Hawkeye Reporter

The University of Iowa cross country teams began their 2025 season at the Hawkeye Invitational on Friday night at the Ashton Cross Country Course. The women's team won the meet with 24 points, while the men's team tied for first place with 34 points but lost the tiebreaker to Iowa Central.

The Hawkeyes achieved six new entries on their all-time performance lists and set 12 individual personal records during the event. Sophomore Elena Torres led the women's team, winning the 4,000-meter race in a personal-best time of 13:44.6, which ranks her third in school history. Senior Jalyssa Blazek also posted a personal best of 13:58.6, moving her to eighth all-time at Iowa.

“Everything went really well,” said Elena Torres. “For our team, we raced competitively. This is our home course, so we know it well. Personally, I went out and gave it my all, and that's my goal every race. I feel like it just panned out perfectly.”

On the men's side, junior Luke Knepp finished second in the 6,000-meter race with a personal-best time of 17:59.2—second-fastest in program history. Elias Arbuckle made his debut for Iowa with a time of 18:09.0, placing him fifth all-time at Iowa.

“Today was just about getting out here and getting a race under our legs before we move up to an 8,000-meter race,” Knepp said. “I think we're in a good spot and I'm excited for the season.”

Additional top performances included Kyle Montgomery (18:11.3) and Carson Houg (18:12.9), who both set personal bests and moved into seventh and ninth places respectively on Iowa's all-time list.

Other notable results for women included Miriam Sandeen (14:08.1) finishing fifth and Hillary Trainor (14:17.0) seventh; both set new personal records as did Clare Kelly (14:27.9), Audra Soderlind (14:33.2), Marissa Long (14:35.8), and Ellie Rathe (14:57.6). For men, Ethan Eichhorn (18:18.7) and Armaan Chopra (18:51.8) also recorded personal bests.

Four freshmen competed for Iowa; among them was Emma Magallan who finished eighth in her collegiate debut for the women’s team, while Arbuckle, Owen Wolfe (18:57.1), and Spencer Alf (19:03.1) raced for the men.

Coach Randy Hasenbank commented on his team's performance:

“The women's team did a great job. If you look at the year-over-year improvement, it's exciting to see just how much they improved. Elena Torres secured the number three spot on our all-time list tonight, and when you compare her times with our top ten, she’s right up there with some of the best athletes we've had. Jalyssa Blazek had a great summer and she's coming back very committed to her senior year. Hillary Trainor improved by over 30 seconds in a relatively short race. Ella Magallan did great in her debut. That should give them a lot of confidence moving into the next race.

On the men's side, we were without a couple of our top guys including Brayden Burnett and Miles Wilson. Luke Knepp was a little under the weather today as well, but even on his worst day he is really good. It was exciting to watch him run. Kyle Montgomery and Elias Arbuckle did well. Carson Houg had a good second half of the race as well. So, overall we competed well in some good weather.”

Next up for Iowa is participation in the Roy Griak Invitational at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis on September 19th.