Central College senior Peyton Steffen finished her Dutch career with her best weekend ever at a national meet.
The Marion High grad set a new program record while capturing runner-up honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Friday, May 22.
Steffen posted a time of 10 minutes, 11.25 seconds to erase the mark of 10:13.46 by 2024 national champion and former Aplington-Parkersburg prep Megan Johnson. The top seven finishers in the final were seniors, paced by Calvin’s Sophie Bull, who set the Division III all-time record of 10:04.18.
Steffen leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and post collegiate distance runners and triathletes.
Steffen finished her weekend by placing third in the 5,000 final in 16:32.38 on May 23. Her former teammate, Caroline McMartin, keeps the school record of 16:29.11 while Steffen moved into second in school history.The national champion was Ainara Sainz De Rozas of Concordia (WI) in 16:08.15.
Steffen started the weekend by winning Heat 1 of the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:23.53. Steffen held off Illinois Wesleyan senior Adriana Crabtree by .53 of a second for the win.
Steffen was one of several Iowans who picked up All-American honors at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s facility. Wartburg College senior Lance Sobaski earned the highest national finish of his career, second, while nearly taking down his own school record in the 3,000 steeplechase final on May 22. The Washington High product led much of the 7 1/2 laps before watching UW-La Crosse junior Joey Sullivan take the win in a new championship standard of 8:39.22. Sobaski ran 8:41.35, which also eclipsed the previous meet record.
Central College junior Jack Brown secured another All-American finish with fifth place in 8:50.12. Brown attended Norwalk High and won the indoor mile national title in March.
Sobaski won Heat 2 of the steeplechase the previous day in 8:50.82. He was 4.46 seconds ahead of next-closest finisher. Taking 21st overall and 11th in Heat 2 was Luther College record-holder Jacob Bruns. The Cedar Rapids Kennedy grad ran 9:20.29.
In Heat 1, Brown was the third-best finisher in 8:59.87. Wartburg sophomore Aidan Decker, who prepped at Iowa City Liberty High, ended up eighth in the heat and 17th overall in 9:11.19.
Sobaski wasn’t done. He grabbed another first-team All-American honor with fifth in his final Knights race, the 5,000, on May 23. He took fifth in 14:07.77. Junior teammate and former Western Dubuque athlete Isaiah Hammerand was a second-team honoree after claiming 16th in 14:39.89. The best time was 14:02.77 by senior Nathan Tassey of Roger Williams, with Cornell College standout senior Isaac vanWestrienen second in 14:03.28.
Loras College redshirt freshman Keelee Leitzen finished a stellar season with four All-American track and field finishes with a national runner-up effort in the women’s 800 final May 23. The Dubuque Hempstead product who started her career at Iowa State clocked 2:08.09, just off her personal record of 2:07.88 set in April. The national champion was Williams sophomore Annika Paluska in 2:06.87.
Leitzen also ran the second leg on the Duhawks’ 4×400 relay that grabbed seventh place in a season-best 3:45.33. Leitzen also was All-American in these same two events in the indoor season.
Leitzen ran to runner-up honors in Heat 2 of the 800 prelims in 2:08.40. Cornell College senior Ava Claussen-Tubbs, a 14-time Midwest Conference champion, was fifth in that heat and 12th overall in 2:10.44. The top nine made the finals.
In Heat 1, Wartburg senior and ex-Kee (Lansing) prep Haley Meyer finished fifth in 2:10.44 and 11th overall.
Johns Hopkins freshman Ani Wedemeyer, who competed at Iowa City High before concluding her prep career at Pleasant Valley, ran in two events. Wedemeyer finished fourth in Heat 3 of the 800 and 16th overall in 2:11.16. She also was seventh in Heat 2 of the 1,500 prelims and 13th overall in 4:28.78.
Hammerand had a busy weekend by gaining first-team All-American honors with a fifth place in the 10,000 on May 21 in 29:27.04. Senior teammate and ex-New London prep Ander Julian grabbed a new best of 29:48.66 while taking eighth and first-team All-American honors. Cornell College senior Isaac vanWestrienen, two days before taking second in the steeplechase final, was the national champion in 28:51.60.
