CROSS COUNTRY

A lightning delay made for a late night and rain-soaked sloppy course at Saturday’s NAIA Great Lakes Challenge hosted by Aquinas College where the HU men’s cross country team finished 4th out of 16 in the white division while the Forester women finished 15th in the maroon division.

On the men’s side, Huntington was just 19 points away from winning their division, seven points from second place, to make for a tight group among the top four teams. Kevin Moser topped HU by finishing third out of 139 runners by clocking in at 27:08.90.

Nick Childs came in next for Johnson’s crew to claim eighth in 27:37.00. Adrien Gentie ran a 28:01.50 to finish 22nd. Elijah Chesterman posted a time of 28:09.00 for 25th place. Aaron Hendryx (28:32.90) and Luke Zeddis (28:35.00) finished within a handful of seconds of each other to place 36th and 38th respectively.

Other runners for HU included Kody Ahrens (44th, 28:51.00), CJ Robertson (29:20.60), Cody Feisel (30:29.60), Justin Ayers (31:39.40) and Justin Edwards (31:54.20).

The Forester women ran in the fast heat against 12 ranked teams so Coach Johnson was pleased with his team’s performance. “This race was stacked so finishing anywhere in the top 15 was my goal and that’s exactly what we did.

“A year ago this team finished last at this meet so to finish 15th out of 20 teams in the maroon division is a testament to the hard work these ladies have put in this fall.”

Aspen Dirr topped her season-best time by five seconds to finish in 18:53.93 for 20th place out of 238 runners. Saige Norris turned in a time of 19:35.30 for 73rd place.

Bianca Tisdale had a great race, posting a 20:49.42, to finish in the 100th spot. Today’s time is 3 minutes and 23 seconds faster than her best time last year.

Olivia Von Gunten (21:24.80) and Mara McFarland (21:24.84) ran neck-and-neck to finish 117th and 118th respectively.

Other runners for Huntington included Lauren Craig (124th, 21:40.82), Isabel Hunter (128th, 22:00.41), Molly Mitchell (22:01.44), Erin Manchess (22:17.04) and Rachael Smelser (22:20.80).

The Foresters will spend the next two weeks preparing for the Crossroads League Championships slated for November 3 at Taylor University.