By Adam Hensley
The Hawkeye cross-country team split up on the weekend of Oct. 14. The top sophomores and upperclassmen traveled to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the Pre-National meet.
The rest of the team competed in the Bradley Classic, giving the underclassmen an opportunity to prove themselves.
Iowa set 11 college-best times in the men’s 8,000-meters and the women’s 6,000-meters in Peoria, Illinois.
“It kind of scared me at first because there’s nobody [in front]. Usually I fall in behind the pack,” freshman Claire Dupuis said. “This time I was more on my own.”
Six of those personal records came from freshmen, including Dupuis.
Nathan Mylenek, a freshman from Clarkston, Michigan, led the men’s team with a career-best time of 25:09.3 that meant a 34th-place finish.
Two other freshmen, Brandon Cooley and Luke Sampson, rounded out Iowa’s top-three spots, coming in at 59th and 83rd, respectively.
The men’s team finished 16th among 27 teams.
Dupuis led the women’s team, placing 40th. She was the only Hawkeye runner in to finish in the top-100 spots.
“It was a really flat course, and it was nice to run with the younger team, because that’s our training group,” Dupuis said. “I and Julie [Hollensbe] were working together for most of [the race].”
The Hawkeye women, who placed 24th out of 31 teams in the 6,000-meter run, ran six freshmen, three sophomores, and one junior. On the men’s side, Iowa suited up five freshmen and two sophomores.
The underclassmen, as well as the athletes who competed at Pre-Nationals, will get their next shot to compete on Oct. 30, when the team travels to Minneapolis for the Big Ten Championships.
Tough competition at Pre-Nationals
The Hawkeyes faced arguably their toughest field of competition to this point in 2016 in Terre Haute.
“We have aspirations to be national qualifiers,” senior Ben Anderson said. “Going up against [other national qualifiers] is big in the sense of gaining experience.”
The Iowa men faced seven teams ranked in the nation’s top-30, three of which (No. 3 Oregon, No. 5 Arkansas, and No. 7 Colorado) rank in the top 10. The Hawkeyes also clashed with four Midwest opponents — Bradley, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas — which all rank higher than the Hawkeyes.
The women’s race bolstered a stronger group. Five top-10 teams (No. 1 Colorado, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Michigan, No. 8 Portland, and No. 10 Arkansas) competed, highlighting the list of nine ranked teams to compete.
Regionally, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma raced against the Hawkeyes.
Update on regional rankings
Both the men and women’s units dropped in the latest regional rankings, which came out on Oct. 17.
The men, who previously ranked 12th in the Midwest, fell to 14th. The women relinquished one spot, coming in at 12th in the latest update.
Both rankings featured a lot of movement. Out of the 15 teams listed on the men’s side, nine teams moved at least one spot — six of which dropped. The women’s poll saw 13 teams move, with the biggest drop coming from Illinois (ranked seventh last week), falling to 14th.
As far as jumps, Bradley and Missouri each leaped three spots in the men’s poll (Bradley cracked the top five, coming in at fourth.)