Rye Takes Down School Record at Heart Championship
Cedar Rapids–Claire Rye (Fr., Plymouth, Iowa, Biology) crushed her own program record to put herself in contention to race at nationals as she headlined the William Penn women’s cross country team’s performance at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship Saturday.
WPU tied for eighth out of 14 teams with 243 points, while Benedictine claimed the crown with 30 points. Mount Mercy was a distant second with 75 points and Missouri Baptist was third with 100 points. Benedictine will now represent the Heart at the NAIA National Championship, while Mount Mercy and Missouri Baptist are looking to earn at-large berths.
Abby Knepper of Mount Mercy topped the 121-runner field in the 6K race in a time of 21:26.6.
Rye entered the Championship already owning the program’s 6K record, but on Saturday she made that mark a memory as she finished with a time of 22:46.1 to place 19th. It snaps the old record of 23:48.1 that she set last month on the exact same course at the Mount Mercy Seminole Valley Stampede.
Unfortunately, the freshman did not automatically qualify for nationals. However, if Mount Mercy and Missouri Baptist receive at-large bids, more individual berths from the Heart would also open up, allowing Rye to qualify.
“Claire had the best individual performance in school history, shattering her previous school record by over a minute without worrying about the time she was running,” Graduate Assistant Coach Caleb Silver said. “She knew she had to be in the top 20 to have a shot to qualify and it came down to the final kick. She did everything she could to give herself a chance.”
The trio of Briana Admire (Jr., Galesburg, Ill., Biology), Mallory Ostroski (Fr., Le Grand, Iowa, Kinesiology), and Emmalee Wells-Stout (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) were next, separated by just a few positions. Admire was 62nd at 24:33.9, while Ostroski was 64th at 24:56.2 and Wells-Stout was 66th at 25:06.0.
Audrey Etter (Fr., Remsen, Iowa, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management) wrapped up the lineup in 93rd at 26:22.8, while Nathaly Peralta (Fr., Dallas, Texas, New Media) led the remaining Statesmen in 104th place at 27:38.2.
“The ladies ran their best on the day it mattered most,” Silver said. “Every single one of these ladies stepped up today, left it all on the course, and ran for a greater purpose. It is not often that three freshmen have an opportunity go run top-10 all-time performances on the same day. This is only the beginning for this program.”
