Mile posts: Items on Kassie Parker, Biya Simbassa, Ean Caskey, Christopher Collet, Aubrie Fisher, Merga Gemeda, Florance Uwajeneza

Kassie Parker continues to show the NCAA Division III level is just a number.

The Loras College graduate student and former Clayton Ridge of Guttenberg athlete racked up an impressive victory Friday at the 43rd National Catholic Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame. Parker reset her own 5-kilometer school record by 39 seconds while defeating every Division I runner, including Notre Dame's ace, Olivia Markezich.

Parker clocked a time of 17:02.1 to top Markezich by just over 10 seconds. Parker pulled out a gap of more than 10 seconds over Markezich, who was 11th at last year NCAA Division I Cross Country nationals. Parker was chosen as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Division III National Athlete of the Week after also helping the Duhawks finished third in the team race with 118 points.

Parker, also the reigning Division III national cross country champion, leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes.

More on the Loras women, but first the host Notre Dame men played rude hosts. The Irish swept the top seven places to finish with a perfect score of 15 points. Placing third overall in the five-mile race was senior and former Dowling Catholic star Matthew Carmody. The Des Moines native clocked 24:48.9.

The Loras men took a distant second with 76 points. Senior Luke Guttormson, from West Bend, Wis., was the top Duhawk for the second consecutive race with a 25:03.40 effort. He placed 11th. Sophomore Ryan Harvey placed 13th in 25:12.4. Sophomore Julian Watson picked up a 21st-place finish in 25:54.6. Junior Carlo Dannenfelser (30th, 26:12.30) and sophomore Jacob Belha (31st, 26:16.80) were the final scorers. Dannenfelser is a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep. Senior Wyatt Kelly (32nd, 26:20.2) and senior Will Whalen (38th, 26:30.8) also cracked the top 40 for the Duhawks. Kelly is a former Hudson runner. Whalen ran for Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central Community College.

A former Loras runner, Evan Jamrozy, finished 23rd for the Lewis men. The junior ran 25:56.9.

Boosting the Loras women's third-place finish was senior Brianna Renner, freshman Bailey Vaughan and graduate student Alison Bryant. Renner, from West Bend, Wis., took 23rd in 18:57.0. Vaughan was 30th in 19:13.8 and Bryan 38th in 19:28.1. Vaughan ran for Johnston High while Osterberger is a former Dubuque Wahlert athlete.

Now it's on, briefly, to road racing, where Biya Simbassa showed he is back to his 2021 form. The reigning USATF Running Circuit champion set a new course record while claiming the USATF 10 km Road Championships in Northport, New York, on Saturday.

The former Sioux City North and Iowa Central Community College standout opened a gap over Leonard Korir, who has dominated this year's USA Running Circuit, and Sam Chelanga with less than two miles to go. The Under Armour Dark Sky athlete now based in Flagstaff, Ariz., continued to extend the gap over a stellar final mile to claim the victory in 28:12. Simbassa claimed his third USATF Running Circuit career title and moved up to fifth in the circuit standings with 31 points after scoring 15 for his victory. His previous best was a fourth at the USATF 15K Championships in Jacksonville, Fla., in the spring and a fifth at the 20K Championships at New Haven, Conn., earlier this month.

Korir was 22 seconds behind Simbassa, holding off Chelenga by a second for runner-up honors. Korir now leads the points standings by nearly 50 with 104. Chelanga is in third with 42.

In the women's race, held as part of the Cow Harbor Run 10K, former Iowa State All-American Annie Frisbie also produced her best finish of the USATF Running Circuit season by placing third in 31:58. Stephanie Bruce, Frisbie, Nell Rojas and Ednah Kurgat formed a good group halfway through the race. Kurgat fell off, leaving Bruce, Rojas and Frisbie to battle for the win. Bruce, who will be retiring at the end of the year, made a decisive move with a mile to go to win and set a course record of 31:52. Rojas held off Minnesota Distance Elite athlete Frisbie by two seconds, with Frisbie clocking 31:58. Kurgat ran 32:03 for fourth.

