Millikin shatters record, Warriors place third

Pella, IA — Indian Hills Sophomore Brady Millikin (Hedrick/Pekin) opened up the 2022 season in record-breaking fashion on Friday night, setting a new Indian Hills Men's Cross Country program mark at the Dutch Invitational hosted by Central College.

The top returner from a year ago, Millikin dashed to a school-record time of 19:34.5 in the 6k event on Friday night to place second overall for the Warriors. Millikin, whose previous personal best came at the Dutch Invitational last season, finished six seconds behind the top finisher from Central College. Millikin topped his previous personal best by more than one minute to break into the new year and rewrite the record books for the Warriors.

"I wanted to come out in this season opener and make a statement," Millikin stated. "I feel like the team and I were able to do that tonight and it's something we can build on for later on in the season."

As a team, the Warriors placed third overall with an average time of 21:53.5 to finish behind first-place Central and second-place Grinnell College.

Millikin was followed by the talented freshman group consisting of Brody Lucas (Norwalk, IA/Norwalk), Jaccheus Taylor (Kansas City, MO /Raytown), Logan Soedt (Eldridge, IA/North Scott), and Ty Earls (Corydon, IA/Wayne County). Lucas crossed the line in 14th place with a time of 21:02 followed by Taylor who checked in at 17th with a time of 22:05. Soedt placed 18th with a time of 22:21 while Earls came in at 24:22. Sophomore Weston Shively (Bloomfield, IA/Davis County) rounded out the scoring for the Warriors with a 20th place finish.

Millikin's record-breaking performance topped the previous mark of 20:17 set by former teammate Nick O'Connor at the Dutch Invitational on Sept. 3, 2021.