Cross Country Teams Battle Through Rain for First Meet of 2025

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (08/30/2025) — The Monmouth College cross country teams kicked off the 2025 season at the Bob Schultz Invite in Dubuque, Iowa on Friday night. Both the men and women ran a 5K race at the Dubuque Soccer Complex. Due to rain and lightning delays, the two races were held together.

The Monmouth men finished in seventh place, fifth among Division III teams. The women finished fifth overall with four newcomers on the course.

Sophomore Fernando Avila Rubio (Alpha, Illinois) set a new 5K collegiate PR as he finished 35th overall in 17:04.7, eight seconds better than his time at this event last year. Junior Xander Stoub (Palos Heights, Illinois) ran 17:39 to finish 51st, tied with freshman Riley Morgan (Jewett, Illinois). Freshman Braden Rees (Galesburg, Illinois) ran 18:41.9 to finish 71st and newcomer Larry Kamara (Alpha, Illinois) finished 98th in 21:26.6.

WOMEN

Returner Melissa Bivolarov (Arlington Heights, Illinois) led the way with a new 5K PR as she finished 28th in 21:47.7. She took 50 seconds off her 5K PR from 2023 and ran 1:20 faster than her time at this event last year.

Freshman Amelia Iwanski (Saint Charles, Illinois) finished 42ng in 22:09.5, just ahead of classmate Adyson Beebe (Clinton, Illinois) in 22:20.3. Freshman Keira Taylor (Astoria, Illinois) was 49th in 22:42.9 and Makaela Robinson (Galesburg, Illinois), a senior in her first year on the team, finished 56th in 24:12.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth ran three returners and seven newcomers in the first race of the season under second-year coach Cooper PauleyBivolarov and Avila Rubio both set 5K PR's for their college careersBivolarov's previous 5K PR was from the Corridor Clash in 2023All 10 runners from Friday are Illinois nativesThe Scots are in action next Friday at the UIS Prairie Stars Invite in Springfield, Illinois, a new event to the Monmouth schedule.