CROSS COUNTRY

The Forester cross country program had a strong showing Friday night at the IWU Twilight Invitational. On the men’s side, HU’s top seven runners all set new personal records on the way to winning the meet in a collective time of 2:08.43.

Adrien Gentie was the individual winner having blown away the competition by clocking in at 24:39.7, over 20 seconds fastest than the second-place finisher. His average mile time for the 8K was 4:57.7.

Haile Stutzman clocked in at 25:30.0 to claim fourth while classmate Kent Yoder was next to cross the finish line in 25:39.0. Their times are the two fastest freshman times in HU program history.

Elijah Chesterman took 21st place in 26:16.9 while Aaron Hendryx rounded out Huntington’s scoring by turning in a 26:37.6 for 26th place.

Other runners for Johnson’s crew included Luke Zeddis (38 th, 27:12.3), Matthew Hyter (41 st, 27:23.3), Kody Ahrens (27:57.3), Michael Cheezan (28:03.3), Justin Ayers (29:49.2) and Cody Feisel (30:57.5).

Huntington finished with 57 points to lead the way while the other top five finishes included #16 Taylor (58), #2 IWU (60), Cedarville (71) and Marian (155).

For the Forester women, Hannah Stoffel dominated the field of 177 runners by posting a 5K PR of 17:19.9 for a 5:34.7 per mile pace. Not only was her winning time a new HU record, it also proved a course and meet record. She was 40 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.

Saige Norris (19:00.5) and Molly Mitchell (19:02.5) ran personal bests to finish 14th and 16th respectively. Mara McFarland also ran a PR to claim 44th in 20:05.4. Olivia Von Gunten ran a 20:34.3 to wrap up HU’s scoring with her 58th place finish.

Other runners for Huntington included Isabel Hunter (73rd, 21:15.5), Erin Manchess (88th, 21:50.9), Sydney Kallem (22:20.8), Hannah Richer (22:43.5), Emma St. Peters (23:34.3), Maleah Ruder (25:15.0) and Madison Glinz (28:41.6).

As a team, the Foresters took fifth overall out of 16 teams. Cedarville claimed the title with 52 points while the other top five finishes included #3 Taylor (81), Ball State (90) and #6 IWU (96) and HU (133).

“The goal for this first meet was to establish ourselves as contenders for the NAIA National Championships in November, and to establish Hannah and Adrien as national title contenders,” said Coach Johnson. “They both ran as expected and carried out their workout plan effectively.

“The teams have accomplished their goals and did so without all the pieces together, so that makes their potential really exciting when you put the whole group in the mix.”

Coach Johnson likes the trajectory his team is on. “These young men and women have bought into the vision that we laid out for them.

“The area fantastic group of servant leaders who are truly dedicated to glorifying God through their talent and abilities. Big goals have been made for the next two years and they’re on pace to achieve all of them.”

Next up for the Foresters is PFW’s Rumble in the Fort on Friday at 3:00 p.m.