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Shelby Houlihan has returned to the mountaintop of track and field after a long, difficult four-year journey.
The American record holder for 1,500 meters and former Sioux City East prep great staved off Australian star Jessica Hull by .02 of a second to grab the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China, on Saturday. The runner-up finish in 8:38.26 is Houlihan's first medal at a world championships or Olympics. Houlihan, 32, leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes.
Houlihan emerged from a four-year doping ban in January to return to racing for the indoor season. She finished second at the U.S. championships in Staten Island, N.Y., to earn her spot at worlds.
"It’s been a long journey,” Houlihan said in an interview with letsrun.com. "I’m excited for today and now, but also kind of grieving the past a bit. It’s just been a real tough journey."
The former Arizona State University and Bowerman Track Club star asserted her innocence after testing positive for nandralone. Houlihan claimed the positive test came from a tainted pork burrito she bought from a Mexican food truck. Houlihan appealed the four-year ban, but her argument was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Houlihan is hoping a result like this could help her land a sponsor and boost her confidence to make a run for the U.S. team at the world outdoor championships in September.
"It got to a point where I was just like, 'I don’t want to give up because I feel like I’ll always wonder what could have been,' " Houlihan said of sitting on the sidelines for so long. "And then I feel like I still have more to prove. I feel like the best is yet to come for myself and I wanted to see that through and not let someone else decide."
Houlihan wasn't the only Iowan from northwest Iowa who had a memorable weekend. Former Iowa State All-American Gable Sieperda delivered a big victory in his first road race after his Cyclone career ended with a runner-up team finish at Division I cross country nationals. The new Fitness Sports Distance Project athlete captured the overall title at the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8-kilometer race in Chicago. The former Central Lyon_GLR prep held off Hansons-Brooks ODP athlete Shuaib Aljabaly by four seconds to win in 22:52. That is a 4:36 average over 4.97 miles through the streets of downtown Chicago.
“(It was my) first-ever bigger road race, so any time I can come out and compete I’m super grateful, and it was a lot of fun,” Sieperda told an NBC 5 Chicago reporter.
Sieperda, third at NCAAs in the steeplechase last June, helped boost the two-year team to a third place men's finish. Teammate Cody Baele, the two-time reigning IMT Des Moines Half Marathon champion, finished 14th in 23:32. Sieperda's time broke Baele's club record of 23:27 set a year ago at Shamrock. Placing 54th was Simpson College 2024 NCAA 10,000 champion Spencer Moon in 24:23. Moon also is a former South Central Calhoun prep. The final scorer was FSDP's top men's team was Jack Moran of Ames in 56th place. Moran ran 24:24.
The 19-year-old Des Moines-based Runablaze Iowa team finished eighth in the men's team competition and former Florida State standout Stan Linton was the team's leader. Linton ran 23:45 for 17th. Linton's time slots into fourth in club history. Former Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central Community College standout Blake Whalen was 10 spots back in 23:58. Former Pleasant Valley and Central College great Austin O'Brien was next for Runablaze in 38th place in 24:14. The other scorer for Runablaze was former Morningside College five-time All-American Garret Ehlers in 44th place. Ehlers ran 24:17.
The Minnesota Distance Elite team racked up a second-place men's team finish and serving as the No. 4 scorer for them was former Ottumwa High and University of Iowa runner Kevin Lewis. Lewis placed 24th overall in 23:55. The MDE team had a total time of 1:34:30 to finish 41 seconds behind winning team Gazelle Elite. Fitness Sports' total time was 1:35:11. Runablaze was at 1:36:14.
Running Wild Elite's top team was one spot behind Runablaze after a total time of 1:37:25. Leading the Davenport-based team was former Davenport Assumption and St. Ambrose University athlete Steve Froeschle. Froeschle ended up 43rd in 24:16, a time behind his 24:03 from Shamrock that ranks No. 2 in club history. Team coordinator and former Pleasant Valley prep Devin Allbaugh was next for RWE in 49th place in 24:19. Allbaugh owns the club record time of 23:52 from the 2023 Shamrock race. Mike Gille, a St. Ambrose assistant coach, was 58th in 24:25. Gille was already at No. 3 on the RWE all-time list at 24:12 from 2022. The final scorer was right behind Gille in 59th. Southeastern Community College head track coach Lucas Keifer ran 24:25.
