CROSS COUNTRY

Junior Anna Martin took first at the Crossroads League Championships Friday morning at Taylor to guide the HU women’s cross country team to a second place finish with 84 points.

Martin crossed the line in 21:52.30 to be deemed the Crossroads League individual champion. The conference champ has been a Forester four out of the last five years.

Emily Tedder was next for HU in 22:42.00 to claim tenth and earn her first All-Conference designation in cross country. Molly Harding joined Tedder and Martin as All-Conference honorees by finishing 11th in 22:44.90.

Malarie Pinwar navigated the 6K course in 23:32.00 to take 24th place while Deann Fry rounded out Huntington’s scoring with her 38th place finish in 24:20.80.

Other runners for HU included Alyeska Linsley (44th, 24:40.90), Shaylynn Reyes (51st, 25:10.00), Amelia Strzechowski (84th, 25:54.40), Lily Spaulding (90th, 26:22.10), Brielle Fehlmann (101st, 26:52.10), Morgann Hart (117th, 28:24.70) and Evelyn Sigler (123rd, 29:16.50).

When all was said and done, the entire women’s squad set new 6K PRs.

Taylor won the meet with 33 points followed by HU (84), IWU (87), Grace (92), Goshen (109), Saint Francis (170), Marian (197), Mount Vernon (219), Spring Arbor (244) and Bethel (272).

On the men’s side, Austin Liepe was Huntington’s top finisher. The senior harrier ran to a 5th place finish in 25:20.90 to earn a spot on the All-Conference squad for the second straight season. Kent Yoder wrapped up his cross country career with his fourth consecutive All-Conference accolade by clocking in at 25:43.90 for 12th place.

Reece Gibson just missed joining his teammates as an All-League pick by one spot, finishing 16th in 25:50.20. Carter VanderMeer was next for Neideck’s crew with his 42nd place finish in 27:09.80. Jonah Lemmon rounded out scoring for the Foresters by taking 54th in 27:49.80.

Isaac Combs raced his way to a 60th place finish in 28:28.40 while Tyler Loucks clocked in at 31:02.00 for 66th place.

As a team, Huntington finished fifth with 129 points. IWU ran away from the competition to claim the men’s team title with 19 points followed by Taylor (71), Goshen (108), Grace (110), HU (129), Marian (145), Spring Arbor (183), Mount Vernon (212), Bethel (227) and Saint Francis (323).

“Today was a great day for our program,” said Coach Josh Neideck. “Our women ran with grit, which sets them up well for the national meet. Our men held serve today in a very tough field.

“We will find out if we get an at-large on Tuesday.”

NAIA Cross Country National Championships are slated for November 17 in Vancouver, Washington.