MASON CITY – A tightly packed group of five Warriors led 14th-ranked Indian Hills to a third place finish at the 4th Annual Trent Smith Invitational, hosted by NIACC in Mason City, Friday.
IHCC finished behind NJCAA Division II third-ranked NIACC, and Division I top-ranked Iowa Central, as the host Trojans took home top honors followed by the talented Tritons.
"That was our best top-five average of the year, even without the services of Alex Danels, who is one of our top 5-to-7 runners for us," said Indian Hills Head Coach Brent Ewing. "The group continues to do a good job of keeping a close spread from runners one through five."
Just eighty seconds separated IHCC's first five finishers, led again by freshman Nicholas O'Connor over the 8k course. O'Connor's time of 27:25.30 netted him ninth place, followed by classmate Christopher Metz (12th), Ethan Mesenbrink (14th), Issac Bryant (16th) and Colten Glosser (19th).
In a week where the Warriors celebrated their highest national ranking in school history, the IHCC harriers now look forward to hosting their home event as Ewing's thinclads are excited about the opportunity on their home course.
"We're expecting some fast times out of this group next Friday at the Indian Hills Invitational," Ewing said. The course is fast and the weather looks to be in the mid-50s."
3. Indian Hills
9 Nicholas O'Connor, Fr 27:25.30
12 Christopher Metz, Fr 28:08.55
14 Ethan Mesenbrink, So 28:15.68
16 Issac Bryant, Fr 28:38.15
19 Colten Glosser, Fr 28:45.28
35 Tayler Young, Fr 31:04.13
36 Jacob Glandon 31:08.38
37 Seth Emmons, Fr 31:13.71
43 Cade Curphy, So 31.59.73
51 William King, Fr 32:58.72