OTTUMWA - Southwestern's Chase Oates moved from fourth to second on the program's all-time 8K performance list here Friday with his third-place finish at the Indian Hills Invitational.
Oates finished third overall in the field of 75 runners, behind Indian Hills' Brandon Ford (23:40.9) and Keveroy Venson (24:14.8). Oates, a sophomore from Columbia Heights, Minnesota, crossed the finish line in 25:35.6. That was another 38-second improvement on his 8K PR, which he had previously set at the Greeno/Dirksen Invite in September (26:13.3). He now sits second in program history at the 8K distance, trailing only former All-American Walter Bolingo's time of 24:44.0 in 2008. Oates surpassed James Kitchwen (25:55.0, 2006) and Bobby Soper (25:58.1, 2006) on the school's all-time list.
"This is a meet we've had targeted all year long as a chance for Chase to really go fast," said Scott Vicker, director of cross country/track & field. "The weather forecast all week had given us some concerns, but even after waiting out a 45-minute lightning delay, the weather turned out to be absolutely perfect for the race. I'm proud of Chase for not letting the weather delay affect him and sticking to our race plan. We knew the two Indian Hills runners would get out early, so the plan was to lay back, but still get out quicker than normal, and then keep the foot on the gas."
Oates came through the first mile of the race in 4:54 with a chase pack of about five other runners. By the 2-mile mark, the pack had whittled to just three runners with a mile split of 5:24. At that point, Oates surged ahead of the chase pack and steadily increased the gap between him and Culver-Stockton College's Logan Lucas and Indian Hills' Mohammed Al-Yafaee.
"This was a great test run for Chase as we prepare for the national championships in four weeks," Vicker said. "We know he has a chance to do something special at nationals, but he's going to have to get out fast. His first mile Friday was about 10 seconds faster than he had ever started a race. So this should give him some confidence in his ability to get out fast and hang on late in the race. Chase and I both have a ton of confidence in the training he's done, so this was great for him to finally have that big breakthrough that we've been looking for."
The Spartan team was shorthanded Friday, still missing freshman Daemon Rodriguez, who has been the team's No. 2 runner all season. Rodriguez suffered a hamstring injury at the Gans Creek Classic in September. No. 3 runner Michael Mayer got off to a good start Friday before dropping out of the race when he tweaked his hip flexor.
"I think Michael will be fine moving forward. With regionals coming up soon, there was no point for him to push through it Friday when he tweaked it," Vicker said. "Hopefully we will have Daemon back for regionals and can field the full team."
Kyle Sanders posted a huge PR for the Spartans, cutting nearly 4 whole minutes off his best 8K time. Sanders, who ran 40:22.9 at the Greeno/Dirksen Invite in September, crushed that mark with a 36:41.5 on Friday.
"I'm extremely proud of Kyle's race," Vicker said. "He got out faster than normal and was competitive throughout the race. He has put in a lot of good work this fall, and this race showed the benefits of that."
The Spartans return to action Friday, Oct. 27, when they host the Region 11 Cross Country Championships. The day will get started with the men's race at 4 p.m., followed by the women's race at 4:45 p.m. Teams competing will be DMACC, Hawkeye CC, Indian Hills, Iowa Central, Iowa Western, NIACC, Southeastern CC, and SWCC.
The field of competition features 12 teams ranked in the USTFCCCA national polls.
"There is going to be some great competition here next Friday," Vicker said. "It would be great to have a lot of fans out to see this meet. It's a perfect way to start your Friday evening before going to Creston's home playoff football game later that night."
