Mile posts: Items on Wesley Kiptoo, Kassie Parker, Devin Allbaugh, Mike Gille, Elaina Biechler, Annie Ertz, Jessica Hruska, Festus Lagat

Each year, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race brings out many of the best Iowans in distance running. Saturday's 48th running was no exception.

Iowans and former Iowa collegians peppered the top 100, with a former Iowa State NCAA champion, invited as part of the elite field, cracking the top 10. Wesley Kiptoo, who turned professional and joined the HOKA NAZ Elite team in the spring, moved up from ninth at the halfway point to finish seventh overall in 33 minutes, 10 seconds. He leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes.

Kiptoo was making his Bix debut and with unexpectedly cool weather conditions Saturday, it appeared the men's course record of 31:51.99 set by Kenya's Mark Yatich in 1998 would be in jeopardy. But a slow start through the first half eliminated chances for a record. It wasn't until eventual winner Patrick Tiernan of Australia and defending champion Leonard Korir broke away from a big pack that the pace began to quicken. Tiernan took the victory in 32:32, a 4:39 pace per mile, with Korir another nine seconds behind. The remaining top-10 men didn't contain Iowans.

The top Iowa native and picking up the Greg Newell award as the top Quad-Citian was former Pleasant Valley prep and current Running Wild Elite men's coordinator Devin Allbaugh. Allbaugh, 32, held off five-time Olympian in the 10,000 and marathon Abdi Abdirahman to place 16th overall in 35:35. That is a 5:02 pace per mile. Allbaugh cut 1:22 from his previous best at Bix. The Allbaugh family swept the top local honors, with wife Kelsey repeating as winner of the Eloise Caldwell award as the top Quad-Citian in 44:39.

Just three seconds behind Devin Allbaugh was his Running Wild Elite teammate Mike Gille. Gille is a former Augustana College athlete who trimmed two minutes off his best for the seven-mile distance. Gille, 22, won the 20-24 age group title. Former Pleasant Valley star and current University of Iowa runner Max Murphy was the final scoring runner for RWE, which claimed the top prize of $1,000 in the inaugural team competition. Murphy, 20, trimmed 4:19 off his previous best for the rarely run distance by crossing the line in 22nd place in 35:43.

Squeezing between Gille and Murphy was Runablaze Iowa's top athlete, Blake Whalen. The former Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central Community College runner matched the No. 5 Runablaze all-time time of 35:40 set by Jason Flogel at Bix in 2013. Whalen, 26, was 21st overall.

Former Iowa City resident Chris Robertson finished 25th overall in 35:52. Robertson, 30, now resides in Naperville, Ill., and owns the distinction of running the fastest two miles ever, 10:18, while drinking eight beers, one each lap, on a standard 400-meter track.

Four seconds behind Robertson was reigning NCAA Division III national 3,000 steeplechase champion Christopher Collet, 21. The Wartburg College student and native of Verona, Ill., ran 35:56 for 26th place, finishing two seconds ahead of women's overall winner Fiona O'Keefe.

Finishing 28th in 35:59 was recent Fifth Season 8K winner and 2020 University of Iowa graduate Matt Lorenz. Lorenz, 23, is a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep.

RWE's Steve Froeschle placed 29th in 36:11, a time that bettered his previous best for seven miles by 1:06. Froeschle, 28, is a former Davenport Assumption and St. Ambrose student. Luke Guttormson, a recent senior runner at Loras College, was another nine seconds back in 30th place. Dan Froeschle, older brother of Steve and a fellow Assumption grad, was 33rd in 36:35. Froeschle, 32, knocked 51 seconds off his best for the distance.

Brett Rosauer, 31, of Iowa City placed 34th overall in 36:36. Julian Watson, who completed his freshman season at Loras, ended up 37th in 36:55. Runablaze's Caleb Appleton, a former Wartburg runner residing in Des Moines, took 38th in 37:07.

The Wartburg connection continued with a 40th-place finish from Jacob Green, who completed his freshman season in Waverly. Green, a former Cedar Rapids Kennedy prep, ran 37:09. He topped fellow Knight and former Council Bluffs Lewis Central prep Connor Lancial by one second. Runablaze athlete and Fleet Feet Davenport owner Phil Young, 36, was second in the 35-39 age division in 37:12. Young was 42nd overall. Wyatt Kelly, a recent Loras senior and former Hudson prep, took 45th overall in 37:16.

Michael Goodenbour of Cedar Falls grabbed 46th overall in 37:16. Goodenbour recently finished his freshman cross country season at Wartburg and is a former Cedar Falls prep.

Connor Roche, 29, of Grundy Center was the final scoring runner for Runablaze's top team by placing 47th overall in 37:16. RWE's Caleb Burke, making his seven-mile debut, took 50th in 37:21. RWE teammate Keith Sands, 28, of Rock Island, Ill., was next in 37:22, a 22-second best for the former Augustana College runner.

