Mile posts: Items on Kassie Parker, Christopher Collet, Isaac Basten, Brooke Mullins, Ezekiel Rop, Kamryn Ensley, Nicholas Kiprotich, Faith Linga, Yared Kidane, Mercy Biwott

There is Kassie Parker and then there is the rest of the American Rivers Conference. And potentially the nation, as we could see in the next few weeks.

The Loras College graduate student repeated as ARC champion on the Simpson College course at hilly Pickard Park on Saturday. The former Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) prep star and graduate student quickly took the lead and owned an advantage of close to 30 seconds after a mile on the way to the 6-kilometer title in 20 minutes, 50.9 seconds. Parker won by 1:15 over Wartburg College standout junior Aubrie Fisher and leads off this conference-heavy edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes.

While Parker, the reigning NCAA champion and course record holder, dominated her NCAA Division III competition, it was the Wartburg teams who rolled to ARC team titles once again. The No. 2-ranked (U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) Wartburg women captured their fourth consecutive ARC title and 19th in school history by finishing in a sea of orange behind Parker. The Knights finished 2-3-4-5-6 to score just 20 points and easily outdistance Loras by 40 points. Fisher, a junior and former AGWSR (Ackley) prep, ran 22:06.79 to claim her fourth all-conference finish.

Third-place Riley Mayer grabbed her third career all-conference honor in 22:14.33. Mayer is a senior and former Fort Dodge St. Edmond prep. She was followed closely by sophomore Shaelyn Hostager, a former Dubuque Hempstead runner, in fourth in 22:15.58. Then there was a gap to fifth-place teammate Ellie Meyer (22:22.28) and Lexi Brown (sixth, 22:34.42). Meyer, a sophomore, attended Iowa Falls-Alden while Brown, also a sophomore, attended New London.

Also earning all-conference honors for the dominant Knights were Haley Meyer in ninth place in 23:12.19 and Addy Carlson in 11th in 23:27.16. Meyer is a freshman and former Kee athlete from New Albin. Carlson is a senior and former Saint Ansgar athlete. Senior Ashley Bloomquist just missed all-conference honors by placing 16th in 23:42.67. Bloomquist is a former Fairfield athlete.

Central College junior Caroline McMartin became an all-conference athlete for the third consecutive season by capturing seventh in 22:45.48. McMartin stayed in town for college after going to Pella High. She was among four Dutch runners in the top 20. Senior Hailey Hill, who hails from Las Vegas, moved up 33 spots from a year ago to place 15th and earn the final all-conference spot after running 23:36.56. Addy Parrott, a sophomore and former Danville prep, grabbed 18th in 23:56.80 while freshman teammate Leah Bontrager took 19th in 24:00.08. Bontrager attended Hillcrest Academy in Wellman. Central was third in the team race with 80 points.

Loras finished with three all-conference runners. Joining Parker on the podium were senior Brianna Renner in 10th in 23:19.99 and graduate student Kaylee Osterberger in 13th in 23:31.36. Renner, from Wisconsin, earned her first all-conference nod while Osterberger, a former Dubuque Wahlert runner, grabbed her second cross country all-conference award. Senior Ellie Osterberger, also a former Wahlert runner, was just outside all-conference recognition in 17th in 23:53.87.

Host Simpson finished fourth with 95 points, with two Storm athletes ending a five-year drought without an all-conference runner. Both were former Dallas Center-Grimes preps. Emma Angus, from Johnston, was 12th in 23:28.26 while Lara Kallem, also a sophomore, was 14th in 23:33.41.

The Wartburg men extended their streak of conference titles to five and also had the conference champion in junior Christopher Collet, the reigning NCAA steeplechase champion. Collet and Simpson senior Spencer Moon waged a side-by-side battle through about 6 kilometers before Collet dropped Moon for good to claim his first ARC cross country title and fourth all-conference honor. Collet, a senior academically, ran 24:32.11 for the 8K distance to cruise to the win by nearly 30 seconds.

The No. 5 Knights weren't as dominant as the women with 26 points, but the team landed all five scoring runners in the top 10 to win by 24 over Loras and eight all-conference runners. Sophomore Connor Lancial finished third in 25:10.69 to pick up his second all-conference nod. Lancial is a former Council Bluffs Lewis Central athlete. Fellow sophomore Jack Kinzer continued his strong ascension this season by placing fifth in 25:22.30. The former North Liberty athlete was one of four Knights grabbing all-conference honors for the first time. The others were sophomore Jacob Green (eighth, 25:25.02), freshman Lance Sobaski (ninth, 25:25.94) and freshman Eli Larson (13th, 25:28.48). Green is a former Cedar Rapids JFK runner, Sobaski ran for Washington High and Larson is a former Center Point-Urbana athlete.