The Dubuque-based Crown Running team finished 12th in the men's team competition and former Davenport Central and Loras College standout Mason Tope led that team with a 20th-place finish. The Las Vegas resident ran 23:51. Next for Crown was former BCLUW of Conrad and Central College runner Caleb Silver. Silver was timed in 24:24 for 57th. Former Dubuque Wahlert and Central College athlete Kyle Pape was 79th in 24:56. Crown's final scorer was Matthew Schneider in 155th in 25:53. Schneider is a former Iowa City West and Wartburg College runner. Shamrock was giving away a $30,000 prize purse for the team as part of the Deloitte Elite Club Competition.
Fitness Sports Distance Project also topped all Iowa teams in the women's competition. FSDP placed seventh with a total time of 1:54:50. Leading Fitness Sports was former Johnston and Iowa runner Jessica McKee in 28:28. McKee crossed 407th overall and 42nd among all women. Former New London and Wartburg star Alexis Brown ran 28:33 for 43rd place. Their No. 3 runner was former Albia and Iowa athlete Jordan Winke in 46th place in 28:38. Their final scorer was former Mount Mercy runner Deanna Newhouse in 29:11. Newhouse placed 64th.
The top Iowan in the women's 8K field was former Loras College seven-time NCAA champion Kasandra Parker. The former Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) athlete placed sixth overall in 26:32 while running for the Crown team. Parker is an assistant coach at Hawkeye Community College. Returning to competition was former Ballard (Huxley) prep star Abby Kohut-Jackson. The ex-Minnesota runner who is a graduate student at Saint Louis University ran 28:01.
Runablaze's top team placed 10th among the women and former Dordt and Unity Christian (Orange City) standout Jen Van Otterloo was the team leader in 53rd place among the women. Van Otterloo ran 28:53. Former Luther College runner Flannery Cerbin-Bohach was next in 66th place in 29:16. Former Waukon prep and Simpson College athlete Sarah Bakula ran 29:21 for 71st place. The final scorer was former Dubuque Hempstead and Wartburg runner Amanda Edwards in 106th in 30:07.
Crown with Parker leading the charge placed 11th in the women's team competition. Former Newton and Drake University athlete Casey McDermott was their No. 2 runner in 28:54. Former Clarke University runner Rory Bickler ran 31:10. One second behind her Anna Keith in 31:11.
Fitness Sports fielded a mixed team of men and women that placed sixth in that competition that scored two men and two women. Placing 48th among the men was former Cardinal (Eldon) prep and Grand View University standout Trevor Albert in 48th in 24:18. Former Central Lyon-GLR prep and Dordt University star Joe Anderson was four spots behind him in 52nd in 24:22. The women's leader was former Marion and Mount Mercy University star Andrea (Ertz) Albert, wife of Trevor, in 54th place overall in 28:54. The other female scorer was former Dallas Center-Grimes and Wartburg runner Natalie Paulson in 89th place in 29:53.
Several other Iowa natives fared well running individually or on Iowa teams. Former Pleasant Valley prep Parker Huhn clocked 24:39 to place 64th overall. Huhn ran for Wisconsin-La Crosse. Former Drake University runner Jack Zettl finished 81st overall in 24:57. Topping FSDP's 'B' team on a cloudy, windy day was Aidan King in 89th place in 25:04. King ran for Iowa. Tyler Lance paced Runablaze's 'B' team that placed 19th in the team standings. Lance took 92nd in 25:05. FSDP's Aaron Davidson was seven spots behind him in 25:15. Former Iowa runner Kallin Carolus Khan of the FSDP team ended up 101st in 25:15. Former Clinton High and Clinton Community College athlete Dalton Rice led RWE's mixed team with a 104th-place spot in 25:17.
