On Saturday, Oct. 12, Men’s Cross Country traveled to Sioux Center, Iowa, to participate in the Dordt Holiday Inn Express Classic. The Tigers finished second overall, ahead of Concordia and Benedictine, both of which received votes in the most recent NAIA poll, and behind No. 12 Dordt. With the 8km race in the men’s section, the Doane cross country team could achieve three medals with three of our runners in the top 10 of the ranking.
Senior Thomas Oliver finished 2nd overall with a personal best time of 24:54.07, leading the best position of Doane. Freshman Porter Bickley finished 10th with a timing of 25:30.64, while junior Nelson Ruto finished 6th with a time of 25:06.23. Junior Michael Grigsby finished 21st overall with a timing of 25:51.51. Grigsby lost his shoe during the race. However, the Doane runner kept pushing and setting a new personal record without a shoe. Junior Luke Bonifas crossed the finish line at 25:49.89 to finish in 19th place. Rounding out the top seven of the Tigers was freshman Jayden Wall with a time of 26:15:14, finishing in 30th, and the last runner to enter in the top seven was senior Jakob Tadlock with 26:19:26, finishing in the 34th position in the race.
The Tigers’ next competition is the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic, which will take place at Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Nebraska, on Oct. 26. The 2024 GPAC Championships will also take place on the same course in November.
