Injury Bug Nips Statesmen at Grand View Invite
William Penn University Athletics
Interview video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79amN1fhK7o
Des Moines–The William Penn cross country teams could not fight through some nagging injuries as they fell a bit short of expectations at the Grand View Invitational Friday.
The men finished fourth out of seven teams with 125 points, while #14 Morningside won the title with 17 points. Mark Abrams Jr. of Morningside led the 77-person field in the 8k race in a time of 26:09.
WPU’s women were fifth out of seven programs with 146 points. NCAA D-I Drake was first as a team (19 points) and also had the top individual (Krista Maguire, 19:41) Friday. A total of 72 competitors took on the 5K course.
Saromo Mugisha (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Business Management) led the navy and gold men, placing 20th overall with a time of 28:23.
Yonas Desta (So., Salt Lake City, Utah, Biology) was next in 32nd in 29:44, while Brenice Ndayizeye (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Computer Science) finished 40th in 30:26 in his Statesmen debut. Garrett Heckman (Fr., New Virginia, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering), in 44th (30:45), and Zach Johnson (Fr., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering), in 50th (31:12), also finished in the top 50.
Tyler Connelly (Fr., Trenton, Texas, Software Engineering) (56th, 31:40), Carlos Lizama (So., Victorville, Calif., Physical Education) (73rd, 36:02), and Paul Walker (Fr., Orem, Utah, Biology) (76th, 38:13) also finished the race, while Ochaung Akway (Sr., St. Paul, Minn., Physical Education) and Nick Thomas (Sr., Salmon, Idaho, Physical Education) were forced to withdraw from the competition with injuries.
Deja Lewis (So., Spring, Texas, Psychology) placed 20th in 22:30, nipping teammate Addison Kepner (Jr., Cincinnati, Iowa, Biology) (22nd, 22:33) by just three seconds.
Guadalupe Gonzalez (Fr., Houston, Texas, Exercise Science) finished 44th in a time of 25:11 in her collegiate debut. Cindy Walker (Jr., New Sharon, Iowa, Public Accounting) (59th, 28:16) and Janay Pritchett (Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Biology & Sociology) (64th, 29:37) completed William Penn’s scoring.
Vanessa Kieres (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Exercise Science) (67th, 31:59), Jessie Kreuser (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn., Undecided) (71st, 34:52), and Kau’ilani Miki-Han (Fr., Irvine, Calif., Digital Communication) (72nd, 35:18) competed Friday as well.
“Our athletes came off some tough blocks of training this week and unfortunately we started off tired and some athletes could not get past nagging injuries,” Coach Sean Gosewisch said. “The race did not go nearly as well as we had hoped; while there were some individuals who fought hard and impressed, on the whole it just was not our day. We will change up some things and come back ready for Doane.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Crete, Neb. next Saturday to compete at the Doane Dean White Invitational.
