Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Warriors Run at Nationals

Spartanburg, S.C. -- The Indian Hills men’s cross country team ended their season at the NJCAA National Meet in Spartanburg, S.C. last weekend. The Warriors finished in 34th place and had one runner finish with a personal-best time.

Henry Majin, a freshman from Ottumwa, cut over a minute off his previous best time and finished 5th among the IHCC runners in 31:43.

Indian Hills was led, as they were all season long, by sophomore Jon Gerling (Winfield). He ran 27:23, 30 seconds faster than his time at nationals last year, and wound up in 100th place. Gerling was 14th among the 42 runners from Iowa schools at the meet.

Freshman Glen Morgan (Winfield) finished the 8K course in 29:11, only four seconds off his personal best. Danny Schieffer (Columbus Junction) moved up to third on the Warriors with a time of 29:48, just ahead of teammate Steele Fiscus (Union), who ran 29:50.

Freshman Marcus Clark (Fairfield) rounded out the IHCC participants with a time of 32:25.

Coach Jim Streeby had hoped going into the race that, based on 2009 National Meet results, his squad would place in the middle of the team competition, maybe get a few PR’s and have five runners under 30:00.

“Physically, we were ready to run well,” said Streeby, “and I’m not sure why, but we seemed to lose our mental focus. So I think you have to use it as a learning process. However, even if every one of our runners had hit their PR, we would have only moved up to 32nd place in the team race.”

Streeby stressed there were some positives in the 2010 season. “The men’s team ended up as the fastest ever at Indian Hills with a 29:22 average for the top five runners. Jon Gerling lowered his own school record three times, down to 26:53. That’s a minute faster than Jon ran last year which is a very good improvement in a year.”

Gerling and Fiscus were the two sophs on this year’s team and Streeby mentioned what a pleasure it was to work with them the past two seasons.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Warriors 6th at Regional Meet

Council Bluffs, IA -- The Indian Hills men's cross country team finished in 6th place at the Region 11 Cross Country Championships on Friday. The Warriors had seven runners compete and were only three points out of 5th place in their final tuneup before the national meet in South Carolina.

Three of the top 25 ranked teams in the country were in the field and the Warriors were edged for 5th place by Marshalltown CC.

Jon Gerling led IHCC with a 13th-place finish in 27:50 over the 8K course. Glen Morgan ran 29:59 for 31st place. Morgan was followed by Steele Fiscus, who was 32nd in an even 30:00.

Danny Schieffer ran 30:16 for 34th place.

Coach Jim Streeby said a key for Indian Hills will be how the Warriors' 5th runner fares. On Friday, Jordan Bradfield was 5th for IHCC in a time of 33:07; Henry Majin ran 33:09 and Marcus Clark finished in 33:40. Streeby wants one of those three to get close to the 30-31 minute range at the national meet.

Indian Hills will take the next two weeks to prepare for the Nov. 13 NJCAA National Cross Country Championships in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Warriors Battle Heat at Huston Invitational

Waverly, IA -- The Indian Hills men's cross country team competed in the Dan Huston Invitational on Saturday and their times were likely reflected in the 80-degree temperatures. The Warriors had turned in some solid times in their last meet, but, as coach Jim Streeby pointed out, in this meet nearly everyone was about 60 seconds off their personal-bests set in that meet in Rock Island, Ill.

Jon Gerling again led the IHCC runners, placing 50th overall in 27:23, a time that was only 30 seconds slower than his PR, making him the exception in that regard.

Glen Morgan was second for the Warriors with a time of 30:11. Denny Schieffer moved up to third on the team, running 30:37. Steele Fiscus was fourth in 31:59 and Jordan Bradfield moved up into the fifth and final scoring position in 32:56.

Henry Majin ran his first 8K race of the season for IHCC and was right behind Bradfield in 32:59. Marcus Clark (34:40), Keenan Wyngarden (35:09) and Lucas Brightwell (35:27) rounded out the IHCC runners.

Wartburg College, which hosted the Saturday meet, will also host the NCAA Division III Nationals this fall. Teams from as far away as Colorado and Wisconsin entered the Dan Huston Invite so they could become familiar with the course. That led to a field of 28 teams and nearly 300 runners.

Coach Streeby said, "It is hard to find much positive to take away from the day except the experience of coping with the heat."

Indian Hills will now have almost three weeks to prepare for the Super Regionals in Council Bluffs on Oct. 29.

Monday, September 27, 2010

A Record-Setting Meet for IHCC in Illinois

Rock Island, IL -- Following their previous meet in Ames, Indian Hills men's cross country coach Jim Streeby said he was looking forward to having his top five runners get their average time under 30 minutes. The Warriors made their coach very heppy with their performance in the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational, hosted by Augustana University on Friday.