Senior Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn and freshman Tyler Schermerhorn were the final all-conference runners for Wartburg. The all-league cross country honor was the fourth for Shirley-Fairbairn. Schermerhorn is a former Ankeny Centennial runner. Sophomore teammate Clay Pehl was 16th in 25:42.68 and is a former Madrid athlete. Wartburg's Ryan Chapman was named coach of the year for both the men's and women's competitions.

Loras senior Luke Guttormson earned runner-up honors when Moon dropped off in the final kilometer and became one of three Loras all-conference runners landing in the top seven. The Wisconsin native ran 25:00.67 to earn his third all-conference honor of his career. Senior Wyatt Kelly, a former Hudson prep, earned his first all-conference nod after placing sixth in 25:23.35. Sophomore Julian Watson earned his second all-conference honor in as many season by following right behind in seventh in 25:23.61. The Duhawks also had sophomore Carlo Dannenfelser (19th, 25:55.38), sophomore Jacob Belha (20th, 25:57.81) and senior Will Whalen (21st, 25:57.84) finishing under 26 minutes and in the top 25. Dannenfelser is a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep. Whalen ran for Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central Community College.

Luther College senior Ian Kelly earned his fourth all-conference honor, the 15th Luther runner in school history to do so, to lead the Norse to a third-place team finish with 83 points. Kelly, from Colorado, was fourth in 25:17.75. Tom Altier also grabbed all-conference honors for the third time by nearly running a personal-best time on the difficult course. The former Johnston High athlete from Granger was 11th in 25:26.76. Junior Adam Koller also was 18th in 25:53.56.

Simpson's Moon made a gallant effort to claim a conference title before falling back late. The former South Central of Calhoun athlete and junior still earned his third straight all-conference honor by taking 12th in 25:27.85. Simpson was fifth with 126 points.

Buena Vista University's Kyle Miller, a former Carlisle prep, was in the mix for an all-conference berth before settling for 17th place in 25:51.38. He is a sophomore.

Listen to athlete and coach interviews from the ARC meet Saturday here: https://anchor.fm/lance-bergeson8

Drake University senior Isaac Basten earned his second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference individual title and nearly led the Bulldogs to a repeat team title in Terre Haute, Ind., on Friday. Basten battled with Bradley's George Watson and Alec Danner until the closing stretches, when his superior kick allowed him to prevail on the 8K LaVern Gibson Championship Course in 24:29.7. Watson and Danner, both seniors, ran 24:32.3 and 24:33.4.

Basten, from Buffalo, Minn., and former teammate Adam Fogg last year crossed the finish line in nearly identical times, 24:13.0 and 24:13.6, while leading the Bulldogs to a dominant team championship, 20-53, over Bradley. Those Bulldogs finished 1-2-3-6-8 individually.

This time around, Bradley edged the Bulldogs, 42-46, behind a second from Watson, Danner's third, a seventh from Matt Aho and 11th- and 19th-place finishes. The Bulldogs returned three athletes, Basten, Aziz Jdai and Enzo Marie, from that team. Jdai finished fourth overall in 24:37.5 to repeat as an all-conference selection. Jdai, a junior from Tunisia, was third a year ago. Marie, from France, also repeated as a first-team all-conference selection in eighth in 24:49.2. Marie was sixth as a freshman last year.

The final two scorers were former Dallas Center-Grimes standout and true freshman Aidan Ramsey in 16th place in 25:02.2 and freshman Juan Trasobares, from Spain, in 17th in 25:02.9. Both Ramsey and Trasobares were the top freshmen in the meet. Senior and former Iowa Central great Pur Biel also was 35th in 25:28.6.

The top Northern Iowa man was sophomore Brady Griebel in 40th place in 25:45.4. Griebel is from Bellevue. The Panthers were ninth in the team race.

Drake University junior Brooke Mullins, from Queensland, Australia, moved up nine spots from a year ago to take runner-up honors in the women's 6K in 20:50.9. Mullins was joined on the MVC first team by sophomore Tyla Lumley, 10th in 21:40.3. Lumley was 20th at the MVC meet a year ago.

