Iowa City Today

The University of Iowa cross country teams participated in the Joe Piane Invite in South Bend, Indiana, marking their first appearance at the event since 2023. The competition took place on Friday morning.

Sophomore Elena Torres led the Hawkeyes for the third consecutive meet and finished with a time of 16:47.1 in the women’s 5,000 meters. This result placed her ninth on Iowa’s all-time list for that distance and earned her 25th overall in the race.

Other notable performances included sophomore Hillary Trainor finishing with a time of 17:10.0, while senior Jalyssa Blazek set a personal best at 17:28.9 as the third Hawkeye to finish. Freshman Ella Magallan continued her scoring streak for Iowa with a time of 17:43.9, and junior Audra Soderlind rounded out team scoring with a personal-best 17:54.7. As a team, Iowa’s women placed 13th overall with 363 points.

Rowan Boulter (18:22.5) and Ellie Rathe (18:36.4) each achieved significant improvements in their season debuts for the women’s team.

On the men’s side, improved weather conditions contributed to four personal bests during the men’s 8,000-meter invite race. Miles Wilson led with a season-debut time of 24:01.6, followed by sophomore Kyle Montgomery who set a personal record at 24:08.7—an improvement of over two minutes from his previous best—and finished as Iowa's second runner for back-to-back meets.

Three additional Hawkeyes scored personal bests in this event: Luke Knepp (24:17.0), Carson Houg (24:22.9), and freshman Elias Arbuckle (24:27.4). Knepp is noted as a former Big Ten Athlete of the Week from late September, while Houg improved his previous mark by more than three seconds compared to last year’s Big Ten Championships performance.

Freshmen Armaan Chopra (25:17.1) and Owen Wolfe (25:21.8) also posted career-best times in the open division of the men’s race.

Coach Randy Hasenbank commented on both teams’ efforts after competition concluded:

“The women ran a competitive race with a lot of consistency today. Elena (Torres) and Hillary (Trainor) ran solid races. I really appreciate how hard Jalyssa (Blazek) competed early in the race. Although she couldn’t hold on to that pace toward the end, that effort will pay off later,” Hasenbank said.

“On the men’s side, Miles (Wilson) opened up for us today and did a great job," he continued."We have missed him and obviously need him in the lineup.We had solid races from our top five.Kyle(Montgomery)and Luke(Knepp)competed well together out on the course,as did Eli(Arbuckle)and Carson(Houg).It really helps to have those groups working well together.Eli had a nice run for a freshman in this environment.”

The next scheduled meet for Iowa is October 18 at Pre-Nationals held at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri.