Lance Bergeson, Des Moines RegisterWed, January 14, 2026 at 2:14 AM UTC·13 min readKassie Parker has won many titles in her running career, notably seven individual NCAA championships while competing for Loras College.
Now add to that list: USATF Club Cross Country champion.
The 26-year-old Crown Running athlete who prepped at Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) overcame hills, sand, water, mud and even logs with artificial gators to claim the 6-kilometer title in Tallahassee, FL, in 20 minutes flat.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Going into the race a 6k wasn’t the ideal distance but I just kept telling myself it’s only less than half of my normal workouts," Parker was quoted on Crown's Instagram page. "I had more fun going into it with no expectations and looking forward to the barriers. I knew my second lap if I wanted to stay in the lead and win I had to break away. I felt really strong throughout and kind of wish I had another lap or two of racing.”
Parker leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and post collegiate distance runners and triathletes.
Parker topped a familiar name to Iowa cross country and track fans: Cailie (Logue) Hughes. The 13-time Iowa State Big 12 Conference champion, 27, who resides in Bloomington, Minnesota, took runner-up honors at Apalachee Regional Park in 20:07 while helping the Minnesota Distance Elite squad to a repeat team title. MDE put four runners in the top five and six in the top eight to dominate the women's open 6K competition.
Placing 40th overall was former Grand View University five-time NAIA champion Obsie Birru of Phoenix. Birru, 37, covered the 3.7-mile distance in 22:22. Leading the Fitness Sports Distance Project squad was former Warburg College American Rivers Conference champion Lexi Brown. The ex-New London prep and Waverly resident, 24, grabbed 42nd place in 22:26. Recent bride Emma (Hoins) Graber, who set the Northern Iowa 6K record after competing at Waverly-Shell Rock and Hawkeye Community College, ended up 62nd in 23:01. Hoins resides in Marion and competes for Crown, which finished fifth in the team race.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRunning second for FSDP was former University of Iowa and Johnston standout Jessica McKee. The Johnston resident ran 23:15 for 77th place. FSDP teammate Erin Eichler, 27, of Marion ended up 82nd in 23:27. The FSDP squad was rounded out by Hannah Weiss, 37, and Addy Carlson. Weiss, an assistant track and field coach at Drake, took 109th in 24:47. Carlson, a Saint Ansgar and Wartburg graduate, was 118th in 25:05. Carlson, 24, also resides in Waverly.
Crown and FSDP were also represented by athletes who finished in the top 10 of the men's open 10K race. Davenport Central and Loras College product Mason Tope captured fifth place in 31:14. Tope moved up more than 30 spots over the final 8K to lead the Crown effort. Next across the finish line was FSDP's Gable Sieperda, an Iowa State All-American in the steeplechase who prepped at Central Lyon-GLR. Sieperda, from Ames, ran 31:26. for sixth. His teammate, Cody Baele of Des Moines, took 35th in 32:28. Baele will be mentioned again later in this blog.
The remaining FSDP finishers were Malachi Thompson (106th, 34:40), Kallin Carolus Khan (115th, 35:02), Seth Kilborn (137th, 36:23) and Ahren Davis (153rd, 37:19). Thompson competed for Johnston and Luther College. Khan ran for the Iowa and resides in Iowa City. Kilborn is a former East Marshall, Indian Hills and Grand View runner. Davis attended Ankeny Centennial and Grand View. The champion was Hansons-Brooks Distance Project athlete Wil Smith in 30:39.
Will return to the masters competition at the USATF club event, but switching to the marquee event of the weekend in Tallahassee: The World Athletics Cross Country Championships the previous day. Two-time Olympian and former Dowling Catholic prep standout Karissa Schweizer placed 17th in 33:58 in the senior women's 10K race over the same obstacles. Schweizer was the second-best American. The six-time Missouri NCAA champion had qualified for the U.S. team by placing fourth at the USATF Cross Country Championships in Portland, OR, on Dec. 6, 2024. Schweizer competes for the Swoosh TC team based in Oregon. The world champion was Kenya's Agnes Jebet Ngetich in 31:28.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHOKA NAZ Elite athlete Wesley Kiptoo also competed for the U.S. and was the No. 2 American in the senior men's 10K race. The 2021 NCAA champion for Iowa State in the indoor 5,000 took 14th in 29:34. Kiptoo had placed third in Portland to punch his ticket to the world event. The seven-time Big 12 Conference champion is now based in Flagstaff, AZ. The winner was Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda in 28:18.
In the mixed relay that kicked off the events on Jan. 10, former Drake University Missouri Valley Conference champion Adam Fogg competed on a Great Britain team that placed seventh. The quartet of two men and two women were timed in 23:11. They covered 2K each.
