Boma Wins Individual Title at Grand View
William Penn University Athletics
Indianola–Jamal Boma (Sr., Des Moines, Iowa, Business Management and Physical Education) blew past his other cross country competitors Friday to easily win the Grand View Invitational.
The William Penn men placed fifth out of six teams with 110 points, while NCAA Division I Drake won the title with 23 points. The Statesmen women took seventh in the seven-team field (167 points); Drake finished off the team sweep with 18 points.
(Note: The event was moved from Des Moines to Pickard Park earlier in the week due to rain that made conditions unfavorable for racing in the state capitol.)
Boma had no equal Friday as he topped the 58-person 6K race with a time of 19:21.4. The next closest competitor was over 24 seconds behind the senior. The individual crown is the first for WPU since Nick Reynolds won the St. Ambrose Invitational in 2011.
Unfortunately, Boma’s teammates could not keep up with his pace. Zack Johnson (Jr., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) had the next-best time, placing 25th at 22:01.4.
Payton Busch (Sr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education), in 27th at 22:04.8, and Garrett Heckman (Jr., New Virginia, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering), in 31st at 22:23.6, were just seconds behind Johnson.
Terry Jackson (Fr., Houston, Alaska, Biology) capped the navy and gold scoring in 43rd place at 24:08.3. David Williams (Fr., Victor, Iowa, Secondary Education) (51st, 26:20.6) and Malcolm Nelson (Fr., Jacksonville, Ark., Communications) (53rd, 27:03.3) also competed at the Invitational.
Bailee Cofer of Drake recorded the winning 5K women’s time at 20:11.4, while Guadalupe Gonzalez (Jr., Houston, Texas, Exercise Science) was the first William Penn finisher in 13th (out of 68 runners) at 21:56.3.
Alexys Devlin (Jr., Davenport, Iowa, Physical Education) was second for WPU in a time of 24:33.6, while Charlotte Hackett (So., Las Vegas, Nev., Psychology) (46th, 24:46.3) and Bree’Anna Lee (Fr., Broken Arrow, Okla., Biology) (50th, 25:35.8) also finished in the top 50.
Rachel Surbaugh (Fr., Knoxville, Iowa, Biology) and her time of 25:53.0 was good for 54th on Friday.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Warrenville, Ill. next Friday to compete in the DuPage CC Invitational.
