The Grand View cross country teams wrapped up their fall training camp on August 20^th with the Red vs. Black 5k time trial. The men's red team led by senior Nick Newbury edged out the black team by one point (27-28) to secure the victory. Freshman Chris Nealy competing for the black team was the individual men's champion, he was followed in by Newbury and teammate Jim Vonnahme. The women's race was won by junior Obsie Birru competing for the red team, but the team title went to the black squad led by the trio of Kara Keller, Sadie Fisher, and Betsy Craig finishing in a tight pack to outpace the red team.

Earlier in the week the Vikings traveled to Springbrook State Park near Guthrie Center, Iowa for a team camping trip spanning three days and two nights. The team endured two-a-day workouts, running the trails and hilly terrain throughout the wooded areas and around the lakefront of the park. Between workouts the Vikings prepared their own meals and had some free time to play sand volleyball and a few games of knockout on the basketball court, along with swimming and relaxation time.

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.

Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach, Jerry Monner, announced the signing of Justin Welsh (Southeast Polk H.S./Altoona, Iowa) as part of his Viking's 2010-11 recruiting class. Welsh had an outstanding senior cross country season at Southeast Polk competing as their number three runner this past Fall. He helped propel the Rams to a seventh place team finish at the Iowa Class 4A State Cross Country Championships.