Moving to the roads and the Chevron Houston Half Marathon which featured several former Iowa collegians on Sunday, Jan. 11. Former Iowa State standout Ryan Ford finished sixth overall among the elite men in a new personal record of 59:48. Ford is now an On Athletics Club team athlete based in Longmont, CO. Three spots behind him was another former Cyclone All-American, Hillary Bor. The two-time Olympian and HOKA athlete based in Colorado Springs, CO, took ninth in 1:00:04. Sioux City North and Iowa Central Community College product Biya Simbassa was two spots behind Bor in 1:00:32. Simbassa is an ASICS-sponsored athlete who resides in Flagstaff, AZ. He was three spots ahead of Drake 5,000 record holder Reed Fischer. The Tinman Elite athlete sponsored by Adidas ran 1:00:54. Fischer also resides in Longmont.
Former Sioux City North athlete Merga Gemeda produced the third-fastest time in MDE club history with a 1:02:11 effort. Gemeda punched his ticket to the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials by topping 1:03. Former Wartburg College All-American and Western Dubuque athlete Joe Freiburger took 65th in 1:06:04. Freiburger is now with the Bowerman Track Club Elite squad in Beaverton, OR. Manson-Northwest Webster and Northwestern College grad Chase Bulten was 72nd in 1:07:03. He is now an assistant track and field coach at Campbellsville University in Kentucky. The winner was Habtom Samuel in 59:01.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFormer Iowa State runner Amanda Vestri, who changed to the Brooks Running team after the ZAP Endurance squad folded, cracked the top 10 in the women's elite race in 1:07:43. Vestri missed her half marathon best by eight seconds, also at Houston in 2025. Former Iowa State standout Annie Frisbie, a Puma athlete with the MDE squad in Minneapolis, took 19th in 1:10:16. FSDP athlete Jordan Winke, who competed for Albia and Iowa, set a new personal best for the distance in 1:17:17. Winke took 44th. The women's winner was Fentaye Belayneh of Ethiopia in 1:04:49.
Shifting to indoor track and field, where Northern Iowa redshirt senior Millie Hill picked up a victory in the women's mile at the Hawkeye Invite Jan. 9-10. The Ankeny Centennial grad covered the banked 200-meter track at the Iowa-Recreation Building in 4:55.27 to win by .8 of a second. Panther freshman teammate Sarah Feddersen, who prepped at Gilbert, ended up sixth in 5:01.22. Another Northern Iowa freshman, former Harlan Community runner Lindsey Sonderman, was seventh in 5:02.53. Panther sophomore Clare Wright, who competed for Jesup, was next in 5:03.73. Iowa sophomore Clare Kelly, who attended Van Meter, was ninth in 5:04.63. The top 10 was rounded out by Northern Iowa freshman Josee Simonson in 5:05.03. Simonson is a Cedar Falls product.
In the men's mile, Northern Iowa sophomore Colin Lillie picked up third place. The Council Bluffs St. Albert grad ran 4:13.63. Iowa junior Will Ryan, who prepped at Dowling Catholic, took fourth in 4:13.94. Des Moines Area Community College sophomore Eli Page, who attended Vinton-Shellsburg, grabbed sixth in 4:16.06. Northern Iowa freshman Jonas VanDis, competing unattached, ended up eighth in 4:16.28. VanDis graduated from Waukee High. DMACC sophomore Zack Stoermer, an ex-Des Moines Lincoln athlete, was ninth in 4:19.45. Carson Owens, a Northern Iowa student competing unattached, rounded out the top 10 in 4:20:52. Owens competed for Southeast Polk.
The Iowa women swept the top four positions in the women's 3,000. Capturing second was sophomore and former Sumner-Fredricksburg prep Hillary Trainor in 9:52.75. Freshman Julia Gehl, who prepped at Dubuque Hempstead, was next in 9:53.77. Rounding out the Hawkeyes was junior Jalyssa Blazek. The Turkey Valley (Jackson Junction) grad ran 10:13.13. Sophomore Elena Torres won in 9:49.30.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIowa also swept the top three in the men's 3,000, with sophomore Miles Wilson taking the win in 8:19.67. Wilson competed for Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Freshman Elias Arbuckle, an ex-Dallas Center-Grimes runner, took second in 8:25.69. Owen Wolfe, another true freshman and Dowling Catholic grad, was third in 8:33.76.
The women's 600 ended with Panther sophomore Anna Van Kooten taking third place in 1:34.92. Van Kooten prepped at Southeast Polk. Iowa freshman Grace Boleyn, who ended her career at Pleasant Valley, was next to finish in 1:35.12. Northern Iowa junior Mary Kelly, a Van Meter product, ended up fifth in 1:37.31. Caila Lyons of Iowa won in 1:31.12.