Frisbie's previous best was a fourth-place finish at the USATF 20K Championships earlier this month. She is now seventh in the circuit standings with 25.5 points.

In Iowa, Running Wild Elite's Ean Caskey shattered his own state masters record (40 and over) for 5K at the Run for Pie 5K in Lisbon on Saturday. Caskey, a former All-American and Iowa Conference champion while running for Cornell College, was timed in an amazing 15:20 over the 3.1-mile distance to knock 16 seconds off his time from the Blazing 5K race in Des Moines last September. That pace is 4:56 per mile.

Caskey, 41, now owns two state masters record, with his sights set on a third this upcoming weekend. Caskey set the 8K record of 25:44 at the Fifth Season 8K in Cedar Rapids on the Fourth of July. Caskey, from Lisbon, races in this Sunday's Capital Pursuit 10-mile race, where he takes aim at Phil Kauder's mark of 53:40 set at this race in 2001.

Back to cross country. The Wartburg College men defeated such NCAA Division I programs such as Eastern Illinois, host Illinois State and Northern Iowa to claim the team title at the Redbird Invite in Normal on Friday. The Knights scored 43 points to edge Eastern Illinois by 11.

Pacing the fourth-ranked Knights was senior Christopher Collet, who was edged at the finish line for the win by Jaime Marcos. Marcos, running unattached, was timed in 24:04.2, just .02 ahead of the Knight from Verona, Ill. Collet is the reigning NCAA Division III steeplechase champion on the track.

Senior teammate Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn placed eighth in 25:01.6. He is from Bismarck, N.D. Junior teammate Jacob Green was three spots behind him after running 25:09.9. Green is a former Cedar Rapids JFK athlete. The final Wartburg scorers were juniors Sam Schmitz in 13th in 25:20.6 and Connor Lancial in 14th in 25:22.5. Schmitz ran for Johnston High while Lancial is a former Council Bluffs Lewis Central athlete.

There were more Knights cracking the top 30 as Wartburg showed its superior depth and as the lone Division III program competing. Clay Pehl finished 21st in 25:48.2 while fellow sophomore Jack Kinzer was 24th in 25:58.6. Pehl is a sophomore who attended Madrid while Kinzer ran for North Liberty. Senior Nick Henry also ended up 29th in 26:07.7 while sophomore Michael Goodenbour grabbed 32nd in 26:11.1. Goodenbour is a former Cedar Falls standout.

Northern Iowa made its season debut after sitting the first two weekends. Caleb Shumaker, a sophomore and former Tipton High standout, finished in the top 25 at this race for the second consecutive year to lead the Panthers in 15th place in 25:30. Sophomore Brady Griebel, a former Bellevue runner, ended up 26th in 26:01 while Payton Marrs, also a sophomore and former Urbandale athlete, was 28th in 26:07. The Panthers finished fifth in the team race with 163 points.

Iowa sent its 'B' team to Normal and Nate Harbert led the young Hawkeyes with a 27th-place finish in 26:02.8. Fellow freshman Elijah Naumann, a former Western Dubuque athlete, was 34th in 26:15.4.

Wartburg couldn't quite sweep both competitions, with the second-ranked Knights finishing runner-up in the women's team competition. The Knights scored 40 points, just 13 less than Division I Butler University.

Wartburg also claimed a runner-up individual finish from their junior All-American, Aubrie Fisher. The former AGWSR of Ackley prep star ran 21:32.3 for the 6K distance to trail only Butler senior Mia Beckham, who ran 21:16.5. Lexi Brown also grabbed a fifth-place finish in 21:50.0 as Butler and Wartburg swept the top five. Brown is from New London. Riley Mayer (ninth, 22:02.9), Shaelyn Hostager (11th, 22:07.7) and Ellie Meyer (13th, 22:20.5) rounded out the impressive Knights scoring contingent. Mayer is a senior and former Fort Dodge St. Edmond prep. Hostager, a junior, ran for Dubuque Hempstead. Meyer is a sophomore and former Iowa Falls-Alden prep. Wartburg's sixth runner also was impressive, with senior Natalie Paulson 17th in 22:32.1. She is a former Dallas Center-Grimes prep.

