Mile posts: Items on Brogan Austin, Phil Young, Noelle Steines, Grace Steinmetz, Lydia Maas, Keelee Leitzen, Isaac Bourne

Brogan Austin and Phil Young can always call themselves world champions.

The Iowa natives competed on the Team USA squad that captured the team gold medal at the International Association of Ultrarunners 100-kilometer World Championships in Ames, Spain, on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Austin finished eighth overall in the 62.1-mile race. The former Boone High and Drake University standout was the Americans’ No. 2 scorer, behind overall champion Charlie Lawrence, in a tight competition. Team USA won the gold medal with a collective 19 hours, 17 minutes, 18 seconds, edging Great Britain by 44 seconds. The competition scored the top three runners from each team.

Austin and Young lead off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and post collegiate distance runners and triathletes.

Austin covered the distance in Spain in 6:27:50, less than 20 minutes behind Lawrence (6:09:25). Austin, 34, won the USATF Marathon Championships in Sacramento, California, in 2018 before jumping into ultramarathons. He won the USATF 50 Mile Championship in Illinois last year and followed with a title at the USATF 100K Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, in April to earn his spot in Spain. Austin is now based in Colorado.

Young, a Runablaze Iowa athlete who owns the Fleet Feet stores in Des Moines and Davenport, placed 28th overall and was the No. 4 scorer for the Americans in 6:54:07. The Davenport man is a graduate of Davenport Assumption and the University of Iowa who was runner-up to Austin at the Madison event in April to secure his spot at worlds.

Young, 40, is a three-time winner (2021, 2022, 2025) of the Tunnel Hill 100 mile race in Vienna, Illinois.

Shifting to college cross country, where sophomore Noelle Steines cruised to victory on her home course at the Bradley Intercollegiate in Peoria, Illinois, on Friday, Sept. 18. The former Calamus-Wheatland and Tipton prep now a Bradley runner averaged 5:24.4 per mile in taking the 3-mile race in 16:13.2. Steines won by 40.4 seconds over teammate Pauline Klessiek. Bradley won the team title with a perfect 15 points, well ahead of Drake (81).

Steines started her season with a runner-up finish at the Sam Bell Invitational in Bloomington, Indiana, on Sept. 4.

Drake junior Gracie Foster, an Indianola product, was the lead scorer for the Bulldogs in 13th place in 18:28.4. Taking 19th place and running second for third-place Grinnell College was junior Cindy Wang in 18:59.6. Wang competed for Iowa City West. Drake true freshman Scarlett Byrnes, an Osage grad, secured 23rd place in 19:16.1 and was the No. 3 scorer. Sophomore teammate Bella Hodges, an ex-Ankeny Centennial runner who started her career at Illinois State, was 25th in 19:31 and the final Bulldogs scorer.

University of Dubuque sophomore Carter Richter, who attended Davenport Central, was the top runner for the Spartans in the men’s 8K race. Richter ran 26:50.4 for 17th overall as Dubuque claimed fourth in the team race with 117 points. Freshman teammate Sawyer Feldman was another two spots back in 26:59.9. He ran for Lisbon. Drake was third with 89 points, 18 behind runner-up Grinnell.

Moving to the Viking Invitational hosted by Grand View University at Ankeny on Sept. 19. Wartburg was the women’s champion with 24 points, but Heartland Christian High School grad and Council Bluffs native Grace Steinmetz rolled to victory on the wet course. The Bellevue (Neb.) University sophomore covered the 6K (3.7-mile) course in 22:30.9, a 6:02.3 pace per mile, to win by nearly 35 seconds.

Wartburg finished 2-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 to score 24 points and was paced by junior and former Hampton-Dumont competitor Lydia Maas in second in 23:05.5. Junior teammate and ex-Solon prep Anna Quillin was the No. 3 Knights scorer in fifth in 23:59.3. Another junior, Ava Vance, was next to finish in 24:01.1. Vance ran for Ballard (Huxley). Knights sophomore Claire Hoyer, a Dubuque Senior grad, was the final scorer in seventh in 24:01.2. Rounding out the top 10 for Wartburg was sophomore and Forest City product Bethany Warren in 24:05.7.

Northwest Missouri State senior Mayson Hartley was the No. 2 scorer for the runner-up Bearcats (63). The ex-Clarinda runner was 11th in 24:27.1. Sophomore and former Cherokee Washington prep Estefana Beisswenger was the No. 1 scorer for third-place Morningside University. She ran 24:31.1 for 14th.

The Wartburg men steamrolled to the team title by taking the top eight spots. Junior Isaiah Hammerand had to settle for second place to junior teammate Ayden Buchanan (25:48.3) in the 8K race after running 26:06.7. Hammerand ran for Western Dubuque. Knights junior Ahmed Aldamak, an ex-Cedar Falls competitor, was third in 26:50.3. Sophomore teammate and Linn-Mar (Marion) grad Ethan Boston was next in 26:57.8. Junior Aidan Decker, who prepped at Liberty High, took fifth in 27:09.6. Senior and grad student Alex Horstman, another Cedar Falls product, was seventh in 27:10.9. Knights sophomore AJ Schermerhorn, who ran for Ankeny Centennial and Iowa State before coming to Waverly, was eighth in 27:12.3.

