Mile posts: Items on Emma Huston, Ean Caskey, Cody Baele, Eric Steiger, Nolan Rudd, Sam Mickelson, Morgan Lawson

It was a record-setting day at the 39th Capital Pursuit races on Sunday.

Three state records were set in downtown Des Moines on Sunday, with the road race leading off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes. Former Des Moines Roosevelt and Drake University great Emma Huston topped the Iowa road racing record for all females by covering the 10-mile race in 57:19 on a windy morning. The previous record was 57:33 set by Pasca Myers of Fort Dodge at this same race in 57:33. Huston, 28, Iowa history after a 2015 victory at Capital Pursuit in 57:45, settled for third in 59:41. The Runablaze Iowa athlete, 35, resides in Norwalk.

In the men's race, Ean Caskey, 41, of Lisbon crushed the longstanding Iowa masters road racing 10-mile record by running 52:46. The former Cornell College all-conference champion from Lisbon finished fourth overall and took down the mark of 53:40 set by Iowa running legend Phil Kauder at the 2001 Capital Pursuit. Caskey is a Running Wild Elite athlete.

And Jenny Schulze, the Iowa masters record holder for 10 miles of 60:10 set at Capital Pursuit in 2015, took down the 50-and-over grand masters mark by running 1:07:36 and placing fifth. Schulze, 50, of Clive knocked a whopping 3:37 off the old mark of 1:11:13 set by Ames' Beth Henriksen, 51, at Capital Pursuit in 2007.

Cody Baele, 27, of Des Moines moved up two spots from a year ago to claim the overall victory in 49:59. Baele caught and outdueled his Runablaze teammate Blake Whalen to run 49:59. Baele already owns the third-fastest time in club history, 49:07, from a year ago. Whalen, a former Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central Community College runner, moved into fourth in Runablaze history after clocking 50:09. Whalen, 27, is from Des Moines.

Austin O'Brien, who owns the second-fastest time of 49:05 in Runablaze history during a victory here a year ago, grabbed third in 51:20. O'Brien, 30, of Waukee is a former Pleasant Valley and Central College great.

Runablaze took five of the top eight spots. Former Dowling Catholic star Jason Thomas, 28, of West Des Moines and a Runablaze athlete finished fifth in 53:33. Teammate Tyler Lance, 26, of Algona ran 54:04 for sixth. He was 15 seconds ahead of Kyle Pape, 25, of Ankeny.

MacCoy Benzen, also Runablaze, finished eighth in 56:36. Benzen, 26, is a former Iowa State student now residing in Des Moines. Dalton Leslie, 29, of West Des Moines finished ninth in 56:44 and former Linn-Mar state champion Josh Evans, 26, of Ankeny stepped up in distance to take 10th in 57:10.

Former Wartburg College athlete Caleb Appleton and former Johnston High runner Tyson Wieland paced the top 10-mile runners until the breakaway point. Then, Appleton, 24, pulled away from his Runablaze teammate Wieland to grab the 5K win in 15:34. Wieland, a former Iowa Central athlete, was 13 seconds back. David Borner, 37, of Indianola rounded out the podium in third in 16:14.

Andrea Ertz, a former NAIA national runner-up in the indoor 1,000 meters and mile for Mount Mercy, took the women's 5K win in 18:08. Ertz, 23, is a Running Wild Elite athlete based in Cedar Rapids. She finished 39 seconds ahead of Myers, 36, who is returning from a long layoff. Former Southeast Warren runner Elise Emmick, 23, of Des Moines rounded out the podium in 19:58.

The smaller schools took top billing at the Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul, Minn. The Dordt University men placed fifth in the team race with 134 points and Defender seniors led the way. Eric Steiger made a successful start to his season by placing sixth in the men's Maroon 8K race for smaller colleges. Steiger ran 25:38.3 to improve 34 seconds from a year ago. Teammate and former George/LR prep Joe Anderson, a senior, was 14th in 25:55.0. Anderson chopped almost a minute off his time from last year. Senior Davis Tebben was 16th in 25:57.8. Tebben improved 25 seconds from his effort at Griak last year. Sophomore Aidan Vorster (43rd, 26:31.8) and senior Thaniel Schroeder (65th, 26:54.1) rounded out the scorers for Dordt, which moved up two spots in the team competition from last year.

"It was a great day for our cross country team in Minneapolis today," Dordt University head coach Nate Wolf said. "It was a great day for the men's team to test themselves in an incredible field of 29 teams and 400-plus runners. The men were focused on executing a solid race plan, which they did."

