SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- In what Head Coach Craig Christians categorized as the "best day in men's program history," the Bruin cross country team established team and individual school records at Saturday's Holiday Inn Express Classic hosted by Dordt University. Held under near-perfect conditions on Dordt's campus course, the men ran to a fourth-place finish in the eleven-team field, defeated only by NAIA No. 12 ranked Dordt, No. 14 ranked Doane, and RV Concordia while narrowly defeating (RV) Benedictine. In the process, the men produced a cumulative team time for their five scoring runners of 2:09:59.5, an average of 25:59.9 per person. That eclipsed the team record set two weeks previously by three and a half minutes.
Individually, Richard Marcoux ran to a Top ten finish as he crossed in the eighth position overall in the field of 182, setting a new Bruin record for eight kilometers (4.97 miles) with his 25:17.2. Not far behind in 14th place was Xavier Mallow who improved on his own freshman record from the previous meet with his 25:42.1 clocking. Third across for the Bruins was Jose Lara, missing the junior class record by less than two seconds as he finished 25th in 26:08.5. Freshman Ronald Kipyegon had a breakthrough race, cutting over a minute from his previous best and finishing 31st in 26:15.3, moving him to No. 3 in his class. The final scorer for the Bruins was Collin Kotz at 45th and 26:36.6, moving him to No. 2 among fifth-year seniors.
Junior Luis Casallas Vega was five spots behind Kotz at 50th in 26:45.2, just off his personal best. Griffin Kipchumba has a career race, finishing 68th in 27:13.7, slashing nearly a minute from his personal best. Jaeden Maxfield had his best race of the season with a 28:19.3 clocking with Robbie Siford just twenty seconds back at 28:39.1. Finally, for the Bruins, Alejandro Corona-Martinez made his Bruin racing debut running 32:51.7.
Head Coach Craig Christians: "Today was a great confidence builder for us and super encouraging. We've got a month before the conference meet and there's room to get better. One of the things I like about this team is the racing consistency. We have made steady improvements like we saw today in Ronald and Griffin, and when a guy is a little off his game, he's not off by much. These guys are running for each other, and when one falters a little, the next guy steps up."
The Bruins will race again in two weeks at the Blazing Tiger Invite on October 26 at Mahoney State Park. This event has become a showcase for NAIA teams who are either ranked or have designs on being ranked, and the competition is sure to be at a very high level.
