The Grinnell College cross country teams both had strong starts to their 2008 campaigns, as each finished third in their respective divisions at the Bob Timmons Classic hosted by the University of Kansas on a hot Saturday.

The Pioneer men had 94 points to finish behind the host school and Butler County Community College (the Kansas alumni team also competed but does not officially count).

Henry Reich '09 (pictured) led the Pioneers with an eighth-place finish in 26:23.1 over the 8 kilometer course. Next in line for the Pioneers were David Montgomery '10 and Nick Sparr '09, who were 17th and 18th in 27:12.8 and 27:15.8, respectively. Dan Krauss '12 was 22nd in 27:24.9 and Sam Calisch '10 placed 24th in 27:27.1.

On the women's side, Elizabeth Jach '09 led the way with a 22nd-place finish on the 5 kilometer course. Her time was 21:07.6. She was followed by Catherine Bisignano '12 (22nd in 21:12.2), Rachel Whitfield (26th in 21:21.5), Sarah Casson (30th in 21:34.3) and Becky Bessinger (35th in 21:40.8).

Grinnell tallied 96 points in the team standings. Kansas won the team crown and Butler County Community College was second.

The Pioneers host the annual Les Duke Invitational Sept. 13 at Oakland Acres Golf Course.
Bob Timmons Men's Meet Results
Bob Timmons Photos

The Grinnell College men's cross country team is fifth in the Central Region preseason rankings released by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Pioneers return several talented runners from a squad that won its 11th Midwest Conference title in a row last season. Nebraska Wesleyan holds down the top spot in the Central Region and is followed by Luther, St. Olaf, Bethel and Grinnell. Rounding out the top 10 are Macalester, University of St. Thomas, St. John's (Minn.), Coe and Gustavus Adolphus.
D-III Men's Cross Country Rankings

With many of its top runners returning, the Grinnell College men's cross country team is seeking another big season in 2008.

The Pioneers, who claimed their 11th consecutive Midwest Conference title last fall, return six runners from that team who earned all-league honors. Henry Reich '10 placed seventh to lead the pack, while other all-conference returnees include David Montgomery '10 (eighth place), Noah DeLong '11 (11th), Ethan Heppner '11 (14th), Sam Calisch '10 (15th) and Mike Horrell '09 (19th). The conference title was Grinnell's 24th in program history, which passed Carleton for best of any school.

Coach Will Freeman expects other returnees to be key contributors, including Drake Ballew '09, the 2006 conference champion who was off last year due to injury. Others in the mix will be Nick Sparr '09, who is coming off a strong track season, and Chris Wilson '11, also considered a very solid runner by the coach. "Calisch, Montgomery, Sparr and Reich all trained together this summer," said Freeman. "They are likely four of the top five and are very fit."

First-years whom Freeman said may contribute are Joe Hiller, Dan Krauss, Griffin Smith, Marcus Zeitz and the McCallum-Cook twins, Colin and Ian.

Freeman said a highlight for the Pioneers will be the chance to host two meets this season, the annual Les Duke Invitational on Sept. 13 as well as the NCAA Division III Regional Meet on Nov. 15. Both will be at Oakland Acres Golf Club. "We're expecting a strong alumni presence at the Les Duke as we're having a reunion of former runners that weekend," said Freeman.

There were 99 NCAA Division III men's teams to earn the award and 141 women's squads. For a team to be considered for the award, it must have competed and compiled a team score at an NCAA Regional Meet and earned a minimum 3.10 team cumulative grade point average.

Distance running legend Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic marathon champion, spoke to a captive audience of 200-plus during a presentation at Darby Gymnasium on the campus of Grinnell College last weekend.

Shorter's appearance was held in conjunction with the annual National Distance Running Summit hosted by the college. Besides his presentation at Darby, Shorter also spoke during a Summit session and met one-on-one for an interview with Grinnell College Sports Information Director Ted Schultz.

Shorter not only discussed his Olympic victory, but his near repeat win in the 1976 Games. However, he finished second that year to virtual unknown Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany. Cierpinski's win has come under heavy scrutiny, though, due to alleged drug use by him and much of the East German Olympic team.

Since then, Shorter has been a major advocate in the battle against the use of performance-enhancing methods that tilt the playing field. In 2000, he became the first-ever chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. That independent agency replaced the United States Olympic Committee's program.

"Because of that agency, bad people were replaced by people without conflicts of interest," Shorter explained. "It's getting to the point where the good guys are taking over. I think the paradigm has shifted in favor of the clean athletes. We're getting to the point where the clean athletes know that even if someone is doing drugs, they'll probably get caught."

