Iowa City Today

The University of Iowa cross country team is set to open its 2025 season with the annual Hawkeye Invitational on Friday at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City. The event will begin with the women’s 4,000-meter race at 6:00 p.m., followed by the men’s 6,000-meter race. Drake and Iowa Central will also compete. Admission to the meet is free.

Looking back at last season, the Hawkeyes ended their 2024 campaign with notable performances at several meets. The men finished third and the women placed tenth at the Bradley Pink Classic. At the Gans Creek Classic, the women secured twelfth place out of thirty-eight teams, while the men finished thirteenth out of thirty-five teams. Freshman Elena Torres received Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors twice for her efforts during her debut year. The men's team concluded their season ranked thirteenth at both the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Midwest Regional meets, while the women's team finished sixteenth and seventeenth in those respective events.

Senior Miriam Sandeen led Iowa’s women throughout the regular season, returning as Iowa’s top finisher in multiple meets including last year’s Hawkeye Invite and postseason championships. "Sophomore Elena Torresfinished as Iowa’s top runner at the Gans Creek Classic and enters the 2025 campaign as Iowa’s Women’s Big Ten Runner to Watch." Senior Rowan Boulter contributed scoring performances in every regular season race for Iowa in 2024. Seven upperclassmen are expected to lead this year’s women’s squad.

On the men’s side, all seven top scorers from last year return for 2025. Seniors Will Ryan, Brayden Burnett, and Carson Houg were consistent contributors throughout last season. "Junior Miles Wilsonwas a consistent top-five runner for Iowa in every meet for the 2024 season and returns as Iowa’s representative as the Men’s Big Ten Runner to Watch." Upperclassmen Carson Houg, Luke Knepp, and Hayden Kuhn bring experience to this year’s roster, while sophomores Armaan Chopra, Ethan Eichhorn, and Kyle Montgomery aim to move up in rankings during competition.

The Hawkeyes have added four newcomers for this season: freshmen Owen Wolfe, Spencer Alf, and Elias Arbuckle join the men’s roster; Emma Magallan joins on the women’s side. Last year saw significant contributions from new athletes such as Elena Torres—who earned two conference freshman awards—and Marissa Long and Hillary Trainor on the women’s team. For the men, Kyle Montgomery performed well across several meets including last year’s Hawkeye Invite; Ethan Eichhorn also had strong finishes early in his career.

Fifteen of twenty-four athletes on this year's roster are from Iowa. Others represent Illinois (Cameron Kalaway and Audra Soderlind), Minnesota (Marissa Long and Miriam Sandeen), Wisconsin (Spencer Alf), Virginia (Armaan Chopra), Texas (Ella Magallan), Indiana (Kyle Montgomery), and Colorado (Elena Torres).

At last year's Hawkeye Invite, Iowa's women took second place with three runners finishing among the top ten; Miriam Sandeen and Rowan Boutler set personal bests with times of 14:20.4 and 14:41.5 respectively.

Fans can follow updates on social media via Facebook or by following @IowaXC_TF on X or Instagram (@iowaxctf). Live results are available through hawkeyesports.com/tracklive.

After a break next weekend, Iowa will compete again at Minneapolis’ Roy Griak Invite on September 19.