Wartburg College freshman Nathan Ahern took down his own school record in the 800 en route to an eighth-place national finish in 1:49.96. The Crestwood (Cresco) product gained his second first-team All-American finish, to go with a DMR indoor effort in March. Ahern is the first Knights All-American in the event since 2018. The winner was Dickinson senior Trevor Richwine in 1:47.39.
Ahern had qualified third in Heat 2 of the prelims and seventh overall in 1:50.31.
Central College was the top Iowa program on both sides, with the Dutch men sixth nationally with 23 points. It’s Central’s first top-10 team finish since 2016. Wartburg was next with 21, while Cornell College cracked the top 10 with 18 points.
La Crosse claimed the men’s title with 106 points and the women’s crown with 53. The Central women were ninth with 24 points, after finishing eighth in 2024.
Riley and Kiki Witt, husband-and-wife seniors at Northwest Missouri State, both finished third at nationals in their respective events at the NCAA Division II nationals at Emporia State in Kansas.
Riley, a St. Ansgar grad, won his eighth All-American finish at the Division II level with a third-place effort in the 800 final in 1:47.84 on May 23. The winner was Indianapolis junior Josue Le Cadre in 1:46.02.Witt won Heat 2 of the 800 in 1:48.72 to advance to the final. His effort helped the Bearcats to the best nationals finish in program history, sixth. Northwest scored 38 points as Grand Valley State took the title with 66.
Kiki Witt claimed her second career All-American honor by topping her own school record in the 3,000 steeplechase in 10:17.74 on May 22. Witt placed third nationally with that time and narrowly missed her PR of 10:16.83 set while competing for Iowa State at the Drake Relays in 2025. The winner was Colorado School of Mines sophomore Emily LaMena in 9:58.38.
Witt qualified for the final by taking fourth in Heat 1 of the steeplechase on May 21 in 10:27.08. She is a Charles City product who started her career at Northern Iowa and Iowa State before joining her future husband in Maryville. Northwest Missouri scored 35 points to place sixth, best in program history. West Texas A&M was crowned team champion with 64 points, .8 ahead of Pittsburg State.
On to the professionals, who traveled to Drake Stadium in Los Angeles for the LA Track Festival event on May 23. Iowa State 13-time Big 12 Conference champion Cailie (Logue) Hughes took third place in the featured Section 2 of the 5,000 in 15:17.71. The Minnesota Distance Elite athlete knocked 11 seconds off her previous best. Logue owns the No. 2 time in team history and has now improved 19 seconds for the distance in 2026. The winner was American Taylor Werner in 15:12.92.
Former Iowa and Davenport Assumption standout Mallory (King) Lindaman of Iowa City captured the win in Section 3 of the 800 meters. Lindaman finished in 2:02.66, just .29 off her PR set last month, to win the heat by .24 of a second over Maddie Mooney. Taking sixth was MDE’s Emilie Meyer, a former Drake Bulldog, in 2:06.44. The best time in Section 2 was 2:01.91 by Canada’s Aurora Rynda.
In the fastest Section 2 of the 1,500, BAA team athlete and former Drake runner Isaac Basten took sixth in 3:37.84. His best is 3:36.41. The winner was Abdi Nur in 3:34.31.
Shelby Houlihan also ended up sixth in the women’s 1,500. The 16-time Iowa state champion and 2016 Olympian ran 4:08.27. Riley Chamberlain was the winner in 4:04.59.
Former Iowa State All-American Festus Lagat of the Under Armour Dark Sky team in Flagstaff, Arizona, grabbed eighth in the 800. Lagat, a Kenyan, was timed in 1:45.98. The winner was American Brandon Miller in 1:44.26.
Adam Fogg, Basten’s ex-Drake teammate, was 10th in the 5,000. The Under Armour Baltimore Distance runner set a new best of 13:28.18. Collegian Habtom Samuel won in a world-leading 12:57.22.