The remaining runners for the Bulldogs were sophomore Emilie Meyer in 18th place in 22:16.3, sophomore Barbara Vrhovac in 25th place in 22:26.6 and freshman Katherine Lawson taking 27th in 22:33.1. Meyer was 33rd a year ago and Vrhovac 65th. The Bulldogs, fifth a year ago, moved up to third place with 82 points, just four behind Belmont. Bradley was the team champion with 22 points. Belmont, Illinois-Chicago and Murray State were making their debut at the MVC meet.

"It was a very good day for the Bulldogs," Drake head coach Jay Koloseus said in a university athletics press release. "Everyone who raced for us today has eligibility to back next year. Our future is extremely bright."

The Northern Iowa women finished seventh in the team race and were paced by sophomore Emma Hoins in 21st place in 22:19.8. Hoins is a former Waverly-Shell Rock athlete and transfer from Hawkeye Community College. Former Guthrie Center prep and Panther sophomore Kate Crawford finished 26th in 22:29.2. Senior Mia Rampton, a former Dubuque Senior athlete, ended up 41st in 23:04.0 and led a train of Panthers. Senior teammate and former Monticello prep Paige Holub was 42nd in 23:04.8 and sophomore Isabelle Schaffer, a former Waukee High prep, was 43rd in 23:07.2. Crawford was 36th a year ago at the MVC meet.

Former Valley High runner Lauren Schulze was the No. 5 runner for Illinois State, which finished fourth in the team race. The sophomore finished 29th in 22:46.1.

Moving on to the Big 12 Cross Country Championships at Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, where the unranked Iowa State men edged No. 23 Texas for runner-up team honors, 57-59. Senior Ezekiel Rop, from Eldoret, Kenya, picked up his second all-conference honor by taking fourth for the 8K race in 24:13.6. Former Central Lyon-GLR prep Gable Sieperda secured his third all-conference cross country honor by placing ninth in 24:28.5. Senior Chad Johnson, from Ohio, was the third all-conference athlete for the Cyclones in 13th in 24:39.5. Johnson won his fourth all-conference honor.

Former Iowa Central standout Kelvin Bungei, a senior, was 17th for his best finish this season on the team. Bungei ran 24:45.6. Titus Winders, a Southern Indiana transfer and senior, was 18th in 24:45.8. His younger brother, Silas, came in 20th in 24:53.4 as the Cyclones produced a strong second half of the race to run down the Longhorns.

No. 4 Oklahoma State, as expected, cruised to the team title for the second consecutive season with 21 points and five runners in the top seven. The Cowboys also had individual champion Alex Maier, who ran 23:55.3.

On the women's side, senior Dana Feyen grabbed her third career All-Big 12 recognition with a sixth-place finish in the 6K race in 20:41.4. Feyen is from Galesville, Wis. Fellow senior Madelynn Hill, from the Kansas City area,also earned all-conference honors, for the second time, by finishing just .8 behind Feyen in seventh in 20:42.2 as the Cyclones finished third in the team race with 64 points.

Sophomore Kiki Connell, a former Charles City prep and Northern Iowa transfer, continued her improvement by placing 16th in 21:34.9. Connell was just one spot out of all-conference recognition after finishing strong down the stretch. Junior Brenna Cohoon was next across the line in 17th in 21:36.7. Senior Janette Schraft, a former Glenwood prep, was the final Cyclone scorer in 21st in 21:43.4. She was not too far ahead of freshman Ashlyn Keeney, who surged late to place 25th in 21:55.6.

Third-ranked Oklahoma State repeated as women's conference champion by scoring just 22 points and placing four runners in the top five, led by runner-up Taylor Roe in 20:10.8. Ceili McCabe was the league champion in 20:08.4 and helped the Mountaineers finish runner-up with 49 points.

Former Crestwood (Cresco) prep Ellie (Friesen) Hodge paced the Baylor women by finishing in 24th place. The graduate student and South Dakota State transfer ran 21:55.0. The Bears finished sixth in the team race.

Freshman sensation Kamryn Ensley of Omaha finished fourth overall in her Summit League debut on Saturday in Grand Forks, N.D. The former Valley High prep ran 20:18.90 over 6K to finish just 17 seconds behind winner Leah Hansen of South Dakota State. Ensley helped the young Lancers finish seventh in the team race.

Another former Valley runner, Helen Gould, was the No. 4 runner for South Dakota. Gould, a fourth-year junior, ran 22:11.90 to help the Coyotes take fifth in the team race with 139 points. North Dakota State was the team champion with 38 points.

