Eagles Off to a Strong Start
Pella, IA -- Faith women's cross country qualified to compete at NCCAA Nationals in their first meet of the season while the men ran a 6k for their final tune-up of the season.
The Eagles sent 11 runners to compete at the Central Dutch Invite as the women's team competed in a 5k and the men ran a 6k. Carlie Blevins led the women's squad with a time of 20:03.4, placing 14th overall, and Brian Rohde placed 65th with his 6k time of 22:01.0.
All five of the women posted solid times, as Becca Hulinsky (22:36.4) and Lydia Mueller (24:08.9) rounded out the top three for the Eagles. Jelena Bausch and Leah Leary ran their first career races, finishing in 24:22.7 and 26:55.0 respectively. With the individual national qualification time set at 24:30.0, Carlie Blevins, Becca Hulinsky, Lydia Mueller, and Jelena Bausch all qualified for nationals as individuals on the day. Additionally, the team ran well under the team qualification time (2:05:00), finishing at 1:58:06, and qualifying to run as a team at the National meet in November. This is the second straight year Faith women's cross country has qualified for nationals as a team in their opening meet.
The men sent 6 runners to compete in the men's 6k, which is a non-qualifying distance and as such, served as an opportunity for the men to get their feet wet and figure out pacing for their upcoming meets. Brian Rohde led the Eagles with Ethan Smith (24:32.6) and Andrew Hackley (26:39.9) rounding out the top three. Brandon Smith (26:45.4), Maxwell Johnston (28:33.6), and Ben Hackley (28:57.7) came next and the men finished with a team time of 2:08:32. The Eagles will run 8k's for the rest of the season, which will allow them to qualify for nationals as a team and as individuals.
Up Next: Faith Cross Country will travel to Mason City to compete in the Trent Smith Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 13th. Both races will begin at 10:00 a.m. CT.
