THe Hillsdale College men's cross country team closed out a solid season in 11th place at the NCAA DII Midwest Regional on Saturday at Angel Mounds in Evansville, Indiana, the program's best finish since 2019.
Racing their first 10K of the season, the Chargers held up well against tough competition, finishing with 326 points and edging out G-MAC foes Northwood, Malone, and Tiffin, who had all finished ahead of the Chargers at the G-MAC Championships in October.
Junior Alex Mitchell led the Chargers and earned All-Region honors with a 22nd place finish, crossing the line in 31:24.8, a career best for a 10K. Hillsdale brought a solid pack in behind Mitchell, with teammate Richie Johnston placing 45th in 32:07.7 and Donny McArdle taking 73rd in 32:40.6.
Freshman Caleb Youngstedt ran an impressive first 10K of his collegiate career on a big stage, placing 83rd in 32:52.8 as well for Hillsdale, and junior Ross Kuhn rounded out Hillsdale's scoring runners with a solid 106th place finish in 33:22.0. Micah Vanderkooi was close behind Kuhn for the Chargers in 111th, at 33:26.5, and senior Sean Hoeft took 128th in 33:51.0 as well.
Six of Hillsdale's seven runners ran career bests for the 10K distance in the meet, a strong finish to a solid season for the Chargers, who won two meet titles and looked improved throughout the year.
Mitchell will wait to see how the qualifying selections play out for the 2023 NCAA DII Championships on Nov. 18 in Joplin, Missouri. The junior has an outside shot of being selected to compete based on his regional finish, and depending on how many teams qualify from the Midwest Region and how other regions perform.
Photo by Libby Price