South Dakota fifth-year senior Merga Gemeda set a new school-record time of 23:28.9 while earning All-Summit League honors for the third time in his career. The former Sioux City North prep was eighth for 8K on the Ray Richards Golf Course. The Coyotes men also were fifth in the team race, with 126 points.

Right behind Gemeda was North Dakota State's Hunter Klimek in ninth. The former Iowa Central standout and sophomore was the top runner for the Bison, runner-up in the team race with 64 points, after running 23:29.0.

University of Iowa junior Nick Trattner paced the Hawkeyes at the Big Ten Championships on Friday at the U-M Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Mich. Trattner finished 29th in 24:54.6 for the 8K distance, moving up 13 spots from a year ago. Former Pleasant Valley prep and freshman Max Murphy was less than five seconds back in 37th place in 24:58.8. Senior Konnor Sommer, also a former Pleasant Valley runner and from Bettendorf, ended up 57th in 25:21.7. Sommer improved 34 positions from 2021. The final two scorers were sophomore Jack Pendergast (68th, 25:35.6) and freshman Miles Sheppard (70th, 25:36.7), a native of Keokuk. Pendergast is a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep who finished 93rd last season. The Hawkeyes finished seventh overall with 225 points.

Former Ames High runner Noah Kohut-Jackson was the No. 2 runner for Minnesota, which was 10th in the team race. Kohut-Jackson took 65th in 25:32.2.

Former Treynor prep Jerry Jorgenson also was the No. 2 runner for Nebraska, improving 11 places from a year ago. Jorgenson captured 73rd in 25:41.5, helping the Cornhuskers grab 11th in the team race.

Wisconsin’s Bob Liking repeated as conference titleist in 23:48.9 and led the Badgers, who scored 25 points, to the team title.

Like the men, the Iowa women were paced by four Iowa natives in the top five runners. Senior Emma Gordon was again the team leader for the Hawkeyes, in 67th place in 21:38.7. Gordon, a former Ankeny Centennial prep, was 106th at the Big Ten event a year ago. Sophomore Brooke McKee, a former Johnston High runner, grabbed 88th place in 22:01.3. Sophomore Kelli Tosic was 102nd in 22:13.1. The final two Hawkeyes were senior Madeline Block (104th, 22:17.2) and sophomore Amber Aesoph (114th, 22:31.2). Block, a former Linn-Mar prep, improved 13 spots from a season ago. Aesoph is a former Sioux City Heelan runner. Iowa finished 14th as a team.

Ohio State's Addie Engel won the individual title in 20:00.0 and Michigan State was the team champion with 78 points, eight ahead of Michigan.

Former Iowa Western star Nicholas Kiprotich and ex-Mid-Prairie runner Anna Hostetler earned All-ASUN (former Atlantic Sun Conference) honors at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala., on Saturday. Kiprotich, in his first year with the Liberty University and a sophomore, finished third overall in the men's 8K in 23:30.8. The Flames (73) were a distant second in the team race to Eastern Kentucky (18). The winner was Eastern Kentucky's Ahmed Jaziri in a meet record 23:22.4.

Hostetler was the No. 4 runner on the Flames women's team. The redshirt senior ran 17:05.5 for 5K to place 12th and earned second-team ASUN honors. Sister Marie Hostetler, a junior and also from Parnell, was 44th in 18:01.6. Liberty scored 45 points to finish second in the team race, 10 behind Lipscomb. The Flames' Calli Doan was the champion in a meet record 16:21.0.

Another former Iowa Western great, Toledo senior Faith Linga, finished third at the MAC Women's Cross Country Championships at the Ohio University Golf Course on Saturda to help lead the Rockets to a repeat team championship. Linga, the MAC 10,000 outdoor champion in May, set a new personal best for 6K of 19:49.1 to help the Rockets score just 29 points and easily outdistance Ohio (83). Toledo put all five of its scoring runners in the top 10 for coach Andrea Grove-McDonough, former Iowa State women's coach.

Former Linn-Mar standout Ryan Murphy was the No. 6 runner for Arkansas at the SEC Championships at the Ole Miss Golf Course in Oxford on Friday. Murphy, a senior, was 27th in 24:12.52 for the Razorbacks, who were third in the team race with 64 points. Alabama won with 59.

