GRINNELL, IA – The Principia cross country teams traveled to Grinnell College this past weekend to race in the Les Duke Invite, held on the college's golf course. Every year, this early season meet provides runners with the first shot at running the championship distances of 6K for the women and 8K for the men.
Junior
Nina Martinez continued her strong start to the season as she has now run a new personal best time in back-to-back weeks. She finished the 6K in a time of 26:48, which is a new PR by five seconds and over four minutes better than her time last season at Grinnell. On Monday, she was named SLIAC Runner of the Week for the second straight week!
On the men's side, junior
Holland Thomas paced the Panthers again with a time of 28:11, with senior
Kennett Rampley about a minute later at 29:09. Freshmen trio of
Dallas Manhart (29:33),
Tyrone Merdian (31:46), and
Rowan Kirkbride (32:23) all completed their first ever collegiate 8Ks as the Principia men finished in 7th place.
The Panthers will race next Friday morning at Quail Creek Golf Club in St. Louis for the Billiken Invitational hosted by SLU. The women will run at 8:30 AM, followed by the men at 9:15 AM.