Former Iowa State runner Titus Winders, now with the MDE squad, was also 13th in Section 2 of the 5,000. Winders was timed in 13:47.90 in a race won in 13:16.84.
Former Iowa Central Community College runner Eleonora Curtabbi of the Union Athletics Club ended up 13th in the women’s 3,000 steeplechase in 10:03.77. The best time was 9:07.39.
Shifting to road racing briefly, where the annual Bolder Boulder race was held on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, in Colorado. Kassie Parker, a seven-time NCAA champion for Loras and a recent winner of the Bloomsday 12K in Spokane, Washington, secured ninth overall in the international pro race. Competing for the Team USA Red squad, the Crown Running athlete based in Waverly ran 33:49. The winner was Kenya’s Rebecca Mwangi in 32:33. Kenya cruised to the International Team Challenge title.
Former Iowa State All-American Ryan Ford, now with the On squad based in Boulder, took 11th in the men’s professional competition in 30:22. His USA White team was the best of the USA squads. Kenya’s Patrick KiptooKiprop cruised to the title by 31 seconds after running 28:35. Kenya also was the International Team Challenge winners.
In the Citizens competition for athletes not in the professional event, former Drake University star Reed Fischer of Longmont, Colorado, took third overall. The Tinman Elite runner known for top finishes in major U.S. marathons was timed in 30:39. Two spots behind him was ex-Davenport Central and Loras great Mason Tope of the Crown squad in 30:55.
Former Indian Hills Community College runner Marcus Graham of the Fitness Sports Distance Project team was 26th in 32:01. Graham now resides in Colorado Springs.
The Brian Kraft Memorial 5K was held in Minneapolis on Memorial Day and a Sioux City North grad was a winner. Minnesota Distance Elite’s Merga Gemeda captured the win in the 3.1-mile race in 14:11. Gemeda, 26, won by 24 seconds. Jake Robidoux, who finished his sophomore season at Indianola with a seventh place at state in the 3,200, took part and was 22nd overall in 15:41.
Former Luther College runner Flannery Cerbin-Bohach of rural Cresco picked up seventh in the women’s race. Cerbin-Bohach, 39, crossed the finish line in 17:49. The winner ran 16:13.
Shifting back to colleges and the NAIA Outdoor Championships at the Karl Straus Track in Asheville, North Carolina, from May 20-22.
Morningside University senior Courtney Sporrer finished her Mustangs career with a career-best individual finish of fourth in the 3,000 steeplechase. The Logan-Magnolia grad ran a new school record and best of 10:44.65 to score five points for Morningside. Mount Mercy junior Abby Knepper, who competed for Beckman (Dyersville), improved one spot from her nationals indoor finish in the 3,000. Knepper ran 10:48.89 for fifth nationally. St. Ambrose junior Kaitlyn Knoche, a former North Scott athlete, secured her best nationals finish of eighth. Knoche ran 11:04.04. The champion was British Columbia senior Elysse Fleming in 10:22.95.
Knepper had qualified for the final with the second-best time of 10:52.95 in Heat 1. Sporrer was next to finish in that heat in 10:55.47. In Heat 2, Knoche won in 11:16.00, which was the sixth-best time overall.
William Penn junior Andrew Miller matched his best finish at nationals of sixth in the 3,000 steeplechase final. The Pleasant Valley product ran 9:14.52 in a race won in 9:01.15 by British Columbia junior Maximilien Filion. Miller was sixth in the 3,000 at indoor nationals in March. He was the best finisher in Heat 3 of the steeplechase prelims after clocking 9:22.30.
Grand View University senior Nathan Limas became an All-American for the eighth time. The Roland-Story grad concluded the 5,000 race walk in 22:47.81 for eighth place. The champion was Cumberlands sophomore Lucien Beardsley in 20:36.79.
NOTE: This blog will be UPDATED.
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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Peyton Steffen, Lance Sobaski, Keelee Leitzen, Riley Witt, Kiki Witt, Courtney Sporrer, Abby Knepper
Reporting by Lance Bergeson, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