Some Northern Iowa athletes also competed at the Minnesota Open Jan. 10 at the Minnesota Fieldhouse. Taking third place in the 600 meters was freshman and former Cedar Falls runner Jordan Townsend in 1:20.85. Junior teammate Zach Falls, who attended Mount Vernon, was fourth in 1:21.09. The winner ran 1:18.37 on the 200-meter flat track.
Former Norwalk star Tony Anania of Kentucky competed on a Wildcat distance medley relay that finished second at the Rod McCravy Memorial in Louisville, KY. The Wildcats ran 9:55.64 on the 200-meter banked track to trail only Ohio State's 9:55.56 effort.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDordt University sophomore Addison Liston picked up the 'B' standard for NAIA nationals with a victory at the Dordt Open in Sioux Center on Jan. 10. The Unity Christian (Orange City) product clocked 2:57.99 to win by nearly seven seconds.
The Van Sickle brothers took the top two spots for Northwestern College in the 800. Carson, a sophomore, took the win in 1:56.52 by 3.5 seconds over Brady, his freshman brother. Both are former Ogden preps.
Morningside College junior Theo Moseman took second in the 600 at the Dordt Rec Center's 200-meter flat track. The ex-Lawton-Bronson runner was timed in 1:22.08.
Morningside College senior Courtney Sporrer grabbed second in the mile. The Logan-Magnola grad ran 5:11.54 to trail Dordt freshman Joy Koole by .63 of a second.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDordt junior Kaden Van Wyngarden took second in the 1,000 in 2:33.30. Van Wyngarden is a Pella Christian product.
The Battle In The Hive in Davenport on Jan. 10 featured several strong performances by the host St. Ambrose team. Junior Dylan Grandon, who attended Johnston, secured the 'B' standard for NAIA nationals with a runner-up finish in the 1,000. Grandon ran 2:30.25 to trail senior teammate Chris Miserendino by .39 of a second.
Grandon and Miserendino also ran the final two legs in a 4x800 relay that took the win at the 200-meter flat track in 7:51.83 and nabbed the 'B' standard for nationals.
Iowa Western Community College sophomore Alyssa Kulesa captured the win in the 600 at the Mizzou Alexis Jarrett Invitational in Columbia, MO, on Jan. 10. The Treynor grad ran 1:41.19 to win by more than five seconds on the Hearnes Fieldhouse 200-meter banked track.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Reivers' Landon Hartley picked up third place in the 1,000. The former Urbandale prep ran 2:36.13.
Finishing with the masters competitions at the USATF Club Cross Country event, where Crown Running's Jessica Hruska turned in a 23rd-place performance among the women. The former Wartburg and Dubuque Hempstead competitor who lives in Dubuque covered the 6K in 24:31. The winner was Carrie Dimoff in 21:38.
In the men's masters 10K, Running Wild Elite's Nathan Hopp of Cedar Rapids was 32nd. Hopp ran 35:22. Michael Mallon of Davenport, representing the Boulder Road Runners, was 97th in 39:11. Ben Lundell of the Crown team was three spots back in 39:16. The winner, Malcolm Richards, ran 32:07.
GOING BACK TO WEEK OF DEC. 15-21: Cody Baele, the FSDP athlete based in Des Moines, qualified for his first U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2028 by placing 13th among the elite men at The Marathon Project race in Chandler, AZ, on Dec. 19. The three-time IMT Des Moines Half Marathon champion ran 2:12:53 to top his previous best for the 26.2-mile distance, a 2:13:39 at the Houston Marathon in January of 2025. Placing 41st overall was reigning Drake Relays 10,000 champion Blake Whalen of the Runablaze Iowa team. The former Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central athlete ran 2:21:46. The winner JP Flavin in 2:09:18.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe following day in Phoenix, former Boone High prep Pete Kostelnick won the 100-mile Desert Solstice ultramarathon race. The two-time Badwater 135 champion, who was third in the "world’s toughest foot race" in July, covered the 100 miles in 14:44:08. He topped Piotr Chadovich by 10:43. It was his last race in a HOKA singlet before he moves on to the Kansas City Smoke squad.
GOING BACK TO WEEK OF DEC. 29-JAN. 4: Shelby Houlihan, who last competed at the the USATF Cross Country Championships in Oregon, came back to race less than a month ago at the Christiansen Trail Run in Phoenix on Jan. 3. The 2016 Olympian and 16-time Iowa state champion set the women's record by covering the 24.1K trail race in 1:34:12. Houlihan topped the second-place finisher, a male, by nearly seven minutes. Houlihan is a 13-time U.S. champion now based in the Phoenix area.
"Wow that was so much fun," Houlihan wrote on her Strava account. "I need to do more of these."
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This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Kassie Parker, Cailie Hughes, Mason Tope, Karissa Schweizer, Wesley Kiptoo, Ryan Ford, Millie Hill
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