The Northern Iowa women finished fourth in the team race with 102 points. Pack running helped out the Panther, with sophomore Kate Crawford 15th in 22:23.2. Crawford is from Guthrie Center. Sophomore Sophia Jungling, a former Aplington-Parkersburg athlete, was 18th in 22:37.0, followed closely by teammate Mia Rampton in 19th in 22:44. Emma Hoins, a sophomore transfer who won the NJCAA Division I steeplechase crown at Hawkeye Community College, was 21st in 22:53.8. Hoins is a former Waverly-Shell Rock prep. The Panthers' final scorer was sophomore Isabelle Schaffer in 30th in 23:22.0. Schaffer ran for Waukee.

Freshman Ana Barroso paced the Iowa 'B' team in 22nd place in 22:55.1.

Former Valley High standout Lauren Schulze of Clive was the No. 5 runner for Illinois State. Schulze placed 26th in 23:07.7. The Redbirds placed third with 65 points.

Back to cross country. At the Greeno/Dirksen Cross Country Invitational on Saturday in Lincoln, Neb., reigning NCAA Division II steeplechase champion Reece Smith of Northwest Missouri State topped all but four runners in placing fifth overall for the 8K race in 24:26.4. The former Garner-Hayfield-Ventura prep star produced the 10th-best time in school history. Smith helped the Bearcats finished third in the Men's Gold Division with 92 points.

Drake sophomore Enzo Marie was three spots behind Smith after running 24:30.5. Marie, who is from France, led the Bulldogs to fifth in the Men's Red Division competition with 135 points.

Finishing second in the Gold Division with 78 points was Iowa Central, which landed three runners in the top 32 of the combined men's race. Leading the way was freshman Housem Hrabi in 18th place in 24:49.1. Hrabi is from Tunisia. Hawkeye Invitational champion Ayenew Devany, a freshman from Katy, Texas, placed 25th in 25:04.7. Sophomore Zander Cobb, who hails from Washington, Mich., was 32nd in 25:10.7. Freshman Will Sacay also impressed, finishing 46th overall out of 318 finishers in 25:31.0. The Tritons also picked up a 72nd-place finish from sophomore Yared Kidane in 25:57.6.

Iowa Western freshman Jacinto Gaspar paced the Reivers by ending up in 22nd place. The native of Portugal ran 25:00.5.

Nebraska senior Jerry Jorgenson was the No. 3 runner for the host Cornhuskers. The former Treynor standout placed 39th in 25:20.7 as Nebraska finished fourth in the Red Division.

Two Drake athletes cracked 26 minutes. Junior Connor Visnic finished 50th in 25:36.0. Pur Biel, a senior and transfer from Iowa Central, grabbed 66th in 25:52.0. Sophomore Brendan Cain, a native of Sheldon, set a new personal-best time of 26:01.3 to place 74th overall.

Former Cedar Falls great Caroline Cunningham led Northwest Missouri State to the team championship of the Women's Gold Division. The senior covered the 5K course in 17:52.4 to place eighth and end up as the top NCAA Division II finisher. Behind Cunningham, the Bearcats scored 28 points, well ahead of Nebraska-Kearney's 56.

Drake junior Brooke Mullins was the top Iowa college finisher, placing third overall out of 307 finishers in 17:17.3. Mullins is from Queensland, Australia. The Bulldogs also grabbed 12th- and 13th-place finishes from sophomores Tyla Lumley and Emilie Meyer. Lumley, also from Australia, ran 18:01.98 and Emilie Meyer, a sophomore from Fridley, Minn., finished in 18:04.06. The final scorers were juniors Anastasia Kirillow in 36th place in 18:39.4 and Barbara Vrhovac, 44th in 18:49.14. Vrhovac is from Croatia. Freshman Katherine Lawson also was 52nd in her debut for the Bulldogs in 18:55.4. Lawson is another Australian. Anna Knueve, a sophomore from Verona, Wis., and also making her Drake debut, was 66th in 19:07.8.

