Myers, Millikin hoping to finish strong Hawkeye XC career at Nationals

As accomplished as Pekin is in cross country, it may come as a surprise not more of their athletes decide to continue running at the next level. After signing to continue their careers, Ryan Millikin and Malcolm Myers found more success at Hawkeye Community College, where they’ve helped the team reach as high as 14th Nationally.

The two were recruited by Tyler Mulder, coach of both men’s and women’s cross country teams at Hawkeye. They attracted his eye by not only running for a well-known program, but also excelling at the State level when in high school.

“Malcolm and Ryan both came from a strong traditional team in which Pekin had been making a lot of success at the State meet. I also looked at their PR times and they fit the mold for what we were looking to recruit, which was 16-minute 5K athletes for XC,” Mulder said. “Ryan was in the state record 4x8 team which also had its appeal having a lot of upside in the mile as well.”

Since they were added on as part of the first inaugural team, Millikin and Myers’s recruiting has paid off for the program. In addition to several top placements in cross country meets, Millikin has helped the track program set the school record in the 4x800-meter relay and Distance Medley team. Myers has also been a factor on the track, setting Hawkeye’s 5K indoor record.

“My expectation was to get them to improve, while also pursuing their individual degrees, in hopes of getting more time to develop and get more college offers to continue running,” Mulder said. “I also wanted to keep their passion alive for running and hopefully have them keep running for the rest of their lives.”

Leading into their second year in the program, Mulder met with each athlete to discuss what goals they wanted to set for themselves. Millikin wants to continue his success in running on the 4x800-meter relay team and try to beat his grandfathers’ time in the mile. Myers is hoping to break the two-minute barrier in the 800-meter, coming close several times while shaving time off his mile.

Nationals are just around the corner with another season come and gone for Millikin and Myers. They’ve already helped their team move up the National rankings and are hoping to go out strong with their individual performances.

Millikin had his best finish of the season at the Regional Championship Meet in late October, finishing in 29th place with a time of 27:45.4. Myers’ best meet of the season came in late August, finishing in 27th place with a time of 17:42.4.

“I’m looking for Ryan to get a new PR for the 8K at Nationals. We’re hoping to get into the 26-minute range which would help the team immensely for a high team score,” Mulder said. “In regard to track, I’d like to get both of them to Nationals as individuals on top of their DMR/4x800-meter relay.”

Nationals for the NJCAA will be held on November 10 at Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kansas. Other highly touted teams from Iowa include Iowa Central (ranked first), Indian Hills CC (ranked 20th) and North Iowa Area CC (ranked 21st).

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