In its first race of the season, the men’s cross country team finished second among the Division II teams at the Spartan Invitational on Friday. The team is looking to build on the experience and improve in the coming weeks, according to head coach Andrew Towne ’04.
Due to some of the top runners on the team battling injuries and a learning curve for the team’s new members, Towne said the race served as a starting point to build from during future meets.
“We want to learn from our results, but we gave really good effort,” Towne said. “We just need to learn from what didn’t go the way we wanted it to.”
Senior captain Nathan Jones was Hillsdale’s top runner, finishing 48th overall, with a time of 26:36.3.
“He’s really improved from his freshman year until now,” Towne said. “He’s just very steady and consistent — the kind of things you want from all your kids but especially senior leaders.”
Freshman Mark Miller was the team’s No. 2 runner and placed 64th overall with a time of 26:58 in his first collegiate race. Junior Miles Garn finished third on the team and 74th overall with a time of 27.18.7. Freshman Morgan Morrison followed close on Garn’s heels, coming in fourth on the team and 76th overall.
“We felt Morgan Morris, a freshman, did a really good job for us in his first race in giving great effort and being very competitive,” Towne said.
Miller said a combination of heat and pacing issues also contributed to the team’s performance during the race.
“A lot of us went out too fast the first mile, and that showed later in the race,” Miller said.
Additionally, freshman Sam Bradley and junior Nick Fiene were injured and unable to finish the race.
“I think it showed we have a lot of work to do, but that our freshman class is really talented,” junior Santiago Quintana said.
Next, the team will compete in the Greater Louisville Classic in Kentucky Sept. 30.
“By no means was Friday what we had hoped for or what we think we can do, but the biggest thing we talked with the guys about is that we always need to learn from our results,” Towne said. “I think if we do that and we have two good weeks of practice, then when we go to Louisville things should go much better.”