Bryan George Oct. 15, 2005

Central faces nation's best

WEST SALEM, WIS. - The Central men's and women's cross country teams made strong showings against some of the nation's best at the Jim Drews-Tori Neubauer Invitational Saturday. The Central men finished 17th in a 29-team field that included Wisconsin and Minnesota, rated No. 2 and No. 20 respectively in Division I, and four teams rated in the top 20 in Division III.

Adam Wolf (junior, Corning) again led the men finishing 47th in a 300-runner field in 25:43, his second-fastest career 8,000-meter time and also the second-best showing of any Iowa Conference runner in the field.  South Dakota State's Brad Lowery finished first overall with 24:21.

        "We ran a very good team race," said head coach Jeff Bovee. "It was a solid performance and I feel really good about how our team ran."

Senior Bryan George (Pella) was next in 98th (26:41) with T.J. Weiler (senior, Ankeny) in 107th (27:00) , Brett Jones (junior, Knoxville) in 108th (27:04) and Mike McLoughlin (senior, Fort Dodge, St. Edmonds HS) in 112th (27:07). Central posted an average time of 26:43. The same five ran the same course 35 seconds faster than last year's average of 27:18.  Brian Respeliers (junior, Council Bluffs, St. Albert HS) was 118th (27:16) and Joe Jefferson (junior, Decorah) was 121st (27:20).

Wisconsin won the meet with 46 points with Minnesota next with 52, host Wis.-La Crosse, rated No. 2 in Division III, in third with 115 and Iowa State fourth with 152.  Central had 472 points, just behind Luther's 427.      

"I feel that we can be pretty solid at the Iowa Conference meet," said Bovee. "The only conference teams we finished behind were Wartburg and Luther."

Women 18th- Central was 18th in a 23-team women's field that was topped by Wis.- La Crosse, rated third in Division III.

"We didn't have our best day," said Bovee. "We just came off two very well-run meets. This wasn't a banner day, but we still competed."

One bright spot for the Dutch was senior Jill Rozendaal (Grinnell, Lynnville-Sully HS). Rozendaal was 18th in 22:32, only four seconds slower than her 6,000-meter career best and 40 seconds faster than her finish there last year.  Julia Rudd of Wis.-La Crosse won in 21:38.

Nicki Thomas (freshman, Omaha, Neb., Millard North HS) was 101st (24:21), with Heidi Rathje (senior, Atkins, Benton HS) 111th (24:48), Jess Clark (freshman, Port Byron, Ill., Riverdale HS) 124th (25:10), Mackenzie Lauman (senior, Shenandoah, Shenandoah-Essex HS) 136th (25:48),  Amanda Wood (senior, Pocahontas) 139th (26:08) and Amy Boesenberg (freshman, Cedar Rapids, Alburnett HS) 146th (26:08).

Both squads are off until the league meet Oct. 29 in Cedar Rapids.