in a lot of work and has made an amazing jump just from where he was when the preseason started. He was ninth in our first time trial. He’s progressing nicely.”
Dunham didn’t see much that disappointed him.
“For where we are at this time of year, we ran pretty well,” he said. “We set some specific goals for today and they met all of those.
“I was really happy with their competitiveness. You could see in their faces that they were getting after it.”
Women ninth—Central used a young lineup as last year’s top runner, Alyssa Eaves (junior, Johnston) was held out.
“We just want to get her a little more work,” Dunham said.
Central finished with 183 points. Carleton (Minn.) was an easy winner with 29 points, followed by Loras with 77 and Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) with 85.
But Molly Bramble (junior, Waukee) put together a strong race, finishing 20th in 24:37.2 on the 6,000-meter course.
“I was very pleased with Molly,” Dunham said. “That was one of the best races I’ve seen her run in a Central uniform. She was fully engaged.”
Freshman Holly McKinney (St. Charles, Interstate 35 HS) was 25th (24:53.9), with Cassidy Gornick (sophomore, Norwalk) 51st (26:11.1), Kenzie Foldes (freshman, Johnston) 62nd (26:26.6), Andie Arthofer (sophomore, Zwingle, Dubuque Senior HS) 69th (26:46.9), Abby Fyfe (freshman, Pella) 71st (26:56.5) and Emily Linscheid (senior, Johnston) 79th (27:21.3).
“I was really happy with Cassidy Gornick,” Dunham said. “If you look at the improvement she’s made over the last 365 days, that’s truly remarkable.”
Dunham thinks more progress is likely for his squad.
“They’ve got some work ahead of them, they know that,” he said. “They’re very tired right now. This was just a chance to see where we are and we can begin to build off that. They’ll get better. This is a great group.”
Both Central squads are off until the Gil Dodds Invitational at Wheaton, Ill. Sept. 20, but the Dutch won’t be taking a break.
“We’re in a pretty rough training phase,” Dunham said. “We’ll do a lot of different workouts, then race in two weeks. We’ll see some different competition and a much different course. It’s very flat. Our runners are excited to get on a course like that and see what we can do.”
