Junior Trace Obbink looks like he might be the undisputed leader of the Dordt University men’s cross country team.
The Le Mars Community grad pulled away over the final 1,000 meters to secure his first college win at the Holiday Inn Express Classic hosted by the Defenders on Saturday, Oct. 10. Obbink covered the flat 8-kilometer course at Dordt in Sioux Center in 24 minutes, 57.6 seconds, missing his personal record by less than 10 seconds, to spark the Defenders to the Gold division title with 49 points.
Track Obbink had a great day, securing the first win of his collegiate career,” Dordt coach Nate Wolf said. “The depth of the team was apparent as several athletes traded positions within the scoring five and seven from earlier races this season.”
Obbink leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and post collegiate distance runners and triathletes.
Obbink has been on a tear this fall, first knocking more than a minute off his previous 8K best set in 2025 while taking 16th place at the Augustana University Invitational on Sept. 25. Obbink ran 24:48.2 that day and was the second Defenders runner over the finish line. On Saturday, Obbink pulled away from Northwestern College sophomore standout Caleb Tofteland to win by 18.7 seconds. Sophomore Hudson Hamilton was the next Dordt finisher in seventh in 25:29.6.
Obbink’s junior teammate Brett Gifford, who prepped at Dowling Catholic, was the No. 5 scorer for Dordt in 16th place. Gifford ran 26:00.9 as Doane was a distant second in the team race with 81 points. Northwestern junior and North Polk product Alik McIlravy was the sixth-place team’s No. 2 finisher in 26th place in 26:30.4. Next to finish was Dordt senior Caleb Van Beek in 26:32.2. Van Beek attended Western Christian (Hull). He was followed by freshman teammate Tyler Rozenboom, an ex-Unity Christian (Orange City) runner, in 28th place in 26:32.4.
Another Dordt athlete nearly made it a double victory for Iowa natives in the women’s 6K Gold race. Sophomore Addison Liston was edged for the win by sophomore teammate Joy Koole by 1.8 seconds. Liston, another Unity Christian grad, ran 22:17.4 for second as the champion and top-ranked (in NAIA) Defenders rolled to the team title with just 25 points.
Helping to break up the Dordt juggernaut at the top was Northwestern College senior Emily DeGroot. DeGroot, who prepped at MOC-FV (Orange City), was fourth in 22:20.6 to help the Red Raiders secure seventh in the team race. Northwestern also had a top-10 finisher in senior Kayden Spencer, a former Ogden and Des Moines Area Community College runner. Spencer secured 10th in 22:44.8.
Dordt senior and Waukee High grad Isabella Webb was the No. 6 finisher for the Defenders in 13th place in 22:52.0. Freshman teammate Katie Young, another Unity Christian product, was 18th in 23:02.2. Dordt sophomore Elyse Zwart, who attended Boyden-Hull, claimed 20th in 23:04.6. The leader for Morningside University was sophomore and ex-Cherokee Washington prep Estefana Beisswenger in 26th place in 23:16.5.
In the men’s 8K Black competition, former Iowa City West and Iowa Central Community College athlete Seth Cheney took the victory. The Fitness Sports Distance Project athlete ran 26:08.2 to win by 31.8 seconds.
Continuing with the small colleges and the Indian Hills Invitational at Cedar Creek Golf Course in Ottumwa on Oct. 9. Mount Mercy University All-American Abby Knepper dominated the women’s 5K competition, averaging 5:53 while running 18:17.7. The senior who competed for Beckman (Dyersville) won by nearly 45 seconds.
Helping the Mustangs take the team title with 55 points, the same as runner-up Indian Hills, was senior Kalin Rotzoll. The Clear Creek-Amana grad ran 19:05.6 for third place. The run of former Iowa preps continued with North Central (Manly) product Claire Rye finishing fourth in 19:24.8. Rye is a sophomore at William Penn. St. Ambrose senior Kaitlyn was the leader for fifth-place St. Ambrose (133 points) in fifth in 19:34.4. Former Mount Vernon-Lisbon runner Lourdes Mason, now a junior at Mount Mercy, was next to finish in 19:35.0. Third-place Des Moines Area Community College (80) was paced by eighth-place Addy Tesch in 19:46.4. Tesch ran for Ridge View (Holstein). The top 10 was rounded out by DMACC freshman and former Greene County (Jefferson) prep Kaycee Pittman in 19:55.5.
North Iowa Area Community Collee sophomore Gavin Grunhovd continued his run of excellent races by topping everyone in the 8K race. The North Iowa (Buffalo Center) grad ran 25:27.7 to top DMACC sophomore Sam Mora, a Dallas Center-Grimes product, by 26.3 seconds. Mora ran a new PR.
