William Penn Races at Augustana Night Event
William Penn University Athletics
Sioux Falls, S.D.–In one of the largest fields it will face all year, the Statesmen cross country teams battled under the lights at the Augustana Twilight Friday.
The men finished 18th out of 22 teams with 552 points, while NCAA Division I Nebraska collected the title with 41 points. Elisha Kipruto of Iowa Central CC led the 287-person field in the four-mile race in a time of 18:24.32.
On the women’s side, WPU was 20th out of 22 programs with 622 points. NCAA D-I South Dakota claimed both the team (62 points) and individual (Amber Eichkorn, 15:48.11) crowns on Friday. A total of 266 competitors took on the three-mile course.
Ochaung Akway (Sr., St. Paul, Minn., Physical Education) was WPU’s top male harrier, finishing 107th in a time of 20:31.45. Yonas Desta (So., Salt Lake City, Utah, Biology) was right behind him in 110th in 20:34.05.
Saromo Mugisha (Sr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Business Management) finished in the top 200 as well (171st) in 21:14.09, while Tyler Connelly (Fr., Trenton, Texas, Software Engineering) (218th, 22:03.16) and Zach Johnson (Fr., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) (230th, 22:14.77) completed William Penn’s scoring.
Nick Thomas (Sr., Salmon, Idaho, Physical Education) (234th, 22:18.01), Carlos Lizama (So., Victorville, Calif., Physical Education) (251st, 22:43.03), Garrett Heckman (Fr., New Virginia, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) (261st, 23:18.01), and Paul Walker (Fr., Orem, Utah, Biology) (282nd, 26:41.61) also ran Friday night.
Just as she did in the season opener last week, Addison Kepner (Jr., Cincinnati, Iowa, Biology) guided the Statesmen women, finishing 129th this time out in 18:49.93. Deja Lewis (So., Spring, Texas, Psychology) also slipped under the 20-minute barrier with a time of 19:25.38 to place 159th.
Lilly Walters (So., Boerne, Texas, Exercise Science) was 209th in 20:20.68, while Cindy Walker (Jr., New Sharon, Iowa, Public Accounting) was 263rd (24:31.55) and Elizabeth Boyd (So., Windsor Heights, Iowa, Business Management) was 264th (24:44.17).
Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Des Moines on Saturday, September 19 to compete in the Grand View Invitational.
