WAVERLY, Iowa (Oct. 4, 2025) - In a field consisting of nearly 280 total finishers, junior Patrick Heffernan turned in a 49th place finish to help lead the way for the Buena Vista men's cross country team on Saturday at the annual Dan Huston Invite, hosted by Wartburg College.

Heffernan came across the finish line of the 8k race in a new personal best time of 26:35.3. Hadyn Piskorski posted a season-best time of 28:01 and was 124th. Freshman Leighton Sippel was less than a minute behind and also had a personal best time as did fellow freshman Corbin Webster.

No. 2-ranked Wartburg College won the overall team title with only 23 points while the Knights also had the top collegiate finisher at 24:16.2

Buena Vista was 14th among the 16th teams that made up a strong field consisting of regionally-ranked teams as well as a Division I team.

Next up for the Beavers will be the Platte River Rumble, hosted by Creighton University, on Friday, Oct. 17, at Ashland, Neb., starting at 1 p.m. The race will be the final tune-up for the team before the American Rivers Conference Championships on Saturday, Nov. 1.