INDIANOLA, Iowa – The Drake men's and women's cross country teams recorded strong performances to sweep both team titles at the Grand View Viking Invitational Friday evening.
The Bulldogs won the Viking Invitational women's title for the fifth straight year, while the men have claimed the title in four of the last six years. This year's competition was staged on a hilly and wet course at Indianola's Pickard Park.
Junior Bailee Cofer (Overland Park, Kan.) turned in another solid race to win the women's 5-kilometer title with a time of 20:11.4. Freshmen Morgan Garcia, Olivia Rogers (Boulder, Colo.) and Mickey Cole (Urbandale, Iowa) followed behind in order to give the Bulldogs the race's first four finishers. Freshman Paige Nicholson was the team's fifth scorer in eighth place to give the Bulldogs a team score of 18 points.
"We wanted to use this meet as a chance for our freshmen to get some experience," Cofer said. "They all stepped up and we feel really good about this meet."
The men were led by junior Chris Kaminski (New Lenox, Ill.) who finished second with a time of 19:46.2 in the 6-kilometer race. Freshman Kyle Brandt (Maple Grove, Minn.), Kyle Cass (Deforest,Wis.) and Matt Cozine finished next in third, fourth and fifth places, respectively. Veteran George Webb was ninth as the team finished with 23 points.
"I think the team looks very good," Kaminski said. "I wasn't sure what to expect this year with a few seniors graduating, but this was a good checkpoint leading up to our first 8k and then the conference race in about a month."
The Bulldogs continue their season Oct. 1 at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.
Grand View Viking Invitational
Pickard Park – Indianola, Iowa
Men's Team Results
1. Drake, 23
2. Simpson, 62
3. Southwestern CC, 83
4. Grand View, 101
5. William Penn, 110
6. Graceland, 158
Drake Men's Individual Results
6-kilometer
2. Chris Kaminski, 19:46.2
3. Kyle Brandt, 19:47.4
4. Kyle Cass, 19:48.3
5. Matt Cozine, 20:19.3
9. George Webb, 20:45.9
10. Alec Bognar, 20:58.0
11. Alex Rohlfs, 21:01.6
14. Xavier Lechleitner, 21:13.2
Women's Team Results
1. Drake, 18
2. Grand View, 78
3. Graceland, 79
4. Simpson, 98
5. NIACC, 139
6. DMACC, 150
7. William Penn, 167
Drake Women's Individual Results
5-kilometer
1. Bailee Cofer, 20:11.4
2. Morgan Garcia, 20:11.9
3. Olivia Rogers, 20:12.3
4. Mickey Cole, 20:28.9
8. Paige Nicholson, 21;17.5
9. Kayla Giuliano, 21:20.4
12. Mackenzie Davis, 21:50.5
17. Theresa McAlister, 22:07.1
20. Shelby Varney, 22:20.3
26. Meghan Kearney, 22:56.7
