Cross Country Shows Improvement at Viking Invitational
The Grand View University Viking Invitational was planned to be held at the Des Moines Water Works Park, however, with the wet weather and low, flat ground at Water Works Park, the course was not in good condition for a race. A last minute change of venue placed us at Pickard Park in Indianola, with Simpson College helping Grand View University host the event. The course was muddy in several places, particularly on one downhill and uphill area, but was in fairly good shape for the most part.
The cross country course at Pickard Park is laid out as a 5 kilometer course, so the Grand View University coach improvised and added a men's finish line after 6K instead of the typical 8K men's distance. Sophomore Dewey Rapson ran the 6 kilometers in a time of 24:20, running strong up the grassy incline to the finish line.
The women were happy to have a 5K race again, and all three ran season best times. Sophomore Wendy Busenitz finished first for the Lady Eagles in a time of 22:31. Sophomore Taylor Ballard ran it in a time of 25:46, and sophomore Kaitlyn Peters finished in a time of 25:53. Taylor and Kaitlyn made huge strides towards the national qualifying mark of 24:30! The entire team is continuing to work very hard during practices to get faster and stronger.
Please pray for health and safety over the next two weeks as the team puts in some long hours of distance runs to continue working on their conditioning. Our next race will be October 1st at Wartburg College in Waverly.
