Statesmen Start 2023 with Runner-Up Placing on Short Course

Cedar Rapids--Although it was a departure from the usual distance, the William Penn men's cross country team performed well as it opened the season at the Corridor Clash Friday.

Running on a shortened version of the course that will host the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship in November, the Statesmen placed second out of eight teams with 50 points.  Cornell claimed the team crown with 36 points.

Isaac vanWestrienen of Cornell won the individual title with a time of 15:11.5 on the 5K track; normally, collegiate men race on 8K courses.

D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill.) excelled in his first race in the navy and gold, placing third out of 95 runners in 15:41.5.

Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering) was right behind him in fifth place at 15:48.8.

Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management) was next, just missing the top 10 as he finished 11th in 16:10.6, while Max Finley (Fr., Richville, N.Y., Secondary Education) ended up 13th in 16:16.8.

Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa) wrapped up the varsity scoring with a time of 16:31.2 to place 19th in his collegiate debut.

Ethan Varvelo (Jr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering) paced the rest of the WPU runners, taking 37th in a time of 17:19.6.

"The men faced a tough field of regionally-ranked NCAA Division III competition as well as some conference opponents," Head Coach Caleb Drake said.  "They did well to get out and put themselves in the race in the first mile.  I am extremely proud to see them running in pairs and working together through the race.  Most of our athletes looked very strong and felt that there was more in their tank for next week when we increase to the full race distance.  This was an exciting start to our season."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Bettendorf next Saturday to compete in the St. Ambrose Invitational.  The men's race begins at 10:30 a.m.