WAVERLY, Iowa — The Knox College men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Iowa for the Dan Huston Invite hosted by Wartburg College today, and sophomore Cecilia Goodin led the Prairie Fire runners by finishing 29th in the women's 6K in 25:14.6. First-year Misha Ratner paced the men with his time of 27:49.6 to place 72nd in the field of 150 runners.
The women finished seventh overall with 147 points, merely a single point behind Faith Baptist Bible College in sixth. Senior Franny Hilliard crossed the tape in 27:11.0, good for 53rd and a personal record (PR), while first-year Mary Stockdale (28:29.1) and junior Eileen Sheetz (28:53.3) each posted PRs as well. First-year Alenis Rios provided the last scoring time for Knox in 29:30.6.
The men featured four runners posting PRs, each one shaving nearly a minute or more over the previous bests. Ratner was not much further ahead of his Prairie Fire teammates junior Lance Miller (27:56.0, 73rd) and sophomore Evan McClusky (28:11.6, 75th). Knox combined for 208 points — like the women, a solitary point behind the team ahead of them, this time the University of Dubuque — to finish ninth in the 11-team field.
- Joining Ratner and McClusky with PRs for the men were sophomore Max Lawrence (31:33.8) and first-year Chasyn Pollard (34:36.0).
- Junior Elliott Varnum enjoyed a season PR of 30:13.1.
- The host school easily ran away with the best team score in both races thanks to their top five runners crossing the tape first in each one.
Knox has one more tune-up prior to the Midwest Conference Championship when it hits the trails at Augustana College on Saturday, Oct. 19 for the Augustana Interregional in Rock Island, Illinois.
