Bass Wins in Season Opener

Results

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Alec Bass outpaced the field by eight seconds in winning the Mount Mercy Gallop to lead the Spartans to a fourth-place finish.

 

Bass' win aided a Spartan effort that saw them tally 126 points in a nine-team affair in many of the teams season-opener. Cornell took home the title with 54 points while Coe (63 points) and Mount Mercy (72) followed close behind.

Bass went out under control on the newly minted Seminole Valley Park course, running in second and third for the majority of the 5000M race. With a half mile to go, and twenty meters between him and leader, he made his move looking relaxed and well under control. He took the lead with 200 meters left and won the race in 16:10 and a margin of eight seconds. The second finisher for UD was first-year Hunter Klose (28th, 18:10), followed by junior Jon Berland (31, 18:17), sophomore Jack Lindsay (32, 18:17) and first-year Hunter Reifschneider (34, 18:22) to round out the Spartan Five. UD raced without its top runner from 2014 and team captain, senior Payton Nevills.

 

"We tried to work on aspects of pack running tonight and I thought we did a decent job of working together and running a good hard last mile of the shorter race," said Head Coach Geoff Gundlach.

 

The Spartans have a quick turnaround and will race the full 8k course on Saturday at the Dutch Invite/Pre-Regional hosted by Central College on the Central cross country course.