Hawkeye fourth-year distance runner Miriam Sandeen led the Iowa women’s cross country squad to a second-place finish in their season opener on Friday. Sandeen finished in 14:20.4, a personal record, in the 4,000-meter race. 

The Iowa cross country program hosted Bradley, Illinois State, Iowa Central, and Iowa Western at the Hawkeye Invite on Aug. 30. The women competed in the 4,000-meter race, and the men followed, racing 6,000 meters.

“[Sandeen] ran really well, and we need her to run well all season,” Iowa distance coach Randy Hasenbank said. “She had a really strong finish to her track season, and she’s going to be somebody who’s up there in that front part of the races.”

Close behind Sandeen were first-year Elena Torres in fifth and fifth-year Amber Aesoph in seventh. Third-year Rowan Boulter recorded a personal best of 14:41.5 and finished 11th. 

One place behind Boulter, first-year Marissa Long rounded out the scoring Hawkeye team members. The squad finished second with 39 points. Bradley finished first with a score of 23.

On the men’s side, fourth-year Will Ryan led the charge. Ryan finished 10th with a time of 18:24.8. 

Five seconds later, first-year Kyle Montgomery crossed the line. Next was fellow first-year Ethan Eichhorn, coming in 16th during his first race as a Hawkeye.

“Our freshman class for both the men’s and women’s has a lot of talent, and they are going to contribute immediately, and they did so here today,” Hasenbank said.

Veteran third-years Miles Sheppard and Carson Houg finished out the scoresheets for Iowa. The team tallied 75 points, putting the Hawkeyes in third overall.

Bradley and Iowa Western Community College totaled a better collection of points than the Hawkeyes with 31 and 46, respectively.

Looking ahead

The Hawkeye runners will take a week off of competition before hitting the course again on Sept. 13. 

There, the Black and Gold will head to Champaign, Illinois, for the Big Ten Preview.