Central College was one spot back in sixth place with 188 points and improved from 10th in the team race from a year ago. Junior Noah Jorgenson of Sydney improved more than a minute from a year ago to finish 12th in 25:54.1. Senior Caleb Silver, a former BCLUW of Conrad runner, was 34th in 26:26.7. Senior Adam Sylvia took took 30 seconds off his time from a year ago to grab 38th in 26:29.2. The final Dutch scorers were sophomore Kenny Cronin (53rd, 26:38.0) and fifth-year senior Cutler Owens (66th, 26:54.3). Cronin is a former Davis County prep while Owens ran for Southeast Polk.

"They ran a really smart race," Central coach Joe Dunham said. "It's always tricky when you get in these big fields on how fast you need to go out to make sure we're in good position. We had some really good performances."

Former Pleasant Valley prep Parker Huhn of the UW-La Crosse team finished 37th overall in 26:28.5. Huhn, a junior, was the No. 7 runner on an Eagles team that finished runner-up in the team competition with 77 points, 15 behind Michigan Tech. The overall winner was UW-La Crosse's Ethan Gregg in 25:01.4.

MacKenzie Gaherty was the top Iowan finisher in the women's Maroon 6K race. The senior and former Dubuque Senior prep finished 14th overall in 22:57.8 and was the No. 2 runner for Minnesota State, which finished seventh in the team race.

Central junior Caroline McMartin, a native of Pella, was the next Iowa collegian in 19th place out of 382 finishers in 23:17.7. McMartin chopped 25 seconds off her time from a season ago. Sophomore Addy Parrott was next for the 10th-place Dutch in 39th in 23:53.3. Parrott is a sophomore from Danville. Senior Hailey Hill took 75th in 24:28.2, followed by freshman Leah Bontrager just .1 back. Bontrager is from Kalona and attended Hillcrest Academy.

Northwestern College junior Katlyn Wiese cracked the top 25. The former Ridge View (Holstein) prep finished 23rd in 23:26.2. She edged teammate Emily Haverdink, who crossed the line .1 of a second behind in 24th. Haverdink is a true freshman and former MOC-FV (Orange City) prep. Northwestern was 13th in the team race.

Iowa State's Madelynn Hill flipped the finishing order on the 26th-ranked Cyclones team, with the senior from suburban Kansas City leading the team in the women's 6K gold division. Hill dropped 26 seconds off her time from a year ago to place 18th in 21:18.8. Dana Feyen, who won her first individual cross country title at the Mizzou Opener in Columbia, Mo., on Sept. 1, settled for 22nd in 21:33.3. For the senior Feyen, the time was still a 22-second improvement at this race from 2021.

Former Glenwood prep star Janette Schraft was the third-best Cyclone, making a strong finish to end up 45th in 21:49.9. Schraft also is a senior. Junior Brenna Cohoon chopped 20 seconds off her 201 Griak time to place 53rd in 21:58.3. The final Iowa State scorer was sophomore and former Charles City standout Kiki Connell in 55th in 21:59.1. Connell was making her Griak debut. Sophomore Taylor Briggs also easily cracked the top 100, finishing 76th and running 22:15.5, an improvement of 53 seconds from 2021. The Cyclones finished eighth with 193 points. Utah, coached by former Webster City and Northern Iowa star Kyle Kepler, won the team title with 85 points, 10 better than Cal Baptist. The champion was Emily Venters of Utah in 20:33.2.

The Cyclone men skipped the meet to run at Columbia, Mo., this weekend. Former Iowa Central runner Hunter Klimek of North Dakota State ran to a 92nd-place finish in the men's 8K Gold race of bigger schools in 25:49.3. Former Ballard of Huxley prep Noah Kohut-Jackson of Minnesota captured 100th place out of 179 finishers in 25:58.8. Kohut-Jackson is a junior and former Ames High runner.

The Grand View University men dominated their Viking Invitational on Saturday at the DMACC cross country course. The Vikings put five runners in the top nine to score 21 points and top Mount Mercy by 38. Sam Mickelson, a senior and Hawkeye Community College transfer, paced the Vikings with a runner-up finish in 25:12.52 for the 8K race. Tony Rodriguez, a senior and former Des Moines East prep, was third in 25:20.58. Seth Kilborn, a senior from Ames, landed in fifth place in 25:43.70. Isaiah Wittrock, in his final year of eligibility and the reigning NAIA 1,500 outdoor champion, grabbed seventh in 26:22.40. Wittrock is a former Pekin prep from Richland. The final Vikings scorer was senior Chris Hatch in 26:46.87.

