The Charger men's cross country team competed hard at its first appearance at the Great Midwest Athletic Conference championships Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.
Hillsdale took fourth place at its first meet of the postseason, finishing with 113 points. Fellow G-MAC newcomer Walsh took first with 35 points, narrowly edging second-place Malone who had 36. Four-time defending champion Cedarville took third with 81 points.
The top five individual runners were all well-spaced out between one another, but Hillsdale's top runners found themselves bunched up in a pack with some of the conference's best.
The team's top three runners all finished next to one another, led by senior Nathan Jones who was 14th overall with a time of 25:56.5 on the 8K course. Teammate Nick Fiene was right behind, taking 15th with a 26:05, and freshman Mark Miller took 16th with a time of 26:10.4.
"We didn't get the result we wanted, but I was very proud of our effort," said head coach Andrew Towne. "Nathan Jones was the epitome of a Charger senior today. It was great to see him earn all-conference honors."
The Chargers' last two scoring runners were Nicholas Wondaal, who was 31st and Morgan Morrison, who took 37th overall.