Although he finished second to Evan Landes of Mulvane who ran a time of 15 minutes, 18.62 seconds, Allen bested the personal goal for himself of running under 16:30, finishing the race in 15:52.86.

“Joel’s self discipline and dedication to his training in the off season have been excellent,” coach Stuart Holmes said. “He has earned his success he is having through his hard work.”

Assistant Bethany College cross-country coach Aaron Yoder, who previous held the record at Hillsboro with a time of 16:28, attended the meet and congratulated Allen after the race.

“We all knew that on a nice day weather-wise, on that course, that Joel was likely to get the record. It was a nice gesture on Aaron’s part to be there,” Holmes said.

Three other Trojan runners completed the race under 18 minutes. Brett Mueller finished 14th with a time of 17:29.77, Justin King finished 16th with a time of 17:37.09, and Josh Richert finished 20th with a time of 17:49.04.