Allen Community College's women continue to impress, while the men still have hopes for a national title in their sites. On Saturday, ACC runners were at a meet in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Allen Community College’s women continue to shine as the cross country season enters the home stretch.

The top-ranked men, meanwhile, had a bit of a stumble.

The Red Devil runners traveled 7½ hours Saturday to run at the Seminole Valley Stampede at Mount Mercy University, which featured a cross section of junior colleges and four-year NAIA universities.

The Red Devil men finished a disappointing sixth in the team standings.

“It was a combination of things,” ACC head coach Vince DeGrado said. “It wasn’t a good meet for us. Those things are humbling, and it happens. It’s not a bad thing. We just need to remember you have to be on your game before it gets to championship season.”

Allen was led by Henos Andebrhan, who ran the 8K course in 26 minutes, 14 seconds to place 22nd. Brig Merritt followed at 26:42 in 32nd.

Allen’s top runner, Devan Crow, was nursing an injury, and stepped off the course midway through.

“He’ll be fine,” DeGrado said.

“We’ll have to regroup and get ourselves back to the basics these next 2 weeks which I have done in the past and am certain we’ll be able to do again,” DeGrado said.

As for the team results, DeGrado called the experience a humbling one for a squad vying for the NJCAA national championship.

THE WOMEN, who do not field enough runners for a full team, continued to impress DeGrado with their improvement.

Leading the way were Iolans Elka Billings, who ran the 5K in 19:38, in 37th and Rachel Bycroft in 43rd at 19:50.

Billings’ performance came as she was named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference female runner of the week. As an aside, Andebrhan was tapped as KJCCC’s male runner of the week. Both were top junior college runners at Saturday’s meet.

“The girls have been amazing this season,” DeGrado said.

The Allen runners are idle until the Region VI championships slated for Oct. 28 in El Dorado. The national championships are Nov. 14 in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Seminole Valley Stampede

Women’s 5K

37. Elka Billings, 19:38.93, 43. Rachel Bycroft, 19:50.07, 116. McKenna Esfield, 21:29.82

Men’s 8K

22. Henos Andebrhan, 26:14.89, 32. Brig Merritt 26:42.74, 59. Raymon Gonzalez, 27:31.21, 65. Phillip Semien, 27:36.15, 80. Michael McMorris, 27;52.91, 90. Burche Greene, 28;13.08, 104. Kyle Henry, 28:39.42, 202. Bret Plumlee, 33:15.96