NIACC sophomore Grant Dieken runs at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival in September.

October 11, 2018

Second annual Trent Smith Invitational set for Friday

MASON CITY - The second annual Trent Smith Invitational is set for Friday on the NIACC campus.

The five-kilometer starts at 4:30 p.m. with a men's 8K race to follow.

Smith died in a car accident on Aug. 9, 2016. He was NIACC's first male cross country all-American in 2011 when he placed 11th at the national meet in Hobbs, N.M.

Teams scheduled to compete are Buena Vista, DMACC (women), Faith Baptist College, Grand View University, Hawkeye CC, NIACC, Southwestern and Waldorf University.

The NIACC men won the inaugural Trent Smith Invite in 2017 with 36 points and Southwestern was second with 53 points. NIACC's Brian Jacques was the individual champion in a taime of 25 minutes, 17 seconds.

Iowa Western won the 2017 women's Trent Smith Invite with 22 points and NIACC was second with 57 points. Hawkeye's Joanna Topham was the women's individual champion in a time of 19:20.

The No. 22 (NJCAA Division I) NIACC men last competed on Sept. 22 at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. where they placed 45th.

NIACC was led by freshman Gavin Connell, who placed 250th in a personal-best 28:16. Other counting scores for the Trojans were Abdiaziz Wako (280th in 28:41), Sam Pedelty (289th in a personal-best 28:46), Daniel Hennigar (291st in 28:47) and Grant Dieken (310th in 29:10).

Also for the Trojans, Zane Miller was 324th in a personal-best 29:32 and Isaac Branstad was 373rd in 30:34.

The No. 17 NIACC women placed 36th Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival. Freshman Emma Davison led the NIACC women with a 179th place finish in a time of 20:02 in the 5K race.

Other counting scores for the Lady Trojans were sophomore Julia Dunlavey (211th in 20:28), Caitlyn Regan (229th in 20:46) and Cecelia Hemsworth (291st in 21:29).

2018 NIACC men's 8K season bests

Abdiaziz Wako 27:41 (Grand View Viking Invitational, 9-14-18)

Gavin Connell 28:16 (Arkansas Chile Pepper, 9-22-18)

Sam Pedelty 28:46 (Arkansas Chile Pepper, 9-22-18)

Daniel Hennigar 28:47 (Arkansas Chile Pepper, 9-22-18)

Grant Dieken 29:10 (Arkansas Chile Pepper, 9-22-18)

Zane Miller 29:32 (Arkansas Chile Pepper, 9-22-18)

Evan Wilson 29:38 (Grand View Viking Invitational, 9-14-18)

Isaac Branstad 30:30 (Grand View Viking Invitational, 9-14-18)

2018 NIACC women's 5K season bests

Emma Davison 19:40 (Augustana Twilight, 8-31-18)

Caitlyn Regan 20:14 (Augustana Twilight, 8-31-18)