Former North Polk prep Max Sporaa, a Wisconsin-Platteville student, was the No. 2 non-Wartburg finisher in 11th place. Sporaa was timed in 27:31.1 for 11th. He was followed by Wartburg senior and Waverly-Shell Rock grad Caden Kueker in 27:35.5. The top 15 was completed by Knights sophomore Connor Martin in 27:41.8. He prepped at Cedar Falls.

Loras College redshirt sophomore Keelee Leitzen was the top small college finisher at the National Catholic Invitational hosted by Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, on Sept. 18. The Dubuque Hempstead grad who started her college career at Iowa State ran the 5K course at the Burke Golf Course in 17:44.8 for 11th overall. Leitzen was coming off a win at the Bob Schultz Invite on Sept. 4 in Dubuque.

Mount Mercy senior Abby Knepper, a Beckman (Dyersville) grad, ended up 22nd for the eighth-place Mustangs. Knepper ran 18:25.7. Loras junior Ivy Glendening, who prepped at Southeast Polk, ran 19:06.8 for 44th. Mount Mercy junior Lourdes Mason, a former North Liberty athlete, was 48th in 19:13.3. Loras sophomore Savannah Davis was next to finish in 19:17.3. Davis ran for Mason City. Clear Creek-Amana product Kalin Rotzoll, now a senior at Mount Mercy, came in 51st in 19:19.9. The host Irish had the top eight finishers in scoring a perfect 15 points.

Notre Dame was likewise dominant in the men’s 8K, but former Loras runner Isaac Bourne broke up their dominance with a seventh-place finish in 23:51.2, a 4:47.9 average per mile. Bourne was running unattached. DePaul true freshman Kiefer Barnes, who prepped at Indianola, was the No. 4 scorer for the runner-up Blue Demons in 24:58.8. He took 25th. Mount Mercy sophomore and ex-Liberty High athlete Noah Gregoire was 33rd for the Mustangs in 25:15.7. Loras senior and Cedar Falls product Colby Cryer was the No. 2 scorer for the ninth-place Duhawks in 25:23.5. He was 42nd. Mount Mercy sophomore Jack Stamp, who competed for Springville, grabbed 50th in 25:35.9. Maquoketa Valley grad Matthew Schaul, a Mount Mercy sophomore, broke 26 minutes in taking 69th in 25:59.2. Notre Dame had the top six finishers.

The Iowa State pivoted from calling off their home meet because of wet course conditions to take the team title at the Jo Rider 8K competition of the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sept. 18. The Cyclones held off Boise State, 24-39, and had the race runner-up in senior Rodgers Kiplimo in 23:48.4. Claiming 62nd for NCAA Division III power Wisconsin-La Crosse was true freshman Kyle Johnson and ex-Cedar Rapids Prairie runner Kyle Johnson in 62nd place in 25:13.8. The Eagles were third in the team race with 86 points.

The short-handed Iowa State women were seventh in the Suzy Wilson 6K competition at Fort Snelling Golf Course and sophomore Olivia Verde was the No. 2 scorer in 21:12.0. The Johnston grad was 39th. Winona State took sixth with 182 points and sophomore Emily Meyer, a Cedar Falls grad, was the team’s No. 5 scorer in 92nd overall. Meyer ran 22:09.8 in a race won by Minnesota junior Isabelle Schmitz in 19:44.8.

The Iowa teams claimed second with 45 points at the Redbird Invitational hosted by Illinois State at Weibring Golf Club in Normal, Illinois, on Sept. 18. Hawkeye junior Hillary Trainor was the No. 3 scorer for the Hawkeyes and seventh overall in the 6K race in 21:45.0. Trainor prepped at Sumner-Fredricksburg. Iowa true freshman Avery Rump, a Fort Madison grad, took 13th in 22:27.5. Rump was the team’s fifth scorer. Senior teammate Clare Kelly, an ex-Van Meter runner, was 15th in 22:34.8. She was closely followed by junior teammate Julia Gehl, 16th in 22:36.9. Gehl competed for Dubuque Hempstead. Illinois State senior Nora Brady was the winner in 21:16.7 and the champion Redbirds scored 23 points.

The Iowa men also trailed Illinois State, 19-46. A former Hawkeye helped pace the host Illinois State men to the team title with 19 points. Junior Ethan Eichhorn, a former Council Bluffs Lewis Central athlete, took third in the 8K race in 24:55.0. He trailed junior teammate Julian Baker (24:36.5) and Iowa leader Kyle Montgomery (24:48.8).

Running second for the Hawkeyes was senior and Cedar Rapids Kennedy grad Miles Wilson. Wilson was 10th in 25:13.7. Freshman teammate Slader Buckheister, another Kennedy product, was next to finish in 25:16.8. The Hawkeye run continued with junior and ex-Pleasant Valley prep Luke Knepp in 12th in 25:23.3. The final Iowa scorer was senior Will Ryan, who prepped at Dowling Catholic, in 15th in 25:35.6. Also cracking the top 20 for the Hawkeyes was true freshman and former Indianola runner Reed Robbins in 18th in 25:46.1. Sophomore teammate Owen Wolfe, another ex-Dowling prep, was 20th in 25:55.4.

MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at bergeson@registermedia.com.

Want to hear more about distance running in Iowa. Listen to my podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2qD8BhgezrrhQ5zuGqg8Cn

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Brogan Austin, Phil Young, Noelle Steines, Grace Steinmetz, Lydia Maas, Keelee Leitzen, Isaac Bourne