IW cross-country runs at Augustana

The Iowa Wesleyan cross country teams competed at the Brissman-Luden Invitational hosted by Augustana University in Rock Island, Ill., on Friday. In the third race of the year, each member of the Tigers ran personal bests as IW finished 25th in both the men's and women's races.

The field for the women's race consisted of 324 runners. Iowa Wesleyan's Sierra Howardson ended the day with a top 25 finish. Howardson recorded a time of 23:34.9, which bested her personal record by 47 seconds. She ran at a pace of 6:20 per mile and placed 23rd. Allison Morris beat her PR by 46 seconds, running a time of 27:18.8 in the event. Maggie Thomure had the biggest improvement on her personal best, lowering her time by 2:42.

On the men's side, Joel Amor led the Tigers with a time of 28:09.4, improving his personal best by 51 seconds. Amor finished 141 out of 330 participants. Nathaniel Townsend and Matthew Klundt were the next best finishers for the Tigers. Townsend cut just over two minutes off of his person best, recording a time of 30:30, while Klundt shaved just over a minute off his PR, running a time of 31:58.

Head coach, Chris Creal, was pleased with the way his team performed this afternoon. 'I am very proud of how everyone raced today. We went in with personal game plans and everyone executed their goals,” said Creal.

'It's always exciting when you get to hit personal best marks, but it is truly a special moment to have every member of the program set their PRs on the same day. This is a first time in my career to accomplish such a feat and I am proud it is with this program,” continued Creal.

Iowa Wesleyan will have two more event before the SLIAC Championships. The Tigers will compete at the Roy Griak Invite in St. Paul, Minn., on September 29th in their next meet. The women's race begins at 9 a.m, with the men's race following at 9:30 a.m.