• Sophomore Ava Manning takes medalist honors
• Sophomore Jaycie Vohs finishes sixth
• Freshman Lillyona Abernathy places 11th

Sophomore Ava Manning of Des Moines posted a time of 19 minutes, 43 seconds over the 5K course in winning the Trent Smith Invitational September 13 at Mason City. Manning's win led the DMACC women's cross country team to a second-place finish in the meet.

Wartburg College (WC) took the team championship with 22 points and DMACC was second with 43 points. North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) and Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) tied for third with 88 points apiece.

DMACC sophomore Jaycie Vohs of Galva gave the Bears a sixth-place finish in 20:15 and freshman Lillyona Abernathy of Iowa City barely missed the top 10 with an 11^th-place finish in 21:03.

DMACC freshmen CeCe Thompson of Clive and Mariah Falkena of Dunlap and sophomore Dakota Tromblay of Ogden were 19^th, 20^th and 22^nd respectively. Thompson's time was 22:08, Falkena turned in a time of 22:11 and Tromblay crossed the finish line in 22:23.

DMACC women's cross country coach Michael Melchert said he wasn't totally surprised by Manning's win, adding that she did have a good track season last spring.

The women graduated their top two runners from last season in Grace Collins and Kayden Spencer so Manning stepping up was a pleasant surprise.

"We kind of saw this coming because (Manning) had a great track season," Manning said. "I think she surprised a lot of people."

Manning, Vohs and Tromblay are the only three sophomores on the team so Melchert is going to be counting on freshmen in every meet this season.

"We're just going to see how much those freshmen can improve," Melchert said. "And then we'll kind of raise our floor as to how far we can go."

Melchert added that he feels confident that the women's team has the potential to win the regional meet and place high at the national championships.

The DMACC women's cross country team will run in the Dutch Open Sept. 26 at Pella.