The Grinnell College cross country teams delivered solid performances at their home Les Duke Invitational this past Saturday at the Grinnell College Golf Course, competing against a strong regional field that included several ranked teams.
The meet began at 9 a.m. on Sept. 13 with the men’s 8-kilometer race, followed by the women’s 6-kilometer event at 9:45 a.m. The men’s team placed third overall in the 8K, led by Ben Abelow `28 in sixth place and Connor Heagy `26 in seventh. Jack Lakin `29 followed in tenth, with Leif Dahl `29 taking twelfth place. Greyson Imm `28 finished twenty-first, Sebastian Vilches `29 twenty-fourth, and Andy Chestovich `26 twenty-sixth.
In the women’s 6K, Grinnell placed second overall. Sindri Bonner `28 claimed third place, followed by Morgan Karow `26 in fourth. Hannah Roark `26 finished seventh, Talia Harrison `26 ninth, and Tennyson Shultz `28 rounded out the top 10. Noelle Vu `28 placed fourteenth and Diana Barba `26 fifteenth.
“I felt like our teams are looking really strong,” said Sarah Burnell, assistant professor of physical education and head coach of men’s and women’s cross country. “The Les Duke is a really hilly course, and both teams did a great job being really patient at the beginning and then really making moves towards the end of the race, which I think helped us place a lot of people in the top 20.”
Starting times had been moved an hour earlier in anticipation of near-record heat. Despite the challenging conditions and difficult course, Burnell noted the tactical execution of both teams.
Bonner’s third-place finish marked a significant step forward for the second-year runner, placing ahead of established teammates. Karow finished just outside of national qualification last season, while Roark was among the top 40 fastest milers in the country during the track season.
“For Sindri to place ahead of those two individuals who have had strong falls already is just really exciting,” Burnell said. “If we’ve got three people that are really knocking on the door to Nationals, and we can get our other four runners to close the gap with them, we’re talking about having a fairly good chance of our team qualifying for nationals, which would be the first time since 2006 that Grinnell has done that for the women’s team.”
For Abelow, the sixth-place finish represented a strong return after missing most of last year’s cross country season due to injury. Saturday’s race was only his second 8K.
“He placed third in the 5K at our Conference championship [in track], and just has built on that throughout the summer,” Burnell said. “This is only his second 8K he’s ever run. So he’s still learning and figuring it out, and to be this successful already is exciting.”
Heagy, competing in his final season, said the team approached the race with some apprehension due to the course difficulty and conditions.
“Going into the race, me and my teammates were pretty nervous just because the course is a pretty difficult course,” Heagy said. “But all in all, we performed well as a team. I actually outperformed more than I had in past years.”
Karow emphasized the team’s strategic approach in her written response to The S&B — “I was proud of how our team executed our plan to run a more conservative first mile and stick together, and we performed well against Central [College]. Central usually goes to nationals, so being so close to them in the race makes me excited about Grinnell’s chances to go to nationals as a team.”
The women’s team entered the season predicted to finish first in Conference by Midwest Conference coaches, while the men were predicted second. Both teams feature relatively young rosters, with the women led by two seniors and the men’s team including several first-year runners.
“It’s really an exciting time, as I think about not just the potential that we have for this year, but sort of thinking beyond this year,” Burnell said.
