Gonzalez Breaks into All-Time Top 10 at DuPage Event
William Penn University Athletics
Warrenville, Ill.–The Statesmen cross country teams showed well against teams from almost every division at the DuPage CC Invitational Friday.
The men were sixth out of 12 teams with 154 points, while NCAA Division I Illinois-Chicago won the title with 27 points. Alex Bashqawi of UIC was the first individual to cross the finish line in the 8K race, doing so in a time of 25:00.
Ochaung Akway (Sr., St. Paul, Minn., Physical Education) was the first navy and gold runner to finish, placing 17th among 122 runners in a time of 26:33.23.
Payton Busch (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education) was next in 42nd at 27:56.99, while Garrett Heckman (So., New Virginia, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) (51st, 28:20.70) and Zach Johnson (So., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) (63rd, 28:56.45) also slipped under the 30-minute barrier.
Tian Siggins (Jr., Atlantic, Iowa, Physical Education), who was 78th in a time of 30:02.01, finished off the varsity scoring, while Tyler Connelly (So., Trenton, Texas, Software Engineering) (83rd, 30:39.01) also competed for William Penn.
The women did not field a full squad in the 5K race, while UIC again took first with 21 points. Stephanie Sanders of UIC won the individual crown in a time of 17:59.67.
Guadalupe Gonzalez (So., Houston, Texas, Exercise Science) led the female crew as she was 16th out of 98 competitors in a time of 19:52.58. Her time is the fifth-fastest 5K in program history and the fastest since 2012.
Addison Kepner (Sr., Cincinnati, Iowa, Biology) was only three spots (19th) and less than 17 seconds (20:09.17) behind Gonzalez for a solid second place effort.
Deja Lewis (Jr., Spring, Texas, Psychology) placed 53rd in a time of 21:46.76, while Alexys Devlin (Jr., Davenport, Iowa, Physical Education) was 61st in 22:15.36.
“Individually, our athletes ran very well,” Coach Sean Gosewisch said. “There were plenty of personal bests, highlighted by Guadalupe getting into our all-time top 10 list. We have some racing kinks to work out, but once we tighten up the pack, both teams will be more formidable than they have been in a few years.”
Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before returning to action on Saturday, October 10 by traveling to Bettendorf to compete in the St. Ambrose Invitational.
