IOWA CITY, Iowa – Drake cross country made the short drive east on Interstate 80 to Iowa City for the Hawkeye Invite on Friday evening. The Bulldog women ran with confidence in their 4k race while the men ran their 6k contest in commanding fashion.
 
Breanna Burak, who won last week's race at the Cyclone Preview, earned runner up status with a time of 13:50.5. Anastasia Kirillov and Austra Osina added two more top 10 finishes with times of 14:05.9 and 14:15.0, respectively.
 
The top 20 on the women's side included two more Bulldogs as Anika Mohrhauser (14:43.1) took 14th and Amilia Condon (14:55.2) came across in 19th.
 
The remaining field of Drake women finished as such:
21 – Hannah Kilday – 15:17.3
22 – Ella Brown – 15:23.2
23 – Addie Appleby – 15:26.8
24 – Sophia Agan – 15:27.7
26 – Fabi Gipson – 15:54.2
28 – Allie Levy – 16:22.3
29 – Gracie Federspiel – 16:24.6
31 – Ellen Cook – 16:25.4
32 – Adeline Viergutz – 17:05.5
34 – Ella Perrone – 17:46.9
 
"It was a beautiful night for cross country and we made it count," Drake coach Sam Read said. "The women shook off last week's jitters, came in confidently, and it showed. Austra's charge in her last mile and Anastasia's return to the lineup was awesome."
 
Aidan Palmer ran a clean race on the men's side to lead the Bulldog efforts with a time of 18:07.6, good enough for fifth. Veteran Aziz Jdai added a 10th place mark in 18:16.6.
 
Xander Kwa (18:31.2) and Bowen Martin (18:45.3) also finished inside the top 20 with placement of 13th and 19th, respectively.
 
The rest of the Drake men finished in this order:
21 – Gaven Corpin – 18:56.1
26 – Landon Bendgen – 19:28.6
27 – Jed Wilson – 19:32.9
29 – Luke Smith – 19:41.8
30 – Aidan Simon – 19:44.1
 
"On the men's side, Aziz brought the race out, commanding the first two-thirds of the race," Read added. "Aidan also looked noticeably sharper from just a week ago moving well in the front pack."
 
Drake's participants also included these seven runners who competed unattached:
11 – Carter Beasley – 18:18.8
14 – Juan Trasobares – 18:31.6
15 – John Moellers – 18:31.7
16 – Ewan Taylor – 18:35.1
17 – Daghyn True – 18:38.9
25 – Lanse Larsen – 19:19.1
28 – Ryan Tobin – 19:34.8
 
"Overall, this was a great fitness gauge and I'm really excited where we're at," Read concluded. "I'm even more excited for these next couple weeks and having an opportunity for a big training phase. Get ready, the best is yet to come."
 
Drake will get back to racing later this month when they head to Columbia, Missouri for the Gans Creek Classic hosted by the Missouri Tigers on Sep. 26.