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Cross country fares well at GLIAC championships
Charger men take
third place and women finish fourth to move on to regional competition
By Andrea Yeutter
Collegian Freelancer
The gap narrows
between Hillsdale and its competitors as the home stretch on
the trail to nationals approaches.
On Saturday the cross country
teams competed in the GLIAC Championship race, held at Ferris
State.
The men's team finished third
in the conference, while the women came in at fourth place for
the second year in a row.
The men's race was especially
close, as Wayne State nudged Hillsdale out of the second-place
slot by a single point. Although six Chargers finished in the
top 15, their efforts were not enough to trump the first-place
runner from Wayne State, nor the scores of three Grand Valley
runners in the top five.
Finishing seventh overall was
Hillsdale's top runner, junior Kyle Fujimoto (25:30). He was
named first team all-conference.
"I had a good idea of what
I was going to do," Fujimoto said. "I went out with
the leaders and just hung with it."
Finishing behind Fujimoto in an
impressive nine-second spread were junior Michael Nikkila (25:30),
freshman Matt Wish (25:31), sophomore Scott Kallgren (25:32),
senior Gordon Fisher (25:37), and junior David Sayers (25:39),
who finished 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th, respectively.
Returning for their second race
of the season were two previously injured runners, sophomore
Charles-Michael Berg (26:07) and junior Seth Folkertsma (26:28).
They finished seventh and ninth
for Hillsdale, separated by freshman Tim Sayers (26:25), Hillsdale's
eighth man.
Coach Bill Lundberg said that
although the team finished a little short of their goal, they
had a good race, and look forward to the regional competition.
The regional race will be held
on a 10K course, which Lundberg said should improve the team's
performance.
"The biggest meet of the
year is the next one," he said. "I think our team
just needed a little more time, which we'll have in the 10K
race."
Only the top two teams in the
regional race qualify to compete at the national level, and
the Hillsdale team says it hopes to be one of them.
"I feel like the whole team
is peaking at the right time," Fujimoto said. "We
haven't quite peaked yet, and we have better things to show
still."
The women's team shares similar
goals and expectations. On Saturday the Charger women placed
fourth at the championship race, trailing Grand Valley State,
Northern Michigan and Wayne State.
Assistant coach Chris Weigandt
said that this was by far the best race of the season, with
eight of 12 women recording new personal best times.
"We're extremely happy with
the team's efforts, and how close we came to the teams in second
and third place," he said.
Top runners for Hillsdale were
junior Stephanie Carroll (22:41) at 15th place overall, sophomore
Shannon Stanglewicz (22:42) at 16th, sophomore Heidi Johnson
(22:57) at 25th, and freshmen BethAnn Lannen (22:58), Alissa
Hall (23:00), and Katie Smith (23:00) at 27th, 29th and 30th,
respectively.
Johnson's race was especially
impressive. She came within three seconds of a personal best
time, even though this was her first race of the season due
to an injury.
Johnson said that she hadn't been
sure she'd be able to complete the race, but was happy with
the result.
"I was so scared because
I haven't been running since September," she said. "But
I just wanted to help the team however I could."
The team will need Johnson's best
efforts, and in fact those of every runner, as they prepare
for the upcoming regional meet at Grand Valley State, where
they must finish in the top four to qualify for nationals.
Weigandt said that the regional
race will be a tough competition due to the extraordinary talent
in this region.
"It's going to be a great
region," he said. "Some of these teams will not go
to nationals, even though they are in the top 20 [teams] in
the nation."
Johnson said that she is confident
in the team's ability to perform.
"I think we will taper really
well before the meet," she said. "Our goal the whole
season was to make nationals-I think we will surprise a lot
of people."
The regional meet will be held
Nov. 8. in Allendale, Mich.
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Photo courtesy of Jonathon Nikkila
David Sayers, Kyle Fujimoto,
Scott Kallgren, Charles-Michael Berg, Michael Nikkila and Seth
Folkertsma.
Photo courtesy of Penny Neer
In their first season under
Penny Neer, the Charger women took fourth in the GLIACS for
the second year in a row.
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