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Cross country races at Notre Dame
By Andrea Yeutter
Collegian Freelancer
On Friday, Oct.
3, the Hillsdale cross country teams traveled to South Bend,
Ind., to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational, where they
ran another strong race against tough competition.
The Charger men finished 18th
of 23 teams against competitors such as Eastern Michigan, ranked
third in the nation last year.
Since Hillsdale won the Gold Division
at last year's meet, this year they were bumped up into the
Blue Division, which mostly consisted of Division I schools.
Top finishers for the men's team
were junior Gordon Fisher (25:58), junior Kyle Fujimoto (25:59),
freshman Matt Wish (26:05), sophomore Scott Kallgren (26:05)
and junior Michael Nikkila (26:10).
There was only a 14-second spread
between Hillsdale's first and sixth runners as they crossed
the finish line.
Coach Bill Lundberg said he was
very happy with the team's performance.
"This was an important race
for us-to be able to line up with some of the top-ranked NCAA
Division I teams in the country," he said. "Our guys
ran well-it was especially impressive to see them coming into
the homestretch so tightly bunched together."
This 8K was the first race of
the season for Kallgren, who had been uncertain whether he would
be able to race again due to an injury.
Like Lundberg, he said the team's tight group finish was very
exciting.
"A lot of teams can't even
do that in the mile," he said.
The Charger women competed in
the Gold Division, finishing fifth of 17 teams. Four of the
nine runners recorded new personal best times.
Top finishers were junior Stephanie Carroll (18:40), sophomore
Shannon Stanglewicz (18:52), sophomore Joanna Grille (19:02),
freshman Alissa Hall (19:03) and freshman Beth Ann Lannen (19:05).
All nine Hillsdale runners finished
with times under 20 minutes, which assistant coach Chris Weigandt
said hasn't happened in many years.
"It just shows the depth
the team has right now," Weigandt said. "Each week
our top seven could be different, which will make it difficult
when we have to choose who goes on to regionals, but it's a
good problem to have."
The women's team displayed this
depth again Friday at the Michigan Intercollegiates, held at
Grand Valley State. The women's team finally broke their three-week
tenure at fifth place by finishing fourth behind University
of Michigan, Grand Valley State and Central Michigan.
Friday's meet was the first 4K
run for the women this season, and they placed high in a race
of over 140 competitors.
Top Hillsdale runners were Stanglewicz
(14:41) and Carroll (14:42), who finished 15th and 16th in the
race. Following closely were Lannen (14:55) in 20th place, Hall
(15:07) at 26th, Grille (15:13) at 28th and freshman Katie Smith
(15:17) at 29th.
Assistant coach Chad Clevenger
said he was very happy with the team's fourth place finish,
since only the top four teams in the GLIAC championships will
advance to nationals.
He also said that this meet was
especially interesting because of the shorter course.
"The 4K distance allowed
us to experiment with our racing," Clevenger said. "We
went out a little harder, which was good, and the short course
allowed us to work on some speed, which I think the women enjoyed."
Lannen agreed.
"I think our team did pretty
well," she said. "We
all liked the short distance-it went really fast and that was
nice."
The men's team also benefited
from the shorter race.
They finished second out of 24
teams Friday, despite the absence of Fisher, their top runner.
Junior David Sayers (12:09) was
the front-runner for Hillsdale, finishing seventh overall.
In a tight pack behind him were
Nikkila (12:15), Fujimoto (12:20), Wish (12:25) and Tim Sayers
(12:37), who finished ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.
Finishing as Hillsdale's No. 1
man was a first-time experience for Sayers.
"I thank God for what he
has been doing with this team and myself this year," he
said.
"I was really excited to
help out the team with my performance, but the real racing is
about to start with the conference meet. Everything else has
just been helping us to get ready."
Getting ready is just what the
Chargers will be doing this week as they continue to train hard
for the GLIAC Championships.
The championships will be held
Oct. 25 at Ferris State.
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Photo courtesy of Scott Kallgren
Junior David Sayers was
Hillsdale's top finisher at the Michigan Intercollegiates, placing
seventh overall with a time of 12:09.
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