Iowa junior Luke Knepp emphatically qualified for his first NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The former Pleasant Valley prep reestablished his own school record with a fifth-place time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase quarterfinals at the NCAA West First Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday, May 29.Knepp earned the automatic spot to Eugene, Oregon, after taking third place in Heat 2 in 8 minutes, 30.52 seconds. Knepp finished fifth overall.
Knepp leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and post collegiate distance runners and triathletes.
The Hawkeye junior will take the 10th-best time into the 24-man field that will contest the semifinals on Wednesday, June 10 at Hayward Field. The steeplechase final will take place June 12.
A year ago at the NCAA West event, Knepp finished 18th overall and fifth in Heat 3 in 8:47.22 to get squeezed out of a spot to Eugene. Since then, he has finished eighth in the Big Ten 3,000 indoors in a new personal record of 8:04.99 and captured fifth in the 3,000 steeplechase at the Big Ten Outdoor meet in Lincoln, Nebraska, last month. He improved one spot from a sixth-place effort in that event at Big Ten Outdoors from the previous year.
Iowa State redshirt senior Quinton Orr missed qualifying for a repeat trip to nationals in Eugene. The Humboldt grad placed 11th in Heat 3 in 8:59.57. Orr posted the 34th-best time. Iowa junior Hayden Kuhn, who prepped at Linn-Mar (Marion), also was 11th, in Heat 2, after running 9:05.93. Kuhn had the 40th-best time. The best time was produced by Iowa State sophomore Joash Ruto in 8:26.87.
Arkansas senior Ainsley Erzen made it past the first round of the 800 before seeing her bid for nationals stalled in the quarterfinals. The Carlisle product ran 2:05.26 for sixth in Heat 2 of the quarterfinals.
Four made it out of that heat to Eugene, with Iowa junior Rosemary Arthur the last at 2:01.88. The last qualifier on time was BYU’s Krystie Solomon in 2:02.21. Arkansas senior Sanu Jallow missed setting the NCAA record by .01 of a second after running 1:57.74 for the best time of the quarterfinals.
Erzen had punched her ticket to the quarterfinals with a third-place finish in Heat 3 in 2:05.44. She had the 25th-best time in the first round.
Oklahoma State freshman and former Nashua-Plainfield runner Kadence Huck took fifth in Heat 2 of the first round in 2:05.86. Huck had the 31st-best time. Iowa junior Gabby Cortez, who prepped at Cedar Rapids Prairie, was fifth in the sixth heat in 2:07.00 and 33rd overall. Cortez was one of four Hawkeyes competing in the 800 in Fayetteville.
Two college seniors from Iowa closed out their NCAA careers. Northern Iowa redshirt senior Millie Hill claimed 10th in Heat 2 of the 3,000 steeplechase on May 30. The Ankeny Centennial grad ran 10:38.46 for 28th overall. Illinois State senior Mattison Plummer ended up 13th in Heat 2 in 10:50.78 for 36th overall. Plummer and Hill were 1-2 at the Missouri Valley Conference meet in Terre Haute, Indiana, last month. The best time in Fayetteville was produced by BYU junior Taylor Lovell in 9:38.36.
Former Ballard (Huxley) athlete Shewaye Johnson, who finished her prep career in Texas, ran in the 10,000 semifinals on May 28. The North Dakota junior, who started her career at Texas A&M, ran 34:06.28 for 26th overall. The best time was 31:27.30 by BYU freshman Jane Hedengren.
Nebraska redshirt sophomore Gabe Nash on May 27 came very close to moving on to the second round of the 800. The ex-Sioux City North runner picked up fouth in Heat 4 in 1:48.52. Nash was .18 of a second behind senior teammate Hannes Fahl, who grabbed the last spot in the heat. Fahl’s time was 26th best, with Nash’s 29th best. Northern Iowa sophomore Derek Woods, who competed for Cedar Falls, ran 1:49.45 for eighth in Heat 6. Woods had the 37th-best time out of 48 starters. The best time in the first round was 1:46.92 by former Indian Hills Community College and Iowa runner Rivaldo Marshall, now a senior at Arkansas.
One former Iowa prep competed in the distance events at the East First Round in Lexington, Kentucky, from May 27-30. Boston University junior Adrienne Buettner-Cable started the 10,000 semifinal on May 28, but didn’t finish. She is a Des Moines Roosevelt grad who took second in the 10,000 at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships in May. The best time was by former Iowa Western Community College runner Hilda Olemomoi, now a senior at Florida, in 32:31.21.
Moving to the roads, where the 47th running of the race from Saylorville Dam to downtown Des Moines, now named Dam to DSM, was held on Saturday, May 30. Fitness Sports Distance Project’s Cody Baele of Des Moines continued to rack up wins in the city’s biggest events. The three-time IMT Des Moines Half Marathon champion cruised to the win in the half marathon race in 1:07:14. He topped Wartburg College sophomore Ayden Buchanan by 3:11.
