GRINNELL—Coach
Joe Dunham saw a big performance leap for his Central College men's cross country team Saturday in posting a second-place finish at the Les Duke Invitational.
Times were faster across the board than those the Dutch turned in on the same 8,000-meter course last year. National contender Wartburg College was without some of its top runners but pulled out a narrow victory in the eight-team field with 39 points to Central's 41. Simpson College was a distant third with 113.
Noah Jorgenson (junior, Sidney) was third in 25:56.4, more than a minute quicker than last year's time.
Cutler Owens (5th-year, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) followed in fourth in a career-best 25:58.5 while
Caleb Silver (senior, Conrad, BCLUW HS) was eighth in 26:04.3,
Kenny Cronin (sophomore, Des Moines, Davis County HS) was ninth in 26:06.1,
Adam Sylvia (senior, Rochester, Mass., Old Rochester HS) was 17th in 26:37.4,
Randy Jimenez (sophomore, Liberty Center, Southeast Warren HS) was 20th in 26:44.6 and
Derek Webster (sophomore, Norwalk) was 23rd in 27:01.8.
"We're just a different team than we were last year at this time," Dunham said. "That's exciting and hopefully we can continue to build on that."
Dunham said the Dutch did well in transitioning from a 6,000-meter race at the Central Dutch Invitational Sept. 2 to 2,000 additional meters Saturday, but improvement is still needed.
"We've still got to figure out the 8,000-meter race a little bit," he said. "We probably got out a little too fast today. But overall, I think they really gave a good effort."
Central returns to the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis Friday, Sept. 23, with the men's college race starting at 12:45 p.m. Central was 10th in a 29-team field last year. There are also Division I races as part of the meet, helping provide an exciting atmosphere, Dunham said.
"Our team just loves that course," Dunham said. "It will be challenging for us. There will be some really good Division II and Division III teams that we have to run against but it's really fun to have a big challenge like that and try to surprise some people."
