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Iowa Central runs in Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Iowa Central cross country teams were in action Saturday at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invite co-hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska.

The women kicked off the day with a second place team finish made up of many NCAA Div. I, II and NAIA teams. The top-ranked NJCAA ranked Tritons finished with 79 points, just behind meet winner, University of Iowa who had 53 points.

Iowa Central was again led by sophomore Winrose Chesang, who finished third in a time of 17:20.2 over the 5K course. Faith Chepengat of Iowa Western was the meet winner with a time of 17:09.1.

Chesang was followed closely by sophomore Florance Uwajeneza in sixth (17:38.3), freshman Eleonora Curtabbi in seventh (17:40.5), and Lilian Busienei in 13th (17:58.2).

All seven Tritons posted personal best times, and the top four runners all posted times ranking among the top 10 in school history. Chesang’s time which is third best.

“Our top four runners are pretty amazing. Watching them compete at the front of the pack over 5km with these NCAA Division I runners, gives us a lot of confidence that they are going to do some great things this season,” head coach Dee Brown said. “We were fortunate to have every set a personal record this weekend with a hard week of training behind us.”

The No. 3 Iowa Central men finished sixth of 18 teams with 174 points. Iowa was first at 47, followed by Kansas State and Nebraska.

Iowa Central was led by sophomore Awet Yohannes of Sweden. Yohannes finished sixth overall in 24:53.8.

George Kusche of Nebraska was the winner of the 8K race in a time of 24:12.2.

Freshman Eldad Mulugeta of Maryland ran second for Iowa Central. He was 15th overall in a time of 25:242 in his 8km debut. His time ranks among the top 25 all-time for the Tritons.

Two more freshman had solid debuts, Chris Levario (26:09.9) and Noah Friske (26:17.8), both of Illinois, finished 51st and 57th in the field of 237 runners. Placing fifth through seventh for the Tritons were sophomores Trevor Ramsdell (68/26:25.4), Milos Pendic (81/26:41.2) and Will Whalen (84/26:43.4).

“We had really hoped we could come out and beat the top ranked team in the nation. It didn’t happen, but we will get another shot in two weeks,” said Brown.

Iowa Central splits its squads on Oct. 5, with the varsity group heading to the Chile Pepper Festival at the University of Arkansas while the rest of the team will compete in the Dan Huston Invitational at Wartburg College.

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