Several PRs set as part of record-setting day at Bethel Invite
It was a record-setting day for St. Ambrose at the Bethel Invitational Friday. Nearly every Bee who toed the line at St. Patrick's County Park in South Bend, Ind., set a course or collegiate best, and many set lifetime bests.
It all added up to the second-best 8K team time in school history for the men. Their total time of 132:02 was just four seconds short of the program's top time of 131:58 set in 1999 at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.
Luke Benes and Will Dowda led the way with top-10 performances in school history. Benes came in with a time of 25:57.10, the eight-best mark at St. Ambrose, and Dowda crossed in 26:08.00 to tie the 10th-best time. Benes cut 57 seconds off his previous collegiate best and Dowda improved his mark by 44 seconds.
Chris Miserendino (26:19.30) and Ross Willerth (26:51.60) also set collegiate PRs and finished inside SAU's top five Friday. Ian Eller, who missed his collegiate PR by just two seconds, was the other runner to score for the Bees with a finishing time of 26:46.30.
Noah Maske (27:04.60), Nathan Boleyn (27:53.80), Bryan Flentge (28:15.80) and Brennon Munch (28:59.10) each set a collegiate PR. Tommy Ashby's time of 28:57.60 was just five seconds off his collegiate best and Kevin Chaney's mark off 29:50.20 was just six seconds off his personal best. Trae Corby finished in 28:05.50 and Donnie Ingram came in at 31:29.50.
While the men finished third in the 16-team race and cut more than six minutes off their team time from a year ago, the St. Ambrose women had more than an eight-minute improvement from the same event last year.
The top three Bee women all set collegiate PRs. Kaitlyn Knoche crossed the line in 19:38.50, taking six seconds off her previous personal best. Adeline Smith's time of 20:19.30 was a one-second improvement, and Allison Hein's mark of 21:30.10 was a 37-second jump. Carlie Woolm (21:35.41) and Rileigh Fortune (21:45.00) rounded out the top five.
Merin Crowder was just five seconds off her collegiate PR with a time of 21:59.00. Rylee McCrery set a St. Ambrose PR by finishing in 22:12.30. Jayne Eilderts and Eileen Elenteny also established collegiate bests with times of 23:11.00 and 25:49.50, respectively.
The SAU women finished 10th as a team.
The Bees will next compete in the Doane Invitational at Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Neb., on Oct. 21.