Iowa men’s and women’s cross country both finished in the top five overall of the Gans Creek Classic Friday morning in Columbia, Missouri.

In the Hawkeyes’ third meet of the year, the Iowa women placed third overall with 101 team points while the men finished fifth with 138. 

The Gans Creek Classic was the Iowa’s third meet of the 2021 season, and the Hawkeye women’s third top-three finish.

Sophomore Kelli Tosic set the tone for the Hawkeyes as she finished 12th in the 6,000 meter race, with a personal best of 21 minutes and 24.8 seconds.

The five scoring women all finished in the top-30 of the race as junior Gabby Skopec placed 20th. Freshman Brooke McKee and senior Emma Gordon placed 21st and 22nd, respectively, and senior Jessica McKee finished in 27th.

“I thought that our women had their best team race in a long time,” head coach Randy Hasenbank said. “There were massive personal-best performances, but more importantly, we were very, very competitive today. Seven women 28 seconds apart over nearly four miles of racing is very impressive.”

On the men’s side, senior Noah Healy and sophomore Nick Tratter paced the Hawkeyes again as they finished fifth and ninth, respectively. The Gans Creek Classic is the third meet in a row that Healy and Trattner finished in the top 10. 

Sophomore Jack Pendergast and Kal Lewis finished 39th and 44th, respectively, and senior Jeff Roberts closed out the top five with a 46th place finish. 

“The men competed much better this weekend for the simple fact that this was the second 8,000-meter race for many of the guys in the team,” Hasenbank said. “Our top seven men posted big personal-best marks for 8,000 meters. I was really impressed with how far some of these guys have come just two weeks removed from the first 8K of their careers.”

BIG PICTURE

Hasenbank said both the Hawkeye men’s and women’s teams took steps in the right direction at the Gans Creek Classic Friday.

The Hawkeye women top five all recorded personal bests in their first 6,000-meter race. The men’s team also recorded five personal bests in the 8,000-meter distance.

NEW DISTANCE, NO PROBLEM

The Hawkeye women recorded their first 6,000-meter race of the season Friday, as they ran 4,000 meters at the Hawkeye Invitational Sept. 3 and 5,000 meters at the Dirksen-Greeno Invite in Lincoln, Nebraska, Sept 18.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will take another road trip on Oct. 15 to Peoria, Illinois, to compete at the Bradley Pink Classic. The women will start the meet at 3 p.m., followed by the men’s team.