Former Mount Mercy star Jacob Blackmon was the No. 2 runner for FSDP's 'B' team. Blackmon ran 25:20 for 109th. Runablaze coordinator Tyson Wieland, a former Johnston and Iowa Central runner, took 110th in 25:21. Former East Marshall and Northwestern College standout Caleb Benzing for the FSDP team took 116th in 25:22. Former Des Moines Christian prep and Wheaton College runner Jacob Fopma, competing for the Wheaton Alumni team, was 120th in 25:25. They finished 31st in the men's team competition. RWE's Jay Welp, a former Iowa City resident now living in Illinois, ended up 124th in 25:29. Former Coe College athlete Coe Booker of the RWE team was 142nd in 25:45. Teammate Lewis Kleman, who broke several records at Coe, was 157th in 25:54. Kleman ran for Cedar Rapids Washington in high school. Former Iowa Central standout Karim Achengli of the Runablaze team also broke 26 minutes while placing 163rd in 25:56.
The Runablaze women's 'B' team was 15th in the team competition and former Dubuque Wahlert and Loras runner Kaylee Osterberger was the leader in 87th place among the women. Osterberger ran 29:52. Teammate and former Coe College standout Elaina Biechler ran 30:07 for 107th. Teammate and former Southeast Warren and Simpson College runner Elise Wieland was four spots behind her in 30:10. The women's winner was repeat champion Amy Davis-Green of the Hansons-Brooks ODP team in 25:31.
There were a total of 23,715 finishers.
MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at [email protected].
Want to hear more about distance running in Iowa. Listen to my podcast here:
creators.spotify.com
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Shelby Houlihan, Gable Sieperda, Cody Baele, Stan Linton, Mason Tope, Kasandra Parker
Continue reading...
The American record holder for 1,500 meters and former Sioux City East prep great staved off Australian star Jessica Hull by .02 of a second to grab the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China, on Saturday. The runner-up finish in 8:38.26 is Houlihan's first medal at a world championships or Olympics. Houlihan, 32, leads off this edition of the WEEKEND UPDATE of the best performances by Iowa-based collegiate and postcollegiate distance runners and triathletes.
Houlihan emerged from a four-year doping ban in January to return to racing for the indoor season. She finished second at the U.S. championships in Staten Island, N.Y., to earn her spot at worlds.
"It’s been a long journey,” Houlihan said in an interview with letsrun.com. "I’m excited for today and now, but also kind of grieving the past a bit. It’s just been a real tough journey."
The former Arizona State University and Bowerman Track Club star asserted her innocence after testing positive for nandralone. Houlihan claimed the positive test came from a tainted pork burrito she bought from a Mexican food truck. Houlihan appealed the four-year ban, but her argument was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Houlihan is hoping a result like this could help her land a sponsor and boost her confidence to make a run for the U.S. team at the world outdoor championships in September.
"It got to a point where I was just like, 'I don’t want to give up because I feel like I’ll always wonder what could have been,' " Houlihan said of sitting on the sidelines for so long. "And then I feel like I still have more to prove. I feel like the best is yet to come for myself and I wanted to see that through and not let someone else decide."
Houlihan wasn't the only Iowan from northwest Iowa who had a memorable weekend. Former Iowa State All-American Gable Sieperda delivered a big victory in his first road race after his Cyclone career ended with a runner-up team finish at Division I cross country nationals. The new Fitness Sports Distance Project athlete captured the overall title at the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8-kilometer race in Chicago. The former Central Lyon_GLR prep held off Hansons-Brooks ODP athlete Shuaib Aljabaly by four seconds to win in 22:52. That is a 4:36 average over 4.97 miles through the streets of downtown Chicago.
“(It was my) first-ever bigger road race, so any time I can come out and compete I’m super grateful, and it was a lot of fun,” Sieperda told an NBC 5 Chicago reporter.