In what Streeby described as "a total team effort," the top five IHCC finishers averaged 29:22, shattering the previous school record set the week before. Six different Warriors ran personal-bests in the 8K race that featured some 400 men's runners and a similar number of women's contestants.

Sophomore co-captain Jon Gerling lowered his school record for the 8K distance for the third time this fall, running 26:53. That was 1:42 faster than Gerling's time in this meet last year.

Freshman Glen Morgan took 27 seconds off his personal-best with a time of 29:07. Morgan was followed closely by sophomore co-captain Steele Fiscus who dropped his PR by nearly a minute with a time of 29:19.

Danny Schieffer, a freshman, dropped his PR by just over a minute, finishing in 29:26. The fifth-best runner for the Warriors was freshman Marcus Clark, who ran 32:07, 42 seconds better than his previous fastest time.

The other IHCC runner to set a personal-best was Keenan Wyngarden, who ran 33:29, 57 seconds better than his time in the same meet in 2009. Lucas Brightwell was sixth for Indian Hills with his time of 32:59. Zakk Ellingson ran 33:57 for the Warriors.

Streeby said he had stressed pace control to his runners in practice last week, asking them to try and run their first mile at a pace they would want to run for the entire race, or even slighly slower. He noted that every runner except one ran the last half of the race faster than the first half.

And after he saw his runners turn in their best performance so far this season, Streeby said, "I had a smile on my face the whole ride home."

Indian Hills will run again in the Dan Huston Invitational in Waverly on Oct. 9.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Strong Showing for IHCC Men at Ames

Ames -- The IHCC men's cross country team set a school record with their collective effort at the Iowa Intercollegiate Meet on Saturday. The top five finishers for Indian Hills averaged 30:11 over the 8K course, breaking the old IHCC team mark of 30:36 set at the national meet in 2008.

Coach Jim Streeby says lowering the record is one of his team's goals. "We need 57 seconds off the total time of the top five runners to average under 30 minutes," said Streeby. "The men really surprised me with their improvement on Saturday because we are still working very hard in our practice workouts."

Jon Gerling was 18th to lead the Indian Hills runners. Gerling's time was 27:48, just 13 seconds off the school record he set the week before at a meet in Grinnell.

Glen Morgan was next for IHCC in 43rd place with a personal-best time of 29:34, 46 seconds faster than Morgan's time at Grinnell. Coach Streeby said, "It was Glen's first time under 30 minutes for an 8K. I'm loving his progress and his promise for the future."

Steele Fiscus bettered his previous best time by 11 seconds with a time of 30:13. The IHCC coach predicts Fiscus could be running under 29 minutes by the end of the season.

Danny Schieffer is another runner that Streeby is excited about. Schieffer, who is a newcomer to the sport, has made amazing progress and, in his first 8K race, finished in 49th place in 30:30.

The fifth-scoring runner for IHCC was Marcus Clark who ran 32:49, 29 seconds faster than his previous best time.

Jordan Bradfield finished in 63rd place in 33:10, Zakk Ellingson ran 35:29 and Keenan Wyngarden ran 35:58 to round out the Indian Hills competitors.

Streeby said, "As a team, every one of our top five scoring runners played a crucial role. The team thing is so much fun and an important part of their progress. We finished in 8th place among the 10 teams that scored. All but two of the seven teams ahead of us were four-year schools."

The Warriors head to Davenport this Friday for the Brisman-Lundeen Invitational where over 700 runners are expected to participate.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Gerling Leads IHCC Men at Grinnell

Grinnell - Jon Gerling turned in his third straight strong performance to lead the Indian Hills men's cross country team at the Les Duke Invitational on Saturday. Gerling turned in a time of 27:35 over the 8K course at the Oakland Acres Golf Course. Gerling was 31st in a field that included 11 four-year schools. His time set an IHCC record for 8,000 meters. It was 17 seconds faster than the previous record. Gerling also did significantly better than the year before at the same meet when he was 50th in 28:09.

Glen Morgan and Steele Fiscus were separated by only four seconds as they were the second and third IHCC runners. Morgan's time of 30:20 was good for 81st place; Fiscus was 82nd and made a huge improvement from the Grinnell race the year before, running 2:24 faster over the 8K course, the first time the IHCC freshmen had run that distance.

The next four IHCC runners finished in 92nd-through-95th place. Jordan Bradfield, according to IHCC coach Jim Streeby, was a surprise, hanging around near the back of the field for over half the race and then "kicking it into high gear," in Streeby's words, to finish in 33:06.

Marcus Clark was the last scoring runner for the Warriors in a time of 33:18. Streeby says Clark is "working hard in practice and will continue to improve."

Lucas Brightwell ran 34:37, a time that was a 33-second improvement over last year. And Zakk Ellingson (34:49) was right behind Brightwell.

The Warriors combined time and average per top 5 runners was 30:56. That broke the old IHCC record, set two years ago at the Grinnell meet. The coach's goal is to have five runners under 30:00.

