Iowa Central Community College Men's and Women's teams had impressive performances at the NJCAA D1 XC Championship on November 11th. The men's' team finished in 1st place with a team score of 65 points. With 52 points, the women also took home the trophy, with their top 5 runners all in the top 17 and averaging 18:20 over the 5k course. Adva Cohen was the top finisher for ICCC with a time of 17:24 which led her to the individual title as well.
Hawkeye Community College finished their first season as a program. They were led by head coach Micah Ruroden and Associate Head Coach Tyler Mulder. Ruroden is an Iowa native where he competed for North Fayette High School. Mulder is a familiar name for people that have been following Iowa runners of the last few years, after claiming 8 NCAA All-American honors at the University of Northern Iowa. After competing for the Panthers, he gained a professional sponsorship by Nike and placed 4th in 2008 and 2012 in the USA Olympic Trials. Both the men and women had impressive years for Hawkeye by qualifying to the NJCAA Championship race. The Men's team finished 25th place out of 44 teams while the women's team finished in 26th out of 42 teams. The Men's team was led by Isaac Connolly and Landon Boomsma. The women's top performer was Joanna Topham who finished in 38th place in 19:22.
Iowa schools were well-represented at the course in Fort Dodge, Iowa. On the women's side, Iowa Western Community College finished in 12th place. North Iowa Area CC finished in 29th place. In 34th place was Indian Hills Community College. Southwestern Community College finished 38th place and DMACC finished in 42nd. On the men's side North Iowa Area CC finished 18th. In 28th place was Southwestern Community College. Indian Hills also finished in 35 place.
To get more information on competing in the NJCAA, check out their website here!