Sieperda, third at NCAAs in the steeplechase last June, helped boost the two-year team to a third place men's finish. Teammate Cody Baele, the two-time reigning IMT Des Moines Half Marathon champion, finished 14th in 23:32. Sieperda's time broke Baele's club record of 23:27 set a year ago at Shamrock. Placing 54th was Simpson College 2024 NCAA 10,000 champion Spencer Moon in 24:23. Moon also is a former South Central Calhoun prep. The final scorer was FSDP's top men's team was Jack Moran of Ames in 56th place. Moran ran 24:24.
The 19-year-old Des Moines-based Runablaze Iowa team finished eighth in the men's team competition and former Florida State standout Stan Linton was the team's leader. Linton ran 23:45 for 17th. Linton's time slots into fourth in club history. Former Dubuque Senior and Iowa Central Community College standout Blake Whalen was 10 spots back in 23:58. Former Pleasant Valley and Central College great Austin O'Brien was next for Runablaze in 38th place in 24:14. The other scorer for Runablaze was former Morningside College five-time All-American Garret Ehlers in 44th place. Ehlers ran 24:17.
The Minnesota Distance Elite team racked up a second-place men's team finish and serving as the No. 4 scorer for them was former Ottumwa High and University of Iowa runner Kevin Lewis. Lewis placed 24th overall in 23:55. The MDE team had a total time of 1:34:30 to finish 41 seconds behind winning team Gazelle Elite. Fitness Sports' total time was 1:35:11. Runablaze was at 1:36:14.
Running Wild Elite's top team was one spot behind Runablaze after a total time of 1:37:25. Leading the Davenport-based team was former Davenport Assumption and St. Ambrose University athlete Steve Froeschle. Froeschle ended up 43rd in 24:16, a time behind his 24:03 from Shamrock that ranks No. 2 in club history. Team coordinator and former Pleasant Valley prep Devin Allbaugh was next for RWE in 49th place in 24:19. Allbaugh owns the club record time of 23:52 from the 2023 Shamrock race. Mike Gille, a St. Ambrose assistant coach, was 58th in 24:25. Gille was already at No. 3 on the RWE all-time list at 24:12 from 2022. The final scorer was right behind Gille in 59th. Southeastern Community College head track coach Lucas Keifer ran 24:25.
The Dubuque-based Crown Running team finished 12th in the men's team competition and former Davenport Central and Loras College standout Mason Tope led that team with a 20th-place finish. The Las Vegas resident ran 23:51. Next for Crown was former BCLUW of Conrad and Central College runner Caleb Silver. Silver was timed in 24:24 for 57th. Former Dubuque Wahlert and Central College athlete Kyle Pape was 79th in 24:56. Crown's final scorer was Matthew Schneider in 155th in 25:53. Schneider is a former Iowa City West and Wartburg College runner. Shamrock was giving away a $30,000 prize purse for the team as part of the Deloitte Elite Club Competition.
Fitness Sports Distance Project also topped all Iowa teams in the women's competition. FSDP placed seventh with a total time of 1:54:50. Leading Fitness Sports was former Johnston and Iowa runner Jessica McKee in 28:28. McKee crossed 407th overall and 42nd among all women. Former New London and Wartburg star Alexis Brown ran 28:33 for 43rd place. Their No. 3 runner was former Albia and Iowa athlete Jordan Winke in 46th place in 28:38. Their final scorer was former Mount Mercy runner Deanna Newhouse in 29:11. Newhouse placed 64th.
The top Iowan in the women's 8K field was former Loras College seven-time NCAA champion Kasandra Parker. The former Clayton Ridge (Guttenberg) athlete placed sixth overall in 26:32 while running for the Crown team. Parker is an assistant coach at Hawkeye Community College. Returning to competition was former Ballard (Huxley) prep star Abby Kohut-Jackson. The ex-Minnesota runner who is a graduate student at Saint Louis University ran 28:01.
