FORT DODGE, Iowa — All of the trials, tribulations, thrills and spills of a cross country season unlike any other suddenly came down the last 800 meters, with three teams still within reach of a national championship.
Allen Community College, which spent time as the top NJCAA Division II team in the country before a late swoon dropped the Red Devil men to third, was neck and neck with North Iowa and Cowley.
How close was it?
At the 4-mile mark of the 8k race (a sneeze’s distance short of 5 miles) the three schools were tied at 67 points, according to real-time standings that monitor where each school’s top five runner is situated.
Sure enough, Allen and Cowley battled it out to the bitter end, with a late rally from a pair of ACC runners to edge out their rivals from Cowley, 68 points to 70.
Problem was, North Iowa’s runners ended the race on a tear. Over the final two miles, each of North Iowa’s top five runners passed an average of four other runners to secure that school’s first ever national championship.
“It was really fun to see those moments unfold,” Allen head coach Vince DeGrado said. “That last 800, I was on pins and needles, seeing us finish. I was so focused on us and Cowley, and saw that we had beaten them by two points. I was looking at my phone, and had yet to see North Iowa’s score.
When the North Iowa score was posted, 57 points, DeGrado’s knees buckled slightly.
“To be a part of that was fun,” he said “It’s too bad we weren’t on the winning end of it.”
Still, DeGrado and his runners returned home with a runner-up trophy in tow — the school’s highest ever team finish in a national competition.
On top of that, ACC had five runners — three men and two women — earn All-American designations, courtesy of their top-15 finishes.
THE TWO All-American women are household names to local sports fans.
Elka Billings, a freshman who starred in cross country and track and field for Iola and Crest high schools, placed third in the women’s race, finishing the 5K route in 19 minutes, 14.26 seconds.
Iolan Rachel Bycroft, another freshman, placed ninth, finishing in 19:51.07.
“Those girls have earned it,” DeGrado said. “They’ve worked hard for it. For them to finish the way that they did, I wasn’t surprised. I knew at regionals what they were capable of doing.
“I haven’t had the greatest luck with local talent,” DeGrado said. “When I got Rachel and Elka, I was excited. I could quickly tell they were different.”
Both runners took their lumps early in the season, often against Division I runners, but made strides as the season progressed.
