NIACC men place 3rd at Indian Hills Invite

OTTUMWA - The No. 15 (NJCAA Division II) NIACC men's cross country team placed third at the Indian Hills Invitational on Friday at the Cedar Creek Golf Course.

NIACC and No. 13 (NJCAA Division II) Southeastern tied 84 points but the Trojans earned the third-place finish in a tie-breaker over the Blackhawks. No. 11 (NJCAA Division II) DMACC was second with 62 points. Hawkeye CC was eighth with 208 points.

NIACC, Southeastern, DMACC and Hawkeye CC will all compete in the NJCAA Region 11 Division II meet on Oct. 27 in Creston.

No. 7 (NJCAA Division I) Indian Hills was the team champion on Friday with 24 points.

In Friday's race, freshman Owen Almelien paced the Trojans with a sixth-place finish in a personal-best time of 26 minutes, 22 seconds in the 8-kilometer race. The 26:22 ranks 25th on NIACC's all-time 8K list.

Indian Hills' Brandon Ford won Friday's race, which was delayed an hour because of lightning, in 23:40. Indian Hills' Keveroy Venson was second in 24:14.

The last men's runner to crack the NIACC men's 8K top 25 list was Bryson Canton with a 26:17 at the Seminole Valley Stampede on Oct. 8, 2022.

Also Friday for the NIACC men, sophomore Breyden Christensen was 10th in a personal-best time of 26:40, freshman Joey Ringo was 18th in a personal-best time of 27:09, Canton was 20th in 27:29 and sophomore Jacob Vais was 37th in 28:37.

NIACC freshman Eli Bergman was 39th (personal-best 28:56), sophomore Vlad Starrett was 41st (personal best 29:05), sophomore Hugo Massa was 43rd (personal best 29:16) and freshman Chris Marroquin was 45th (personal best 29:27).

NIACC returns to action Oct. 27 at the regional meet in Creston.

Team standings - Indian Hills 24, DMACC 62, NIACC 84, Southeastern 84, State Fair CC 138, Culver-Stockton College 173, Graceland University 199, Hawkeye CC 208, Faith Baptist Bible College 225.