Runablaze's top team placed 10th among the women and former Dordt and Unity Christian (Orange City) standout Jen Van Otterloo was the team leader in 53rd place among the women. Van Otterloo ran 28:53. Former Luther College runner Flannery Cerbin-Bohach was next in 66th place in 29:16. Former Waukon prep and Simpson College athlete Sarah Bakula ran 29:21 for 71st place. The final scorer was former Dubuque Hempstead and Wartburg runner Amanda Edwards in 106th in 30:07.
Crown with Parker leading the charge placed 11th in the women's team competition. Former Newton and Drake University athlete Casey McDermott was their No. 2 runner in 28:54. Former Clarke University runner Rory Bickler ran 31:10. One second behind her Anna Keith in 31:11.
Fitness Sports fielded a mixed team of men and women that placed sixth in that competition that scored two men and two women. Placing 48th among the men was former Cardinal (Eldon) prep and Grand View University standout Trevor Albert in 48th in 24:18. Former Central Lyon-GLR prep and Dordt University star Joe Anderson was four spots behind him in 52nd in 24:22. The women's leader was former Marion and Mount Mercy University star Andrea (Ertz) Albert, wife of Trevor, in 54th place overall in 28:54. The other female scorer was former Dallas Center-Grimes and Wartburg runner Natalie Paulson in 89th place in 29:53.
Several other Iowa natives fared well running individually or on Iowa teams. Former Pleasant Valley prep Parker Huhn clocked 24:39 to place 64th overall. Huhn ran for Wisconsin-La Crosse. Former Drake University runner Jack Zettl finished 81st overall in 24:57. Topping FSDP's 'B' team on a cloudy, windy day was Aidan King in 89th place in 25:04. King ran for Iowa. Tyler Lance paced Runablaze's 'B' team that placed 19th in the team standings. Lance took 92nd in 25:05. FSDP's Aaron Davidson was seven spots behind him in 25:15. Former Iowa runner Kallin Carolus Khan of the FSDP team ended up 101st in 25:15. Former Clinton High and Clinton Community College athlete Dalton Rice led RWE's mixed team with a 104th-place spot in 25:17.
Former Mount Mercy star Jacob Blackmon was the No. 2 runner for FSDP's 'B' team. Blackmon ran 25:20 for 109th. Runablaze coordinator Tyson Wieland, a former Johnston and Iowa Central runner, took 110th in 25:21. Former East Marshall and Northwestern College standout Caleb Benzing for the FSDP team took 116th in 25:22. Former Des Moines Christian prep and Wheaton College runner Jacob Fopma, competing for the Wheaton Alumni team, was 120th in 25:25. They finished 31st in the men's team competition. RWE's Jay Welp, a former Iowa City resident now living in Illinois, ended up 124th in 25:29. Former Coe College athlete Coe Booker of the RWE team was 142nd in 25:45. Teammate Lewis Kleman, who broke several records at Coe, was 157th in 25:54. Kleman ran for Cedar Rapids Washington in high school. Former Iowa Central standout Karim Achengli of the Runablaze team also broke 26 minutes while placing 163rd in 25:56.
The Runablaze women's 'B' team was 15th in the team competition and former Dubuque Wahlert and Loras runner Kaylee Osterberger was the leader in 87th place among the women. Osterberger ran 29:52. Teammate and former Coe College standout Elaina Biechler ran 30:07 for 107th. Teammate and former Southeast Warren and Simpson College runner Elise Wieland was four spots behind her in 30:10. The women's winner was repeat champion Amy Davis-Green of the Hansons-Brooks ODP team in 25:31.
There were a total of 23,715 finishers.
MISSING A TOP DISTANCE RUNNER OR TRIATHLETE?: Let me know at [email protected].
Want to hear more about distance running in Iowa. Listen to my podcast here:
The Run Around Iowa • A podcast on Spotify for Creators
The podcast dedicated to interviews and insights on the individuals who are making headlines in distance running and triathlons in our great state.
creators.spotify.com
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mile posts: Items on Shelby Houlihan, Gable Sieperda, Cody Baele, Stan Linton, Mason Tope, Kasandra Parker
Continue reading...
