The Grand View men's cross country program will enter the 2010 season with hopes of moving up the conference ranks. After placing third the past two seasons Viking Head Coach Jerry Monner has compliment a solid group of returners with talented incoming runners. Monner hopes this will help catapult the Vikings to the top of the conference. The Vikings will be looking for a new lead runner due to the graduation of Bichok Deng, who was an NAIA national qualifier and finished third at last year's conference championship meet.

Grand View will have great leadership from a very talented pack of returning runners. Seniors Alan Paton and Nick Newbury return for their final campaign. Both runners were the team's second and third runners for the majority of 2009. They will be followed closely by juniors Drew Messerschmidt and Taelor Bohnsack, along with sophomore Austin Ward. Senior Nick Newcomb and sophomore Derek Barnett are both experienced runners that will add solid depth this fall.

Grand View should get a good boost from three transfer students running for the Vikings this fall. James Vonnahme and Kevin Brown are former teammates transferring from Dana College. James is an experienced runner with a personal best 8k time of 26:59, while Kevin has an 8k personal best of 28:20. Eric Heid will also be competing for the Vikings this fall. Heid previously competed at Iowa Central Community College and has an 8k personal best of 28:26.

Monner also has some talented freshman coming in to support the upperclassmen. Chris Nealy will be running his first season of cross country for the Viking. Nealy competed as a freshman for the Grand View track & field team last spring. During his freshman track season he was the Midwest Collegiate Conference Indoor Champion at 5,000m and won the outdoor conference title in the 3,000m steeplechase. He was also an NAIA national qualifier in the marathon placing 13^th at the National Championships in a school record time of 2:41:58. Freshman Justin Welsh comes to Grand View from Southeast Polk High School. Welsh had a outstanding senior cross country season as he helped guide the Rams to a 7^th place team finish at the Iowa Class 4A State Championship meet.

The Vikings open the season on September 4^th at the Mustang Gallop hosted by Mount Mercy College. Then they travel to compete in the Luther All-American and the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. Grand View will then play host to the 6^th Annual Viking Invitational at Ewing Park in Des Moines on Friday, October 1^st. The 2010 postseason will begin on November 6^th at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships hosted by Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa. The top teams and individuals from the conference championships will then advance to the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington on November 20^th.