Statesmen Take Bronze in Season Opener

Pella--The William Penn men's cross country team got its 2024 season underway with a third-place effort at the Central Invitational Friday.

WPU finished third out of eight teams with 60 points.  Host Central took the team crown with 25 points.

The Dutch also had the top individual harrier as Jack Brown finished the 6K race in 18:49.

In a competition that included 100 runners, D'Artagnon Beaver (Sr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) was third overall at 19:10, while Brandon Williams (Sr., Fountain, Colo., Engineering Technology) also ended up in the top 10 in eighth at 19:35.2.  With his time, Beaver broke the school's 6K record that was previously owned by Jamal Boma at 19:21.4 back in 2016.

Ruben Perez-Rodriguez (Sr., San Antonio, Texas, Wellness and Recreation) was next, placing 12th in 19:56.5, while Andrew Miller (So., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) was also in the top 20 in 17th in a time of 20:10.7.  Ethan Varvelo (Sr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology) wrapped up the varsity scoring in 30th in 20:42.5.

Carson Springer (So., Grimes, Iowa, Business Management), in 39th at 21:10, and Sutton Shively (Fr., Bloomfield, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering), in 66th in 22:22.5, paced the remaining Statesmen.

"This was a tough course with good competition," Head Coach Caleb Drake said.  "Our men competed hard and are in the midst of some dense training right now.  I really loved how we worked together in the race and we will continue to work from here.  We have some things to work on and the men recognized them immediately after the race.  We certainly did not run our best and I am glad for that.  We want to be our best later in the season."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Columbia, Mo. on Friday, September 20 to battle in the Columbia Larry Young Invitational.