Hillsdale women make cross-country history: Charger men and women earn five All-American awards

Home News Hillsdale women make cross-country history: Charger men and women earn five All-American awards

The weekend of rain turned the Louisville course into a long stretch of mud. For many runners, it was the first race of the year they needed to wear half-inch spikes to gain some traction. The NCAA had to shorten the race by 200 kilometers. But for the Hillsdale women’s cross-country team, mud was not a problem.
The Hillsdale women’s cross-country team made history last month by placing 2nd at the NCAA Division II National Championship, the best finish in the team’s history. By placing in the top 40, four of the seven received All-American status.
Junior Kristina Galat led the Chargers with a strong race of 21:26, placing her 7th in the race. She was closely followed by junior Emily Oren, who placed 12th with a time of 21:26. Sophomore Molly Oren and freshman Hannah McIntyre came in at 23rd and 22nd place, respectively.
Senior Joshua Mirth ran the men’s race and individually placed 12th, with a time of 30:59, also finishing as an All-American. This was his second time placing in the top 40 runners at a national championship.
Mirth placed 31st his sophomore season at the national championships, so he considered his last cross-country race an impressive improvement.
“Placing 12th is a pretty big step from where I was two years ago,” Mirth said. “I approached nationals a little differently than I have in years past partly because it’s my last cross-country race ever.”
Mirth also credited his success from his training this past year.
“The training was just enough to get me a bit sharper than I’d been before,” he said. “It was slightly more focused and intense, just enough to get me that extra edge.”
Going into the women’s race, Oren and Galat had personal goals to rank among the top 40 runners. As a team, the goal was to get a spot on the podium.
“We just wanted to be top four because we’d get a trophy,” Oren said. “We were expecting to slip into fourth, lucky to get third. But then halfway through the race my coach yelled at me that we were in 2nd, and I didn’t really believe him. So we knew crossing the finish line we might have a chance. It ended up being the best showing in Hillsdale’s history.”
Another GLIAC team, Grand Valley State University, took 1st in the national championship and was the only Division II team to beat the Chargers this season.
“Our program continues to evolve as does the rest of the GLIAC conference,” head women’s coach Andrew Towne said. “We’ll continue to work to be a consistent podium team.”
A year ago, Galat would have never anticipated her impressive performance at the national championship. But with the help of an intense training schedule designed by coach Joseph Lynne, Galat’s confidence improved with her fitness. Galat, Oren, and Mirth all agreed that the early morning practices at 6:30 a.m. and cross training, among other parts of training, equipped the team to compete on a different level than seasons past.
“Coach Lynne has a lot of confidence in us and knows he can expect a lot,” Galat said. “We know that we can compete with the best. I’m starting to gain more confidence in my ability and my training now, which is a huge step. The mark between a good athlete and a great one is how much they believe in themselves.”