Bettendorf, IA – The Indian Hills Community College cross country team notched 6 personal-bests, secured the fastest team average in school history, and tore down the individual cross country
school-record in the process of qualifying for the 2018 NJCAA Cross Country National Championships in Garden City, Kansas on November 10th.
The warriors were led by sophomore All-American Marcus Graham who finished 2nd in an absolute slugfest up-front to Ezekiel Kipchirir of Iowa Central Community College. Graham's time of 24:22 stands as the 3rd fastest time in the NJCAA this year, and levels his previous school-record by 29 seconds.
Fellow sophomore stand-out Michael DeMeyer joined teammate Marcus Graham in earning All-Region XI Honors by placing 6th in a finishing time of 25:20. That time betters DeMeyer's previous
PB by 38 seconds, betters his already 2nd fastest time in IHCC history, and is one of the top-20 times in the NJCAA this year.
Coaching Ewing said of the duo's performance: Marcus & Michael set program history, both finishing first team All-Region. They ran some very impressive times against the #2 ranked team in
the nation, on a course that didn't appear to be set-up to run quick."
Other Warriors joining DeMeyer and Grahm in PB efforts included:
Freshman Zach Schocker – 27:30 (11th fastest in school-history)
Freshman Conner Riley – 28:09 (16th fastest in school history)
Freshman Elijah Boesch – 29:12
Freshman Paden Lang – 30:33
The team also clinched their fastest top-7 average in the history of the cross country program at 26 minutes and 41 seconds. The Warriors finished 4th overall, a mere 6-points behind NIACC for
3rd.
Ewing continued to say, "This was the most complete race our men have run from top-to-bottom all year. To finish less than 20-points out of 2nd in a great race was huge for our program. 5 of
our top-7 men ran personal bests, and 6 of our top-10 overall. We have a lot of momentum going into nationals, and I think our team will fare well in a larger meet in a couple of weeks."
IHCC will return to action search of continuing to rewrite the history books on Saturday, November 10th, in Garden City, Kansas for the NJCAA Cross Country National Championships. Race time
is slated for 11:00 a.m.