The Hillsdale College men's cross country team traveled to South Bend, Indiana, today to race at the Notre Dame's Joe Paine Invitational. The Chargers earned many new personal best times en route to take 13th place out of 20 schools, with Utah Valley, Miami of Ohio, and Kansas State taking the top three spots, all of which are Division I. The race was five miles, just .03 miles longer than the traditional 8k race the men are used to running.
Senior Joey Humes proved he can compete against some of the best competition as he finished second out of 158 athletes. His 8k personal record is 24:17.8, so his time today of 24:14.40 was right on pace for a career-best at that distance.
Junior Mark Miller and sophomore Adam Wier worked together to put together a pair of new personal best times as well. Miller's previous 8k PR was 25:34.8, and today he ran 25:22.23, so he ran a faster time over a slightly longer distance. The same goes for Wier, who beat his PR by more than a minute. He finished in 25:25.15. These guys finished 50th and 57th, respectively.
Finishing next for the Chargers was junior Jack Shelley. He managed to place in the top 100 in 91st place with a time of 25:54.56. His PR in the 8k was 26:31.4, so he earned a new best time as well.
Junior Morgan Morrison wasn't too far behind in 107th place, finishing in 26:12.89. He beat his PR 26:23.3 in the 8k as well. And senior Alex Oquist came in 119th in 26:26.35. Oquist's 8k personal best time is 27:23.2, so he followed his fellow Chargers in beating his personal best time, too.
Freshman Mark Sprague ran a great time of 27:15.80 in arguably the most competitive race in his career. Earlier this season he ran his first 8k in 27:51.8, so his time today is a big improvement.
Freshmen Sean Hoeft, Dylan Palmer, and Isaac Waffle, sophomore James McClure, and senior Charles Holbrook ran at the Lansing Community College Invitational as well today, but results have yet to come.
WORDS and PHOTO: Calli Townsend