The Vikings men's cross country team took to the road this weekend as they ran in the William Penn Invitational on the campus of William Penn University in Oskaloosa, IA. Seven different teams competed in the Saturday morning event and the Vikings took home third place with 79 points. Grand View finished behind Saint Ambrose University (35 points) and Mount Mercy College (62 points).

Placing fifth among the 69 runners was Grand View senior Bichok Deng. Deng ran a season's best time of 27:20 for the 8k run. Six other Grand View runners finished the 8k race with personal best times. Finishing in the 12^th place for the Vikings was Nick Newbury with a personal best time of 28:08. Drew Messerschmidt, also running a personal best, finished Saturday with a time of 28:24 placing him 16^th. In 25^th place was junior Alan Paton with a time of 28:50, while freshman Austin Ward ran a personal best time of 28:58 for 27^th place.

Other Grand View runners with personal best times:

Freshman Derek Barnett, 30:58, 55^th place

Junior Spencer Williams, 32:15, 58^th place

Senior Brandon Spencer, 32:30, 60^th place