Simpson places sixth behind Edwardson's fifth-place effort
DUBUQUE - Ryan Edwardson ran to a fifth-place finish at the Iowa Conference Championships on Saturday, leading Simpson to a sixth-place finish of nine teams.
Luther won the team race with 57 points, ahead of Loras (61), Cornell (77), Coe (115) and Wartburg (122). Simpson scored 127 points, ahead of Central (135), Buena Vista (259) and Dubuque (281).
"The team ran extremely hard today and competed very well against some really tough conference opponents," head coach Brad Hofer said. "We are continuing to become great racers and we are seeing the desired results."
Edwardson, a sophomore from Spencer, completed the 8k course in 26:18.9, just over 26 seconds behind medalist Andrew Tobben of Cornell. The finish marks the best by a Storm runner since Eric Osterhaus placed fifth in 2008.
"Ryan ran a very smart race today," Hofer said. "He showed that he is one of the best runners in the conference."
Sophomore Mitchell Davis finished four places away from all-conference recognition, taking 19th (27:05.6). In his first conference championship, freshman Joe Farrand took 31st (27:32.9), sohpomore John Warnke placed 32nd (27:41.5) and freshman Mitch Hill took 45th (28:18.7). Sophomore Jake Sutton came in 50th (28:27.4) and junior Matt Stone took 53rd (28:33.7), rounding out the Storm's varsity finishers.
Simpson will have a week off before competing in the NCAA Regionals, held Nov. 13 in Waverly.