"We brought much more of our roster on the women's side with a goal to solidify that side of our program," head coach Jay Koloseus said. "The ladies ran a great race with Brooke Mullins leading the charge.

True freshman Kamryn Ensley finished ninth overall to lead Omaha. The former Valley High star ran 17:54.4, which is the third-fastest time in the Mavericks' relatively short history.

"Kamryn executed another great race today," Omaha head coach Cliff Cisar said. "She has a great ability to hunker down and race calmly during periods of the race that get tough and that will pay dividends as the races get longer and more important as the season goes on."

Iowa Central was paced by its two top sophomore, Taylor McCreedy and Chloe Garcia Grafing. McCreedy, a former Atlantic High standout, placed 53rd in 53rd in 18:56.1. Garcia Grafing, from Minneapolis, was another three spots back in 18:59.5. Morningside College freshman Courtney Sporrer led the Mustangs in 67th place in 19:11.0.

Former nine-time NJCAA national champion Faith Linga finished runner-up at the John McNichols Invitational at Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday. The Toledo senior covered the 5K course in 17:29.2. Linga was topped only by the 17:17.8 time by Illinois junior Olivia Howell. The Illini also edged the Rockets in the team race, 26 to 29.

Missouri finished fourth in the team race. Finishing as the No. 9 runner for the Tigers was former Dowling Catholic prep Kelsey Schweizer of Urbandale. Schweizer finished 55th in the 5K race in 19:01.8.

South Dakota sent its team to the Coaching Tree Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., on Friday and former Sioux City North standout Merga Gemeda produced one of his career highlights. The fifth-year Coyotes senior was the top lower Division I runner in a field with the likes of reigning NCAA champion Northern Arizona, Georgetown, North Carolina and host Indiana. Gemeda finished 17th in the 8K race in 24:19.4, a time that is four seconds better than his personal record and also the top time in the Summit League this season. The Coyotes finished ninth out of 10 teams.

On the women's side, fourth-year South Dakota junior Helen Gould placed 93rd in 23:30.5. Gould is a former Valley High standout. The Coyotes took 10th in the stout 10-team field.

Two former Iowa Central standouts finished 1-2 to help West Texas A&M to runner-up honors at the Texas Tech Open in Lubbock on Saturday. Florance Uwajeneza repeated as champion of the meet by clocking a time of 20:58.2 for 6K. Uwajeneza is a senior from Minneapolis. A distant second was fellow former Triton Eleonora Curtabbi in 21:29.4. Curtabbi is from Italy. The Buffs scored 72 points, well back of champion Oklahoma (41).

Former Crestwood (Cresco) track and basketball star Ellie (Friesen) Hodge placed fourth among the Baylor runners in 19th place out of 105 finishers. The graduate student covered the 6K course in 23:05.50.

In the men's 8K race, former Iowa Central athlete Awet Yohannes paced New Mexico to the team title with 37 points. The senior from Sweden finished off a 1-2-3 finish by the Lobos by taking third place in 24:51.13.

Former Iowa Central athlete Innocent Murwanashyaka led all West Texas athletes in 11th place. The senior from St. Paul, Minn., ran 25:22.6. His current Buffs teammate Noah Bundrock, another former Triton from Minnesota, was 34th in 26:22.13.

Former Iowa Western star Nicholas Kiprotich captured the victory at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational on Friday in his Liberty cross country debut to help the Flames take the team title. Kiprotich cruised to the victory in the 8K race by 23:9 seconds after running 24:11.0. He became the Flames’ first individual cross country champion since Felix Kandie captured the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational title in September of 2019. Liberty scored 30 points to East Tennessee's 48.

The Hostetler sisters, Anna and Marie Hostetler, also led the Liberty women to the team title. Anna, a redshirt senior, was 10th in the 6K race in 21:59.0, with her younger sister, a junior, 12th in 22:09.5 out of 117 finishers. The Flames scored 30 points to top host Virginia Tech by 14. The Hostetlers are former Mid-Prairie of Wellman preps.