Mount Mercy’s run to the team title with 42 points, 18 ahead of Indian Hills, started with sophomore Jack Stamp’s fifth-place finish in 26:43.4. Stamp competed for Anamosa. Sophomore teammate Noah Gregoire, an ex-Liberty High runner, was next to finish in 27:02.0. The Mustangs’ run continued with freshman and ex-Cedar Rapids Prairie prep in seventh in 27:04.3. Maquoketa Valley grad Matthaw Schaul, a Mount Mercy sophomore, was eighth in 27:12.8. He was just 2.2 seconds ahead of DMACC freshman and former Bondurant-Farrar athlete Brady Sanger in ninth. DMACC was third with 70 points.
Moving to the roads and the warm Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11. Former Sioux City North and Iowa Central runner Biya Simbassa, now an Asics athlete, finished 24th in the men’s professional competition in 2:11:22. The Flagstaff, Arizona, resident ran the first half in 1:03:01. Drake University record-holder Reed Fischer of the Tinman Elite squad in Colorado took 31st among the men in 2:14:32. He ran the first half in 1:05:51. FSDP’s Cody Baele of Des Moines accepted 47th in 2:18:08. Running Wild Elite’s Joe Langridge took 51st among the men in 2:18:51. Langridge ran for Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.
Former Wartburg College and Cedar Rapids Kennedy runner Jacob Green grabbed 72nd among the men in 2:22:05. Former Iowa State runner Milo Greder was 95th in 2:24:00. Driftless Distance Project athlete Michael Goodenbour, who prepped at Cedar Falls before competing for Wartburg, was 159th in 2:28:52. Taking 202nd in the men’s competition was former Des Moines Christian prep Jacob Fopma in 2:30:41. Crown Running’s Michael Eyres, an ex-Luther College runner, was 592nd in 2:39:34. Kenyan Amos Kipruto blazed to the victory in 2:01:09.
Shifting to triathlon and the Ironman World Championships at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on Oct. 10, where former Buena Vista athlete and professor Matt Hanson finished 20th in the men’s competition. The five-time Ironman event winner from Castle Rock, Colorado, was the third-best American after finishing the 2.4-mile swim in 54:50, the 112-mile bike in 4:36:11 and the 26.2-mile run in 2:40:34. His total time was 8:16:19.
“Not how I wanted the day to end up,” Hanson wrote on Instagram. “But considering how poorly the race started, I’m happy to salvage a respectable result.”
Hanson finished ninth in the final Ironman Pro Series. The winner was France’s Vincent Luis in 7:47:27, who held off Norway’s Gustav Iden by 1:36.
Moving back to cross country and the always competitive Nuttycombe Invitational hosted by Wisconsin at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison on Oct. 9. Arkansas finished fourth in the team race with 208 points and redshirt junior Allen Bonnesen was the Razorbacks’ No. 4 finisher in 65th place in 23:36.6., a 4:45 pace per mile. Bonnesen started his career at Danville-New London and Iowa State before transferring to Fayetteville.
Former Iowa City High prep Ford Washburn was the No. 3 finisher and 83rd place for 13th-place Northern Arizona. The senior was timed in 23:47.9. Iowa State’s final scorer was true freshman and ex-Cedar Falls High athlete Jaden Merrick in 140th place. Merrick ran 24:08.8 in his first college race at 8K. The Cyclones were only 19th in the team competition.
New Mexico took the team crown with 59 points and Colorado freshman Meshack Kipruto was the winner in 22:30.1.
Two Iowa distance running legends competed for champion Oregon at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Springfield, Oregon, on Oct. 9. Iowa all-time 5K cross country record-holder Quentin Nauman picked up 26th place for the Ducks in 24:36.8. The Western Dubuque grad was not one of the scorers for Oregon, which scored 28 points and secured the team title with 28 points, 16 ahead of Weber State. Nauman made his college debut with a 52nd-place effort at the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Sept. 26.
Making his college debut, however, was Des Moines Christian great Caleb Ten Pas. The Oregon true freshman ran 25:20.4 for 55th place. The individual winner was Oregon star Simeon Birnbaum in 23:05.5.
Former Clinton High runner Camryn Sattler served as the No. 2 finisher for champion Tampa at the FSU Invitational at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida, on Oct. 9. The Tampa junior who started her career at Iowa State covered the 6K course in 22:08.3 for fifth overall. That time is about 15 seconds off her PR. Tampa won the team crown with 37 points, nine of ahead of Jacksonville State.
Gilbert grad Clare Stahr earned the individual victory at the Brian T. Simpson Invitational on Gans Creek in Columbia, Missouri, on Oct. 10. The Truman State junior covered the 5K in a new PR of 18:17.1 while holding off Central Missouri sophomore Jordyn Brown by 1.5 seconds. Truman captured the team crown with 26 points, 25 ahead of host Central Missouri, while putting five runners in the top 10.
NOTE: This blog will be UPDATED.
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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Trace Obbink, Addison Liston, Gavin Grunhovd, Biya Simbassa, Camryn Sattler, Clare Stahr