The Hillsdale College men's cross country team put forth an impressive showing at their last and most important tune-up ahead of the G-MAC Championships later this month, placing 14th against a national meet level field at the 2023 Lewis Crossover in the Chicago area on Saturday.
The meet brought together teams from six of the eight regions across the country at the NCAA DII level, including nine nationally-ranked men's teams, headlined by defending national champion Colorado School of Mines, and an additional six regionally-ranked squads as well.
Given the tough competition, the Chargers acquitted themselves well, proving that they deserve to be in the conversation at the upcoming G-MAC and Midwest Regional championships. The Chargers finished with 377 points, just behind defending G-MAC Champion Walsh, who took eighth, and conference foe Tiffin, in 12th, and ahead of Malone, Findlay, Ohio Dominican and Trevecca Nazarene, all conference competitors.
In a massive meet, Hillsdale got its entire scoring pack across the finish line in the first 106 places, and within a minute of each other. Junior Alex Mitchell led the way with a career-best time of 24:41.3 for the 8K course to finish 29th overall, the fastest 8K time by a Charger men's cross country athlete since All-American Joey Humes in 2019.
Mitchell was not the only Hillsdale runner to run a faster 8K time than any Charger since Humes, as junior teammate Micah Vanderkooi just missed breaking the 25 minute mark as well. VanderKooi came across the line in 54th for Hillsdale in 25:00.7 his best-ever time for an 8K. Hillsdale's final three scoring runners all set or matched personal bests as well and came across the line in quick succession -- junior Richie Johnston in 96th and 25:21.9, junior Ross Kuhn in 101st and 25:24.1, and junior Donnie McArdle in 106th and 25:27.5.
Freshman Caleb Youngstedt placed 156th as well for Hillsdale in a collegiate-best time of 25:59.6, and senior Sean Hoeft also ran his best-ever time in 26:13.7 to place 194th for Hillsdale. Caleb Oser, Emil Schlueter and Seth Jankowski all ran personal bests as well for Hillsdale.
Hillsdale's next event is the 2023 G-MAC Championships, hosted by Malone on Saturday, Oct. 21. On paper, the Chargers will be bringing their strongest team top-to-bottom since Hillsdale placed second in the G-MAC in 2019, Humes' senior season, but will have to contend with tough competition from Walsh and Tiffin, as well as regionally-ranked Cedarville and Northwood.
Photo Courtesy of Lewis Athletics