Shorter's presentation at Darby was titled "The State of Distance Running in the United States." Things went downhill in the 1970s, said Shorter, but are now on the upswing. "Looking at American distance running, it started going down around the time of the 1976 Olympics," said Shorter. "The East Germans won more medals than any other country in those Olympics and you can answer your own question as to why. You can't take the drugs out of the history. My theme here is working through the denial. Many times with denial, you're well-meaning but feel you have no control of what's going on so it's better to pretend it's not there. By 1984 the men were already off the map (in terms of distance running) and the women were close in terms of the size of talent pool. But again, in looking for a reason, you have to factor in the 800-pound gorilla who's in the game."

But the growing disparity wasn't simply of physical nature. "There's the psychological effect of clean people lining up against people they knew were cheating," said Shorter. "How does that impact you in your race and when you're on the track doing your intervals? Do you really believe you can beat the guy you know is on drugs?"

But as performance-enhancing methods such as drugs and doping are being eliminated from the equation, the playing field is becoming more balanced, said Shorter. "I think it's coming around," Shorter said of the Americans' quest to return to elite status. "We're showing there's hope when you have someone like Ryan Hall not only winning the Olympic marathon trials, but running 2:09:02 on a tough course. People are actually looking at that performance and thinking he has a chance. I think it's becoming more apparent that the playing field is going back to level, and because of that Americans will do better."

On a side note, Shorter touched on his relationship with distance running legend Steve Prefontaine, who was killed in an auto accident in 1975. Two movies were made on Prefontaine's life, helping launch him to the status of icon. "Steve and I were actually very good friends," said Shorter, one of the last people to see Prefontaine alive. "We were also complimentary training partners. That's what American distance running needs, a return to the time when athletes chose with whom they wanted to train. It wasn't the agents, coaches or shoe companies deciding. The best talent has to get together to train without agents worrying their man might somehow give up some advantage by doing so."

Shorter added that he is known by younger running enthusiasts partly because of the Prefontaine movies. "Kids will come up and just look at me," said Shorter. "So I head them off at the pass and say, 'You want to talk about Steve, right?' And that's often what they want."

Charlie Knuth '08 and David Montgomery '10 both earned all-region honors for the Grinnell College men's cross country team at Saturday's NCAA Division III Central Region event in Northfield, Minn.

Knuth placed 32nd in the 8 kilometer race with a time of 26 minutes, 18 seconds, while Montgomery was 34th in 26:19. The top 35 individuals are all-region.

Rounding out the Pioneers' lineup were Noah DeLong '11 (49th in 26:36), Henry Reich '09 (58th in 26:48), Sam Calisch '10 (64th in 26:55), Ethan Heppner '11 (69th in 27:03) and David Krist '08 (73rd in 27:12).

The Pioneers were ninth in the team standings with 237 points. Nebraska Wesleyan and Luther were first and second to earn the automatic spots in the national meet. At-large team qualifiers will likely be picked from the region, too, but only top five finishers are considered. The top seven individuals in a region not on qualifying teams also make the national meet.
NCAA Central Region men's results

It was a clean sweep for the Grinnell College cross country teams at the Midwest Conference Championships Saturday at Nichols Park in Jacksonville, Ill.

The Pioneer men won their 11th league title in a row and the women their fourth straight. On top of that, Sarah Spencer '08 defended her women's individual title. Grinnell's men now own 24 MWC cross country titles, which is best-ever in the league and surpasses Carleton's 23.

Grinnell's women easily won them team title, scoring 38 points compared to runner-up Carroll's total of 71. The Pioneer men tallied 45 points to beat runner-up St. Norbert College by six.

The day started on a stellar note for the Pioneers as Spencer ran the 5 kilometer course in 17 minutes, 59.92 seconds and Allison Louthan '08 finished as the runner-up in 18:18.95, beating two-time MWC champ Erin Kelley of Carroll College, who was third.

Becky Bessinger '09 was sixth in 19:26.69, Maja Gamble '11 added a 10th-place finish in 19:56.90 and Elizabeth Jach '09 was 19th in 20:13.43. Rounding out the top seven were Rachel Whitfield '10 (21st in 20:28.23) and Erin Sindewald '08 (28th in 20:54.23).

The Pioneer men used a solid pack to take the title. Henry Reich '09 led that pack by placing seventh in the 8 kilometer race with a time of 26 minutes, 21.77 seconds. He was followed by David Montgomery '10 (eighth in 26:27.92), David Krist '08 (ninth in 26:36.85), Charles Knuth '08 (10th in 26:42.10) and Noah DeLong '11 (11th in 26:46.23).

Other top 20 finishers were Ethan Heppner '11 (14th in 26:49.52), Sam Calisch '10 (15th in 26:49.84) and Mike Horrell '09 (19th in 26:54.39). The overall champ was Jeff Pentek of St. Norbert, who ran 25:17.37.

Both Grinnell teams have two weeks off before competing in the NCAA Regional Meet at Northfield, Minn.

Click here for MWC Men's Results

Click here for MWC Championship Photos