CROSS COUNTRY

The Forester cross country program competed in the 21st annual Live in Lou Cross Country Classic Saturday morning at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park where the men took 11th out of 45 teams and women raced to a 19th place finish out of 47 teams.

The meet consisted of two divisions with the gold race featuring NCAA Division I programs and the blue race, which HU competed in, featuring D2, D3, NAIA and a handful of DI schools.

Making her 5K debut, freshman Addy Wiley paced the field of more than 400 runners by clocking in at 17:26.1 for a 5:36.7 per mile average to be deemed the individual champion of one of the nation’s biggest collegiate races. Eight seconds separated her from the second place finisher.

Shelby Christman also ran a great race to finish 5th in 17:49.4. Abby Mays came in next for Johnson’s crew in 19.16.7 for 110th place. Emily Tedder also ran a sub-20 minute 5K to finish 178th in 19:50.3.

Other Huntington performers included Amelia Strzechowski (296th, 21:19.3), Deann Fry (317th,  22:19.8) and Shaylynn Reyes (320th, 22:35.9).

The Foresters’ average 5K time was 19:08. Taylor (1st) and Grace (12th) were the only two Crossroads League opponents to finish ahead of HU. Other CL schools to compete included Goshen (25th), Marian (32nd) and Saint Francis (38th).

In the men’s 8K, Kent Yoder paced Huntington by finishing 13th out of the field of 416 racers in 24:34.7. Haile Stutzman wasn’t far back in 16th place in 24:38.8. Reece Gibson navigated the course in 24:52.5 to finish 26th.

Austin Liepe clocked in 25:35.3 for 89th place. Matthew Hyter crossed the line in 26:47.2 to claim the 225th spot. Other runners for HU included Jonah Lemmon (282nd, 27:57.6), Jackson Robinson (289th, 28:25.6) and Isaac Combs (371st, 28:50.8).

Huntington’s total time was 2:06.28 for an average individual time of 25:17. Grace (6th) was the only league team to finish ahead of the Foresters. Other conference schools that competed included Goshen (13th), Taylor (22nd) and Spring Arbor (26th).

“Today was a great step in the right direction for both teams,” said Coach Lauren Davenport Johnson. “On the men’s side, our top three competed very well. Both Kent and Reece had breakthrough races. We can still improve at four through six, but our seven and eight are starting to close that gap.

“I’m excited for what this team can accomplish in a month.”

In regard to her women’s squad, Johnson had this to say. “The women had a very solid day too. Addy and Shelby ran great as our front runners.

“Abby had another good race. She has been consistent all season. Emily is coming back well, and our young runners are continuing to get stronger. We will hopefully have everyone back healthy by the Grand Rapids meet.”

Next up for the Foresters is the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge hosted by Aquinas on October 22.