CROSS COUNTRY

The HU cross country program ran well at the IWU Twilight Invitational over the weekend where the 2nd-ranked Forester men took third and the 10th-ranked women claimed fourth.

In her collegiate 5K debut, Shelby Christman dominated the field of 179 runners. The Fort Wayne native finished over 15 seconds ahead of anyone else by clocking in at 17:36.0 which proved a new PR for the rookie.

Sydney Lambert ran a great race to not only take fourth in 18:36.0 but establish a new personal best as well. Freshman Abby Mays, in her first race as a Forester, turned in a top 25 finish by navigating the course in a PR 19:08.3 for 23rd place.

Another rookie in Emily Tedder was a top finisher for Coach Johnson with 57th place in 20:13.2. Rounding out Huntington’s scoring was Carmen Trier who crossed the line next in 20:14.8.

Other finishers for HU included Olivia Von Gunten (20:38.6), Lauren Craig (21:31.2 *PR*), Shaylynn Reyes (22:28.7) and Morgann Hart (26:27.3).

“For our first race, I thought the women’s team performed really well,” said Coach Lauren Johnson, “It will be exciting to see how they continue to develop and work together and grow throughout the season.”

Taylor took first with 76 points followed by Aquinas (112), IWU (123), HU (143), St. Francis (143), Indiana Tech (174), Marian (200), Grace (201), University of Indy (202), Campbellsville (231), Goshen (242), MNVU (260), St. Mary-of-the-Wood (302), Bethel (422), IU Kokomo (426) and IU East (442).

Haile Stutzman was clipped at the finish line by 0.1 seconds to take second in 24:39.0, a new PR by 12 seconds, in the men’s 8K out of 175 runners. It was an unfortunate ending for the junior harrier as he was knocked down by the lead cart in the final stretch to miss out on claiming the individual title.

Kent Yoder posted a time of 25:04.8 to finish sixth. His time this year was 45 seconds faster than last fall at this same race. Aaron Hendryx ran over a minute faster this year compared to last to claim 15th in 25:47.

Elijah Chesterman came in next for Huntington in 26:01.7 for 24th place. Austin Liepe wasn’t far behind at 26:05.1, a new PR, to round out HU’s scoring at the No. 27 spot.

Other runners for Huntington included Matthew Hyter (26:27.4 *PR*), Jonah Lemmon (26:51.4), Justin Edwards (29:22.8 *PR*), Isaac Combs (29:36.7) and Riley Brand (31:25.9).

“As a whole, our men’s team performed very well with most of them either setting new PRs or running a faster time this year compared to last year at this time.

“Wesleyan certainly outran their ranking so it’ll be interesting to see the shake-up it will cause in the rankings. We’re going to have to continue to work hard if we want an opportunity to challenge them at the conference meet.”

IWU topped the men’s field with 42 points followed by Taylor (69), HU (74), Aquinas (119), Grace (128), Campbellsville (137), Marian (169), University of Indy (247), St. Francis (258), Bethel (316), IU Kokomo (322), MVNU (377), St. Mary-of-the-Wood (393) and IU East (406).

The Forester women are back in action on Friday for the Ray Bullock Invitational while the HU men compete on Saturday in the John McNichols Invitational.