GENEVA, ILL.—Placing five runners in the top seven, the Central College men's cross country team dominated the 15-team Aurora University (Ill.) Invitational Saturday.
The Dutch finished with just 21 points with American Rivers foe Simpson College second with 55 while the University of Chicago had 84. Central was previewing the course which will be the site of the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Nov. 12.
"We were the top-ranked team coming in, so we were supposed to do well today," coach
Joe Dunham said. "Some of the teams ran their JV teams. But I was still really pleased with how we ran. We used it as an opportunity to get better and to work on our pack running. I think we saw that happen."
Kenny Cronin (sophomore, Des Moines, Davis County HS) turned in a career-best 26:04.4 over the 8,000-meter course and placed second, leading Central for the first time.
"Kenny ran unbelievably well," Dunham said.
Noah Jorgenson (junior, Sidney) was third in 26:07.6,
Adam Sylvia (senior, Rochester, Mass., Old Rochester HS) was fourth in 26:12.8,
Cutler Owens (5th-year, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) placed fifth in 26:24.0,
Caleb Silver (senior, Conrad, BCLUW HS) was seventh in 26:27.3,
Derek Webster (sophomore, Norwalk) was 16th in 27:01.7 and
Randy Jimenez (sophomore, Liberty Center, Southeast Warren HS) was 19th in 27:07.4.
"Noah (Jorgenson), Adam (Sylvia), Cutler (Owens) and Caleb (Silver), those frontrunner guys, just ran really consistently," Dunham said. "And I thought
Derek Webster had another good race. He just continues to improve every time he races."
Central will see another fast course at the Augustana (Ill.) Interregional Invitational at Rock Island, Illinois Oct. 15. Several Dutch runners have posted career-best times there in the past. But they'll be coming off some intense training.
"One of the two hard weeks of the season is this coming week so we're still hitting it pretty hard," Dunham said. "We've definitely got some more work ahead of us to be ready for the championship season."