The ISU Run Club journeyed to Verona, Wisconsin for the Border Battle cross country races. Former Wartburg College All-American Carina Collet finished fourth in the women's 6K race in 23:33. Sean McDermott placed fifth in the men's 8K race in 26:53.

The Maranatha cross country team qualified for nationals at the Tom Hoffman Invitational in Whitewater, Wis., on Saturday. Jeremy Fopma, who is a senior on the team and a former Marion prep, led the Sabercats in the men's 8K race with a ninth-place finish in 27:33.

Jumping in now to triathlon, where the Professional Triathletes Organisation held its prestigious US Open in Dallas on Sunday. Former Storm Lake resident and Buena Vista University professor Matt Hanson, 37, finished 22nd overall in 3:28:08 for the 2K swim, 80K bike and 18K run. The Ironman Des Moines champion in June posted the fourth-best run of 1:00:42, but the Castle Rock, Colo., resident gave himself too much ground to make up after producing a 32nd-place swim of 29:17 and the 30th-best bike of 1:56:15 in the 41-man field.

The winner was American Collin Chartier in a mild upset, with Chartier outrunning Magnus Ditlev on the run to win in 3:17:16 and the top prize of $100,000.

Iowa City native and current Boulder, Colo., athlete Lesley Smith finished 18th out of 24 finishers and 29 overall in the women's race Saturday in 3:55:46. Smith had the 23rd-best swim of 31:56, the 15th-best bike of 2:05:45 and the 17th-best run of 1:15:48. The run is the best leg normally for both Hanson and Smith. The women's champion was Australia's Ashleigh Gentle, who dominated the run leg in 1:04:59, to win in 3:37:17. Gentle was in eighth and 6:52 behind leader Taylor Knibb when she started the final leg.

Back to road racing, where Danna Herrick, 35, of Norwalk was the overall winner of the Greater DSM Women's Half on Sunday. The former Boone High and Truman State star who competes for Runablaze Iowa ran 1:17:56 to win by more than eight minutes over a runner from Chicago.

John Donovan was the overall winner at the Dubuque Benefit half marathon champion on Saturday. Donovan, 28, a former Luther College standout, ran 1:13:14. Tricia Serres, 28 and also a former Luther great and now competing for Runablaze, was the women's winner and second overall in 1:22:15.

Brooke Ferguson, a former all-conference runner at Wartburg, finished third overall and won the women's race at the Dubuque Benefit 5K. Ferguson, 39, ran 18:52.59.

Finally, trail racing. Lisa Lake, 36, of Wever broke her own women's record by running 66.7 miles to tie Todd Courtney, 37, of North Liberty for the most mileage in the event Saturday at West Point. Lake's previous mark was 54.08 in 2021.

Erik Bandy was the winner of the Yellow River State Park Trail Run on Sunday in Allamakee County. Bandy ran 1:38:34 to win by more than eight minutes.

GOING BACK: Former Iowa State All-Big 12 runner Dan Curts took part in a pair of mountain races in Europe at the end of August and early September. Curts finished sixth at

Trofeo Nasego on Sept. 4 in Trofeo, Italy, in 1:38:58. Curts said the top five finishers were ranked in the top seven of the World Mountain Running Association. The winner was Patrick Pipngeno of Kenya in 1:30:46.

On August 20, Curts finished 16th overall at Challenge Stellina and 13th among M1 athletes in Susa, Italy. The Northwoods Athletics/Diadora athlete's time was 1:31:25. The winner was American Joseph Gray in 1:20:36. The races are part of the WMRA.

"This was one of the coolest races I have ever seen or been a part of," Curts said of Trofeo. "It wasn’t a perfect run for me, by any means, but a great learning experience. Last week I struggled to race well @challenge.stellina and I’m not entirely sure why, jet lag and lots of cramping proved tough to deal with. Chalked it up to a bad day and moved on."

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

Want to hear more about distance running in Iowa. Listen to my podcast here: https://anchor.fm/lance-bergeson8

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Kassie Parker, Biya Simbassa, Annie Frisbie, Ean Caskey, Christopher Collet, Aubrie Fisher, Merga Gemeda