Carlo Dannenfelser, a Loras College sophomore this past season, took 54th in 37:26. Dannenfelser is a former Cedar Rapids Prairie prep. RWE's Isaiah Rabata, a recent runner for Minnesota State, shaved 2:09 off his best for seven miles by running 37:26 and placing 55th overall. He was followed by his RWE teammate and former Iowa athlete Benjamin Lloyd, who ran the same time. Lloyd, 39, is a Davenport resident. RWE teammate Dalton Rice, a former Clinton High and Clinton Community College athlete, ended up 59th overall in 37:39.

Also breaking 38 minutes was Runablaze's Tyler Lance, 26, of Algona in 37:46, Noah Forrey, 27, in 37:48 and Isaac Boedigheimer, 24, of Davenport in 37:50. Forrey is a recent University of Dubuque graduate.

Setting a new 55-59 age-group for Bix 7 was Michael Mallon, 56, of Davenport in 40:56. The previous record was 42:13 set by Todd Weller in 2018. Mallon was sixth overall among masters runners.

Turning now to the women, Loras College's Kassie Parker was invited to race as an invited elite and the former Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) prep star did well to justify the attention. The reigning NCAA Division III indoor 3,000 and 5,000 champion placed seventh overall in 39:31, a 5:39 pace per mile. Parker finished ahead of three other invited female athletes.

Runablaze's Elaina Biechler, 36, of Dubuque was the top female in the open division, running 42:49 to finish five seconds ahead of former Mount Mercy eight-time NAIA All-American Annie Ertz, 23. Biechler, who won the Fifth Season 8K last month and is a former Coe College athlete, finished 180th overall. Biechler, a Loras volunteer assistant coach, helped Runablaze take the women's team competition and the top $1,000 prize. Biechler was just nine seconds away from landing in the top five in club history. Ertz, a Running Wild Elite athlete now based in Marion, placed second among the open women and captured the 20-24 age division.

Finishing third and setting a new Iowa women's master record was Runablaze's Jessica Hruska, 42, of Dubuque. The former Wartburg College and Dubuque Hempstead star clocked 43:08, a 6:10 pace per mile, to erase the mark of 43:14 set by Muriel Naumann, 40, of Iowa City during the Bix 7 in 1996.

Rounding out Runablaze's team scoring was another Wartburg and Hempstead star, Amanda Edwards. The Dubuque resident, 34, ran 43:33 to place fifth and win the 30-34 age division. Runablaze averaged 43:10 for their three scoring runners.

Pleasant Valley runner Grace Boleyn, 15, of Bettendorf repeated as winner of the 15 and under division after running a fine 44:30 time. Boleyn was sixth among the open women.

Kelsey Allbaugh, as mentioned, won the Eloise Caldwell award as the top Quad-Citian and was the No. 2 scorer for RWE after grabbing seventh place in 44:39. In eighth was former Iowa City West runner Gabby Skopec, who recently completed her junior season at Iowa. Skopec, who hails from Coralville, was eighth in 44:39.

Loras' Brianna Renner, 22, placed 14th among the open women in 45:15. Rowan Boulter, a recent graduate of Iowa City High and new RWE member, took 15th in 45:20. RWE member Brenna Gray, 27, of Davenport crossed the line in 45:29 and was 16th. Gray knocked more than eight minutes off her best for the distance. Emily Burmeister, 39, of Marion was the final Iowan running under 46 minutes, placing 18th in 45:55.

Two age-division records were set by Iowa females. Andriette Wickstrom, 67, of Storm Lake broke the 1996 record of 57:28 set by Lois Gilmore. Wickstrom ran 56:19 and placed 184th among the women.

Also, Davenport's Janelle Swanberg, 71, broke the 70-74 mark by clocking 1:02:08. The previous record was Gwenell Hobson's 1:02:39 set in 2019.

Moving outside of the state, at the American Track League's Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, former Iowa State All-American Festus Lagat captured runner-up honors in the men's pro 800-meter race in 1:45.17. The District Track Club athlete trailed only Jonah Koech's 1:44.95 effort.

At the Twin Cities Twilight 5K in Minneapolis on Wednesday, former Iowa State runner Tyler Jermann finished second overall in l4:30.68. The Minnesota Distance Elite athlete trailed only his MDE teammate Colin Abert, who ran 14:07.26. Former Simpson College and Humboldt prep athlete Ryan Courtney was 13th in 15:43.64.

Back in Iowa, former Simpson College and Waukon prep Sarah Bakula won the women's title and finished fifth overall at the Nordic Fest Elveløpet 15k in Decorah on Saturday. The Fort Atkinson resident who competes for Runablaze covered the race, slightly short of 9.3 miles, in 58:06.

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 Wesley Kiptoo, Kassie Parker, Devin Allbaugh, Mike Gille, Elaina Biechler, Annie Ertz, Jessica Hruska, Festus Lagat