Excitement filled the air as teams kicked off the 2019 cross country season this weekend. Hillsdale College's nationally ranked women's cross country team traveled to Calvin College's Knight Invitational where the Chargers took advantage of a smooth course and perfect weather to run some speedy times. Their times earned the team a first-place finish with 84 points, with Oberlin College in second with 116 and Aquinas College in third with 129. Two hundred athletes making up 24 teams competed in today's race.
Four of the six Chargers to compete today earned new personal best times, some of which were a long time coming and some were from first races.
Sophomore Sophia Maeda led the pack with a shiny new personal record of 22:03.8, which eclipses her previous record of 25:23.8. The took third overall.
Not too far behind was junior Christina Sawyer in 10th with a time of 22:20.8, which is the fastest she's ever opened any season.
Freshman Meg Scheske started her race off strong, keeping with the front pack. She kept a good pace as she made a smooth transition from the high school 5k to the college 6k with a 15th-place finish of 22:38.47.
Just 10 seconds later sophomore Claire McNally crossed the line to shatter her previous personal record of 24:31.0. She looked strong as she finished in 22nd place in 22:48.86.
Seniors Addison Rauch and Kate Vanderstelt pushed each other to put together a pair of awesome races. Rauch finished in 23:18.88 and Vanderstelt in 23:28.54. The two came in 43rd and 55th, respectively. Vanderselt's time beats her previous best of 23:59.5 from the middle of last season.
These Chargers will take next weekend off while a different group races in Tiffin, Ohio. With such depth, this is shaping up to be a good season for Hillsdale.
WORDS and PHOTO: Calli Townsend