Former Dowling Catholic standout Kelsey Schweizer also was a No. 6 runner for her team, Missouri. Schweizer, a sophomore, was 94th in the women's 6K in 21:52.31 for the Tigers, 11th in the team race.

Former Dowling Catholic prep star Matthew Carmody was the No. 5 runner for Notre Dame at the ACC meet in Earlysville, Va., on Friday. Carmody, a junior, was 41st in 23:46.8 as the Irish finished fourth in team race with 92 points.

Former Pleasant Valley prep Parker Huhn was the No. 5 scorer for team champion Wisconsin-La Crosse at the Division III WIAC Championships in West Salem, Wis., on Friday. Huhn finished 10th in 25:13.7 for 8K to help La Crosse score just 27 points and beat Whitewater by 24.

Former Iowa Central star Awet Yohannes capped his senior season by finishing 50th for New Mexico at the Mountain West Conference event at Jacoby Golf Course in Laramie, Wyo., on Friday. Yohannes ran 25:24.8 for 8K and was the No. 5 runner for the Lobos, sixth with 140 points.

Moving now to the NJCAA Region XI Championships, where the Iowa Central teams swept the Division I team titles on Sunday. The Triton men scored just 17 points, sweeping 10 of the first 11 spots, to come close to producing a perfect score. Sophomore Yared Kidane led the way with a 24:54.2 effort on the 8K course at Lakeside Golf Course and Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge. Fellow sophomore Aspel Kiprob was nearly 10 seconds back in second in 25:03.4. Sophomore Zander Cobb made it a sweep of the podium in third in 25:17.0.

Indian Hills' Brady Millikin broke up the run of Iowa Central blue and white by placing fourth in 25:51.8. Millikin is a former Pekin athlete from Hedrick. Then it was more Tritons, with freshman Will Sacay in fifth in 26:11.7 and Brady Hogan taking sixth in 26:20.9. Hogan is a sophomore from Waukon. The Tritons won their second consecutive Division I title and ninth since 2012. Iowa Western scored 57 points and Indian Hills was third with 82.

The Iowa Central women continued their streak of winning every Division I team championship since 2004. Dee Brown has been there all of those years as Tritons coach and program director. The Tritons scored 28 points, seven ahead of Iowa Western. The Reivers had the individual champion for the third consecutive year with sophomore Mercy Biwott, who won the 5K title in 18:04.2. She was well ahead of Tritons sophomore Chloe Garcia Grafing, who ran 18:35.7. Teammate and sophomore Taylor McCreedy, a former Atlantic athlete, was the third-best runner in 18:53.8. McCreedy was 1.1 seconds ahead Zinash Valen in fourth in 18:54.9.

Southeastern, Division II team champion with 23 points, was paced by freshman Aisha Ramone in fifth place in 19:04.7. DMACC, runner-up in Division II, was paced by former Dallas Center-Grimes prep Natalia Segura. Segura was sixth in 19:43.6.

The Hawkeye Community College men won the Division II title with 45 points, two ahead of Southeastern and six ahead of North Iowa Area.

Finishing with triathlon, where former Storm Lake resident and Buena Vista University professor and student Matt Hanson finished 12th overall among the pro men at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah., on Saturday. Hanson covered the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run in 3:48:14. Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt was the overall winner in 3:37:12, 49 seconds ahead of American Ben Kanute.

"Man it’s been a year of big races!" Hanson said. "Ended 12th in the world today, not the goal but definitely nothing to scoff at either."

Hanson, 37, finished 15th at the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona earlier in October, 22nd at the Professional Triathlon Organisation's US Open and Canadian Opens, was a standout for the U.S. in the Collins Cup team race and won Ironman Des Moines in June.

Finishing with road racing, where former Northern Iowa and Davenport Assumption athlete Becca Mallon of the Running Wild Elite team was the women's champion of the Zombie Village Run 5K in Davenport on Saturday. Mallon, 28, a North Liberty resident, ran 18:15. RWE teammate Kasey Zielinski was runner-up in 19:14.

Chase Atkinson was the men's winner of the Miles in the Maize trail/grass race in North Liberty on Saturday. The Iowa City man, 31, ran 17:36 to win by almost a minute. Jessie Clark, 34, of Cedar Rapids was the women's winner in 19:43.

Luke Post was the winner of the Blue Sky 5K in Ames on Sunday. Post ran 16:35 to win by 1:18.

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, Christopher Collet, Isaac Basten, Brooke Mullins, Ezekiel Rop, Kamryn Ensley, Nicholas Kiprotich