TERRE HAUTE, IND.—Running at the site of this year's NCAA Division III Championships, the Central College women's cross country team had a pair of top-25 individual finishers in a loaded field at the Pre-National meet Friday night.
Central finished 14th as a team with 409 points, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the winner with 56 points. Faith Duncan of Wilmington University (Ohio) won the 6,000-meter race in 21 minutes, 2.79 seconds.
"We knew there was a going to be a lot of adversity with a long day of travel and a lot of runners," coach
Joe Dunham said. "We had a lot of really good individual performances but its fair to say we weren't overly pleased with how we did in the team race."
Addison Parrott (senior, Danville) was Central's top finisher for the first time this season, taking 19th overall in 22:02.30. She's been battling through sickness early in the season and is getting healthy after an All-American junior season.
"She stepped up and was a great leader for our team today," Dunham said. "Expectations are high for her and they should be. She had a really strong race."
Peyton Steffen (junior, Marion) was next for the Dutch, taking 21st overall. Her time of 22:03.97 is No. 4 on Central's all-time list.
The other three scorers for the Dutch were
Emma Rocha (senior, Franklin, Wis.) in 119th place (23:29.16),
Peyton Madison (freshman, Eldridge, North Scott HS) in 137th place (23:43.72) and
Sara DeHaan (senior, Cedar Falls) in 154th place (23:57.68)
Also finishing in the varsity seven were seniors
Kira Hooper (Henderson, N.C., Citrus Valley HS) and
Eva Hoch (Norwalk) in 158
th (24:02.91) and 160th place (24:05.49), respectively.
The Dutch travel to Rock Island, Illinois on Saturday, October 19 for the Augustana Inter-Regional.
"We're going to learn from this," Dunham said. "I told the teams that we are still a month away from the conference meet and that's when we need to be running our best."
