Nauman Breaks Course Record With 15:12.4; Marissa Ferebee Leads 1-2-3 Finish For Pella Girls
By Ricky Quintana for DyeStat
Western Dubuque senior Quentin Nauman claimed his second victory in a row in 15:12.4 at the Cedar Rapids Prairie Invitational Saturday morning on the Prairie High campus.
The time bettered Ankeny Centennial’s AJ Schermerhorn’s course record of 15:13.4 set in the 2023. The time also bettered Nauman’s own personal best on the course, 15:15.0, that he recorded in his win last year.
Nauman and his coach, Elaina Biechler, weren’t sure what to expect entering the season opener. “Q,” as he is nicknamed, started his cross country training later in the summer after his mile win at the Nike Outdoor Nationals. He had been slowly building his mileage, 51 miles at the end of this week, and had some workouts on grass.
Cross country is not Q’s favorite surface. There are a lot of places where he can be “broken,” he said, but he took some comfort from quality workouts and a recent time trial.
Nauman is one of the top runners in the country this fall after breaking the junior class national record in the mile with 3:58.65 at the HOKA Festival of Miles.
The opening race was a big one in the state of Iowa. Each year, many of the strongest teams from eastern Iowa participate and esteemed announcer, Mike Jay, is on hand. Good friend and competition foe, Canaan Dunham of Pella High finished second in 15:37.7.
“Me and Canaan have been friends since freshman year. He was just very nice,” Nauman said of Dunham, who won the 3A title in 2023 over Nauman, who finished sixth. “It doesn’t matter how many times we compete against each other, we beat each other. At the end of the day, we’re competitors, but in the end, we’re friends. Iowa has a good community in general and a big contributor to that is our announcer (Mike Jay). He does that meet and the Drake meet. He’s just amazing. He’s bigger than he thinks he is. I get to see him at the beginning and at the end at our state meet.”
A quick 4:40 first mile made it clear that the course record was in play. Nauman and his coach had spoken about tactics. If he felt good, he would go for it at two miles.
“At 1.75 miles out, I started taking the lead,” he said.
Making a move that early was something different for Nauman, who usually sticks on the leader and kicks past him.
“I think it had to do a little bit with my training and what my coach said before the…
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