Finishing third was Runablaze Iowa’s Adam Bohach of rural Cresco, who moved into third in Iowa road racing history for men 40 to 49. The former South Winneshiek and Luther College runner’s 1:12:33 time trails only Ean Caskey (1:09:43) from 2022 and Scott Gall (1:11:42) from 2015. Spencer Moon, an NCAA 10,000 champion for Simpson College in 2024, was fourth in 1:13:02. He competes for the FSDP squad and is a South Central Calhoun product. The top five was rounded out by Union (TN) University senior-to-be and ex-Des Moines Christian runner Aaron Fynaardt in 1:13:15.
Current Wartburg runner Ahmed Aldamak, a Cedar Falls grad, was next to finish in 1:13:35. Peter Kosgei, 40, of Ames, slotted into seventh in Iowa masters history (40-49) with a 1:13:42 effort. Ethan Boston, who attended Linn-Mar (Marion) before finishing his freshman year at Wartburg, claimed eighth in 1:14:02. Former Grinnell-Newburg High and Indian Hills Community College athlete Isaac Bryant took ninth in 1:14:09. Seth Kilborn of the FSDP squad completed the top 10. The ex-East Marshall, Indian Hills and Grand View University competitor was timed in 1:14:54.
More collegians followed. Andrew Poock, a former Wartburg and Ankeny High athlete, took 11th in 1:15:32. Two seconds back was former Des Moines Christian product Carson Houg, who completed his eligibility at Iowa this spring. Houg ran 1:15:34. James Johnson, who ended his sophomore season at Simpson in May, was next in 1:15:49. He attended Marshalltown High. John Moellers, also a Marshalltown grad who now competes for Drake University, was 14th in 1:16:00 on a humid morning. Carter Gearhart completed the top 15. The 2025 Johnston grad ran 1:17:48.
Former Newton and Drake runner Casey McDermott captured the women’s title in 1:20:28. Jordan De Groot, a former Dordt University runner, was runner-up in 1:21:18. Runablaze’s Pasca Cheruiyot of Ankeny, a past winner, took third in 1:22:04. Melanie Hamilt of the Runablaze squad and Coralville claimed fourth in 1:22:25. Ex-Boone High runner Danna Herrick of Norwalk was 47th overall and fifth among the women in 1:23:37. Runablaze’s Lauren (Schulze) Wood, who prepped at Valley High, ran 1:25:55 for sixth.
The Espresso Mile west of downtown Des Moines was held the next day, on Sunday, May 31. Iowa State’s Orr drove down for the race and took the win on the hilly course in 4:17.9. Carson Lane, who finished his sophomore season at Iowa, took second in 4:21.3. Lane attended Johnston. Former Wartburg and Liberty High runner Jack Kinzer, now with the Driftless Distance Project based in Wisconsin, grabbed third in 4:22.9. New Runablaze athlete Max Hand, now living in West Des Moines, was next in 4:25.6. Crown Running’s Kyle Pape, a former Dubuque Wahlert and Central College competitor, took fifth in 4:31.9. Runablaze’s Karim Achengli, a former Iowa Central runner, ran 4:39.1 for sixth. FSDP’s Ean Warrick, who attended Ames High and Simpson College, ran 4:42.6 for seventh.
The women’s winner was Bella Heikes, who completed her elibility with Iowa State in May and now runs for the FSDP team. The Johnston grad ran 4:57.6 to move into the top 10 in Iowa road racing history for women. Heikes won by about 16 seconds. Taking third in 5:18.6 was masters runner Susie Duke of Searsboro. The Runablaze Iowa athlete is the women’s masters record holder for 5K. In fourth was former Loras College runner Hannah Weiss, now with the FSDP squad and an assistant coach at Drake. Weiss ran 5:20.4. Runablaze teammate Cheruiyot rounded out the top five in 5:32.4.
GOING BACK: Runablaze swept the overall podium at the Quad Cities Running Festival races in East Moline, IL, on Memorial Day, May 25. The 5K winner in 14:43 was former Central College and Pleasant Valley standout Austin O’Brien in 14:33. Matthew Lorenz of Swisher was next in 14:37. Johnston and Iowa Central grad Tyson Wieland was third in 15:51.
In the half marathon, Artur Mueller, 42 of Davenport set the No. 4 all-time mark for masters runners. Mueller ran 1:12:39 to win by more than 11 minutes.
The Quad Cities Criterium Running Wild Mile was held on Memorial Day. Iowa runner Carson Lane picked up his first runner-up in two weeks with a 4:30 time. He was :01 behind winner Steven Potter of the Driftless team. Former Iowa and Pleasant Valley star Max Murphy was third in 4:31. Taking fifth for the Running Wild Elite squad was Joe Langridge in 4:43.
MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at bergeson@registermedia.com.
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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Luke Knepp, Ainsley Erzen, Millie Hill, Gabe Nash, Cody Baele, Adam Bohach, Casey McDermott
Reporting by Lance Bergeson, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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