Hawkeyes Set Multiple Career Bests at Gans Creek Classic

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Iowa women’s cross country team notched its third top-three team finish of the season in as many races on Friday morning at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri.

The Hawkeye women took third place with 101 points, and were once again led by sophomore Kelli Tosic, who finished 12^th and set a new 6,000-meter personal best in 21:24.8. The men made moves throughout the race to finish fifth in the team standings with a score of 138 points.

All five scoring Hawkeyes placed in the top-30 of the women’s race. Junior Gabby Skopec finished 20^th in 21:34, freshman Brooke McKee was 21^st (21:35.6) and seniors Emma Gordon and Jessica McKee finished 22^nd (21:36.2) and 27^th (21:45.9), respectively. The first five to cross the finish line, as well as freshmen Lauren McMahon (21:51.7) and Miriam Sandeen (21:52.7), set new 6,000-meter personal-bests.

The men’s top five all broke the 25-minute barrier, led by senior Noah Healy who posted a career-best time of 24:08.4 to finish fifth — his second top-five finish this season. Sophomore Nick Trattner crossed next for Iowa, recording a new personal best of 24:16.6 to finish ninth and record his third-consecutive top-10 finish.

Sophomores Jack Pendergast and Kal Lewis, and senior Jeff Roberts were within five seconds of one another, finishing 39^th, 44^th and 46^th, to round out the scoring for the Hawkeyes. Pendergast recorded his best time (24:54.7), while Lewis and Roberts joined him, running  career bests in 24:57.3 and 24:59.4, respectively. Freshman Isaac Hartman recorded his new career best time of 25:19.1.

Up next, the Hawkeyes head to Peoria, Illinois, to compete at the Bradley Pink Classic on Friday, Oct. 15. Races are scheduled to begin with the women’s 6,000-meters at 3 p.m. (CT) followed by the men’s 8,000-meter race.

Hear From Head Coach Randy Hasenbank…

“I thought that our women had their best team race in long time. There were massive personal-best performances, but more importantly, we were very , very competitive today. Seven women 28 seconds apart over nearly four miles of racing is very impressive. The star of the day was Jessica McKee.  She has had a few setbacks, but she has continued to battle through them. She provided a lot of inspiration to the team today.  She was right in the thick of the battle the whole way. I’m very proud of her. Kelli [Tosic], Gabby [Skopec] and Emma [Gordon] continue to set the tone for this team. All three ran career-bests over 6,000 meters. The other three women in our top seven made their 6K debuts. Overall, it was another big step in the right direction.”

“The men competed much better this weekend for the simple fact that this was the second 8,000-meter race for many of the guys in the team. Noah [Healy] and Nick [Trattner] were patient through the 4K-mark, which allowed them to do a lot of good work on the back half of the race. We turned them loose today, and I think they proved that they can be solid front runners for this team. Our top seven men posted big personal-best marks for 8,000 meters. I was really impressed with how far some of these guys have come just two weeks removed from the first 8K of their careers. Isaac Hartman and Kal Lewis showed significant progress at this distance, with Isaac shaving a full minute. It was great to have a couple guys up front and we need them to continue to be fearless. What we need to do next is close the gap between our number two runner and our three-four-five.”