WPU Opens ’15 at Augustana Night Race

William Penn University Athletics

Sioux Falls, S.D.–The William Penn cross country teams faced off against a stiff field at the season-opening Augustana Twilight Friday.

The Statesmen men were 20th out of 20 teams with 630 points, while NCAA Division II Sioux Falls (S.D.) won the title with 71 points. The women placed 19th in the 20-team standings with 547 points, while host (also NCAA D-2) Augustana took the crown with 46 points.

Andrew Ronoh of Iowa Central CC was the top men’s collegiate runner on the four-mile course at 19:01.88 and Leah Seivert of Augustana won the three-mile women’s race in 16:25.7.

Payton Busch (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education) paced WPU as he was 136th out of 267 runners in a time of 22:00.99.

Zach Johnson (So., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) was next in 176th (22:41.47), while Garrett Heckman (So., New Virginia, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) finished 190th (22:51.7).

Tyler Connelly (So., Trenton, Texas, Software Engineering), in 231st (23:54.13), and Jeremy Mooney (Jr., Clinton, Iowa, Physical Education), in 267th (30:31.14), concluded the navy and gold’s efforts.

Guadalupe Gonzalez (So., Houston, Texas, Exercise Science) was 81st in the 211-person field with a time of 19:25.4. Addison Kepner (Sr., Cincinnati, Iowa, Biology) also finished in the top 100 (93rd) at 19:39.7.

Deja Lewis (Jr., Spring, Texas, Psychology), in 188th (22:22.3), and Alexys Devlin (Jr., Davenport, Iowa, Physical Education), in 189th (22:23.4), finished within a second of each other, while Arianna Davis (So., New Sharon, Iowa, Biology) wrapped up the varsity scoring in 202nd in a time of 24:04.2.

Cindy Walker (Sr., New Sharon, Iowa, Public Accounting) also competed, finishing 211th in 28:29.8.

Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Des Moines on September 18 to compete in the Grand View Invitational.