Indian Hills will run in a meet in Ames this Saturday.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Warriors Run at Pella

Pella -- Sophomore Jon Gerling had his second straight top-15 finish to start the season as the Indian Hills cross country team took part in the Dutch Invitational on Saturday.

Gerling led the 10 IHCC men's runners to the finish line with a time of 20:27 for the 6K race. That put Gerling in 13th place overall and was 23 seconds faster than his time in the same race last year.

Following Gerling for Indian Hills was Glen Morgan who ran 22:14. Steele Fiscus was next at 22:33 followed by Danny Schieffer at 23:11 and Henry Majin at 24:05.

Two runners, both from Fairfield, were right behind Majin -- Marcus Clark in 24:12 and Jordan Bradfield at 24:20.

Lucas Brightwell edged teammate Keenan Wyngarden by eight seconds, 25:49 to 25:57, and Zakk Ellingson ran 27:06 to round the IHCC scoring.

William Penn nipped Indian Hills by one point for 7th place.

Saturday's results left Indian Hills coach Jim Streeby looking forward to the next action this Saturday in Grinnell. "Next week is a large meet with many schools taking part in the Les Duke Invitational," said Streeby. "We will get to run a great course and will try to get a little better every day."

Monday, August 30, 2010

Season Begins for IHCC Harriers

Council Bluffs -- The Indian Hills men's cross country team opened the 2010 season at the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Time Trial, hosted by Iowa Western Community College on Saturday.

It was a 5K race run in hot, muggy conditions on the IWCC course.

Sophomore co-captain Jon Gerling had a solid start to his season, leading the IHCC men with a time of 17:11, good for 7th place overall. Freshman Glen Morgan showed early-season promise with a time of 18:40 and a 31st-place finish.

Next for the Warriors was sophomore co-captain Steele Fiscus who was 48th in 19:39. Fiscus was followed by freshman Denny Schieffer in 58th place (20:48), freshman Zakk Ellingson in 69th (22:50), soph Keenan Wyngarden in 72nd (23:44) and sophomore Lucas Brightwell in 73rd (24:03).

Coach Jim Streeby said, "It was a really hot day for running and even though all the times were slow, it was still a good opportunity for everyone to get their feet wet."

The Indian Hills runners will travel to Pella this Saturday, Sept. 4 for the Dutch Invitational.

Season Gets Underway for IHCC Harriers

Council Bluffs -- Indian Hills sent three runners to the season-opening Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Time Trial, hosted by Iowa Western Community College on Saturday.

Sophomore Sarah Lindemulder had a 23rd-place finish to lead Indian Hills. Her time was 25:48.74 over the 5K course. Next for IHCC was Katie Harper who ran 30:26.40 and Astred Ambriz-Aguilar with a time of 34:04.11.

The Indian Hills women will take part in the Dutch Invitational in Pella this Saturday, Sept. 4.

Monday, May 10, 2010

IHCC Runs at Central College

Pella, IA -- Three members of the Indian Hills men's cross country team ran in the Central College Open on Friday.

Jon Gerling finished 4th in the 5000 meters and took two seconds off his previous best time. Gerling ran 16:22.

Brennen Wears ran the 800 meters for the first time this spring and finished 8th with a time of 2:04.

Steele Fiscus took five seconds off his personal best time in the 1500, placing 11th in 4:25. He was also 13th in the 3000 meters.

Fourteen hours after he ran the 3000 in Pella, Fiscus took part in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Ottumwa and finished 3rd overall with a time of 17:19.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Warrior Runners Compete at Grinnell

Grinnell, IA -- Indian Hills Community College cross country coach Jim Streeby has four of his athletes running in track meets this spring for what the coach calls “fun and a little speed work.”
Streeby says the focus is on running only distance events, from the 3000 meters up to 10,000 meters, and everyone showed improvement at this past weekend’s Dick Young Invitational in Grinnell.
Jon Gerling led three IHCC runners in the 1500 meters, finishing in 25th place in a time of 4:24.45. Teammate Brennen Wears knocked two seconds off his 1500-meter time from the previous meet at Central College, finishing 26th in a time of 4:25.01. Steele Fiscus was 33rd with a time of 4:31.31.
In the women’s 5000 meters, Sarah Lindemulder took 14 seconds off her time from the Central meet (21:17.21).
Two of the IHCC men’s runners also ran in the 5000. Gerling was 7th out of 28 runners. His time of 16:24.60 was 1:37 faster than the previous meet.
And Fiscus ran the 5000 in 17:14.36, a time that was 38 seconds faster than his twin brother, Gage, who was running for Iowa Central CC, garnering Steele family bragging rights.
All four of the IHCC runners are freshmen.
There were a number of four-year schools from Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado in the Grinnell meet.