William Penn Takes Home First Title Since 2004

Bettendorf--The Statesmen men's cross country team made history Saturday, winning the program's first meet crown in 19 years as it topped the St. Ambrose Invitational.

WPU finished first out of six teams with 24 points, while St. Ambrose tallied 35 points for runner-up positioning.

The meet victory is William Penn's first since winning the Midwest Classic Conference Championship back on November 6, 2004.  It is also just the seventh title for WPU since 2001 and just the third win in a non-conference championship meet.

Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering) and D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill.) essentially tied for first among the 48 runners with identical times of 26:22 on the 8K course.  The victory for Williams and Beaver is the first for the program since 2016.

Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management) and Max Finley (Fr., Richville, N.Y., Computer Science) also paired up and basically tied for third at 26:36.

SAU tallied the next five runners, but Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa) locked up the title in 15th place at 27:54.

Ethan Varvelo (Jr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology) guided the remaining Statesmen in 19th place at 28:21.

"Wow, what a day for our men!" Head Coach Caleb Drake said.  "It has been quite a while since this program has won a meet.  To watch our guys compete and move up to the front in the last third of the race was pretty special.  We do not get many races in this sport (typically only 5-6), meaning just 20-24 in a four-year span, so each meet feels like it holds more weight.  To win a meet is such a fun memory for these men to have.  This is a testament to the work they have put in during the summer and so far this season in practices.  We enjoyed this win today, but we still have work to do this season."

Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Des Moines on September 23 to compete in the Grand View Invitational.