CROSS COUNTRY

The Huntington cross country program wrapped up the regular season by spending the weekend in Tennessee to compete in the NAIA Appalachian Challenge at Sequoyah Park in Knoxville.

“Today was a day that our program needed,” noted Coach Josh Neideck. “We had an opportunity to run on a fast course, in beautiful weather, against great competition.

“Both teams put forward their best race of the season, yet each team also has much more to give. It’s a great place to be heading into postseason.”

The #RV HU men’s program ran an impressive 8K race to take third out of 19 teams with 95 points.

Austin Liepe crossed the line first for the Foresters in 24:34.4 to claim sixth out of 180 runners. Kent Yoder also turned in an exceptional performance to take eighth in a season-best 24:45.3. Also running a season-best was Reece Gibson who just missed a top ten finish by clocking in at 25:05.4 for 11th place.

Next up for Neideck’s squad was Carter VanderMeer who registered 26th in 25:46.1. Jonah Lemmon rounded out HU’s scoring by taking 47th in 26:24.8.

Other runners for Huntington included Isaac Combs (86th, 27:21.4), Tyler Loucks (142nd, 29:24.3) and Gabriel King (172nd, 32:14.6).

#3 Milligan topped the men’s field with 42 points. #10 Montreat was next with 53 points and rounding out the top ten included HU (95), Lindsey Wilson (162), SCAD Atlanta (193), Cumberland (195), William Carey (230), Southeastern (232), Bethel (TN) (238) and Bryan (243).

The #RV Forester women’s team also had a remarkable outing to finish fourth out of 17 teams with 128 points.

Running her first race in a Forester uniform, Anna Martin led HU with a 7th place finish in 18:17.1. Molly Harding navigated the 5K course in 18:44.3 to register 16th place. Finishing 22nd was Emily Tedder in 18:55.8. MacKenzie Brewer was next for Huntington in 19:48.0 to post a 47th place finish out of 169 runners.

Deann Fry wrapped up her team’s scoring with a 60th place finish in 20:00.8. Other finishes for the Foresters included Alyeska Linsley (66th, 20:18.7), Shaylynn Reyes (74th, 20:30.0), Amelia Strzechowski (91st, 21:12.0), Lily Spaulding (101st, 21:35.3), Brielle Fehlmann (119th, 22:08.3), Morgann Hart (138th, 23:04.1) and Evelyn Sigler (149th, 24:23.6).

#2 Milligan also took home the women’s title with 23 points. The top ten included #12 Montreat (73), #23 SCAD Savannah (95), HU (128), William Carey (161), Lindsey Wilson (204), Southeastern (214), Bethel (TN) (238), Cumberland (254) and Bethel (IN) (258).

To say both teams had a memorable racing day would be an understatement as ten Foresters ran personal bests which included: Harding (40-second PR), Fry (63-second PR), Brewer (3-second PR), Reyes (58-second PR), Hart (54-second PR), Sigler (73-second PR), Liepe (43-second PR), Lemmon (27-second PR), Combs (18-second PR) and Loucks (37-second PR).

The Crossroads League Championships are next on the docket for Neideck’s crew at Taylor on November 3.