William Penn Returns to Action at Graceland Invite
Lamoni–The Statesmen cross country teams took part in the Graceland invitational on Saturday in their third meet of the season. The men’s team finished third of four teams, while the women competed, but did not have enough runners to field a full team.
Continuing her strong season for the women’s team was Michaela Kmiec (So., Centerville, Texas, Exercise Science). She earned her first top 10 finish of the season after placing 11th in her last race. Her time of 21:56 in the women’s 5K paced the Statesmen on Saturday. Zena Cohuo, who has earned two top 10 finishes in two races this season, did not compete.
Although Kmiec found herself placing ninth out of 24, the Statesmen unfortunately did not see their next racer finish until 17th in this one, with Delana Jordan (So., Addison, Texas, Business Management) and Talaysia Douver (Jr., Lakewood, Calif., Sociology) finishing in the 17th and 18th positions.
Benedictine claimed the team score with 16 points, while host Graceland was the only other program to post a score with 44 points.
The men’s team also had an individual tally a top-10 finish as Ruben Perez-Rodriguez (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) finished 10th on Saturday with a time of 28:38 in the 8K race.
The Statesmen finished third out of four teams out in Lamoni with 69 points, while Benedictine completed the sweep with 28 points.
Axel Arzate-Vazquez (So., Wray, Colo., Sports Management), Isaac Knockel (Fr., New Sharon, Iowa, Pre-Professional Biology), and Jonah Heckenberg (Fr., Stockton, Iowa, Business Management) were close behind Perez-Rodriguez, finishing 13th (29:10.1), 14th (29:25.9), and 15th (29:45.8), respectively. William De Jesus (So., Homestead, Fla., Biology) placed a tick behind the pack at 17th at 30:16.5.
The top-10 finish for Perez-Rodriguez represented the first for the men this season, while Kmiec’s top-10 placing was the first for the women’s team that was not from Cohuo.
What’s Next: The Statesmen will take a couple weeks off before heading to the Mount Mercy Seminole Valley Stampede in Cedar Rapids. The event will be the second-to-last event for WPU before the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship on November 7. Last year’s Seminole Valley Stampede consisted of 20 teams and the Statesmen will look to make a splash in an event containing a much larger talent pool.