The race champion was St. Ambrose student Nolan Rudd, running unattached. Rudd held off Mickelson to earn the championship in 25:10.23. The top 10 also included runners from Graceland, Indian Hills, Coe and Mount Mercy. Senior Dillon Grover of Graceland finished fourth overall in 25:36.82. Brady Millikin, an Indian Hills sophomore and former Pekin prep from Hedrick, ended up sixth in 26:08.95. Senior Coe Booker of Coe College achieved a new personal-best time of 26:08.95 to place eighth in 26:37.49. Freshman Ryan Mitchell continued to impress for Mount Mercy, taking 10th in 26:54.57.

Mount Mercy flipped the finish order on the women's side, with the Mustangs finishing second, fifth, 12th, 15th and 16th to edge Grand View by five points, 50-55.

The overall champion came from Grand View, with former Ottumwa High standout Morgan Lawson cruising to the 5K victory in 18:13.36. Lawson is a senior.

Then, it was Mount Mercy graduate student Deanna Newhouse taking runner-up honors in 19:31.46. The former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep came from Iowa State. Aisha Ramone of Southeastern Community College grabbed third in 19:34.35. DMACC sophomore Natalia Segura was fourth in 19:35.65. Segura is a former Dallas Center-Grimes runner. Mary Wood, running unattached, took fifth in 19:38.63.

Back to road racing. At the TBK Bank Quad Cities Marathon on Sunday that ended in Moline, former Dam to Dam champion and West Des Moines resident Sammy Rotich finished third overall in 2:20:45. Matt Lorenz finished fifth overall in 2:25:40. Lorenz, a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep, was the winner of the 37th Fifth Season 8K in July. Connor Roche, who lives in Grundy Center, was seventh in 2:28:26.

A gaggle of Running Wild Elite athletes fared well in the corresponding half marathon Sunday. Former Augustana College athlete Mike Gille, who now lives in Iowa, took runner-up honors in 1:07:48 while making his half marathon debut. Kallin Carolus Khan of Iowa City improved one place from a year ago here, albeit in a slower time. Khan ran 1:10:07 for third place. RWE's Brett Rosauer took fourth, 43 seconds after Khan. Rosauer resides in Iowa City. RWE's Caleb Burke earned a new personal-best time of 1:11:08 while finishing fifth. His teammate, Dalton Rice, also grabbed a new personal-best time of 1:12:49 after finishing eighth. Rice lives in Davenport. The winner was Mike Chesire in 1:05:13.

Former University of Iowa student Brooke Slayman finished fourth overall in a very competitive women's half marathon. The native of Fort Worth, Texas, ran 1:18:30. Gabby Skopec, a former Iowa athlete living in Coralville, placed sixth in 1:25:49. The winning time was 1:15:41 by Jane Bareikis.

Former Pleasant Valley standout Devin Allbaugh, the RWE men's coordinator, set a new course record by a couple seconds during a victory in the 5K in 14:53. Allbaugh is a resident of Bettendorf.

Runablaze's Jessica Hruska, 41, of Dubuque captured the HOKA Chicago Half Marathon women's title on Sunday. The former Wartburg College and Dubuque Hempstead prep ran 1:16:53, a 5:52 pace, to win by 1:25.

Runablaze's Sam Pinkowski, a former Wartburg athlete, was the overall winner of the Best Dam Run half marathon in Waverly on Saturday. Pinkowski, now living in Des Moines, ran 1:08:58 to win by a whopping 25 minutes.

RWE's Becca Mallon of North Liberty was the women's winner at the Kickoff to Kinnick race on Saturday in Iowa City. Mallon, a former Davenport Assumption and Northern Iowa runner, was timed in 18:59.

Runablaze's Emily Webb took runner-up honors at the 10th and final Run to Exile 5K event on Saturday in downtown Des Moines. Webb, from Des Moines, ran 19:07.2 to finish almost 22 seconds behind the women's winner. Webb was fifth overall.

MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at bergeson@registermedia.com.

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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Emma Huston, Ean Caskey, Cody Baele, Eric Steiger, Nolan Rudd, Sam Mickelson, Morgan Lawson