Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department
The Hillsdale Chargers men’s cross country team sent seven racers to each invitational, placing 9th at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, and 5th at the Lansing Cross Country Invitation.
The Chargers at Joe Piane were led by junior Adam Wier, who continued his stellar season with a five-mile time of 25:54, which earned him 33rd place.
“It was nice to race at a huge meet like Joe Piane and get to experience some high level racing,” Wier said. “But now we need to get back to a good training cycle before the important postseason races come around and put ourselves in a good position to place well.”
The second Charger to cross the line was freshman Alex Mitchell, who finished 60th overall with a time of 26:36. Following Mitchell were fellow freshman Micah Vanderkooi, who came in 87th, and Preston Fagerlin, who came in 100th place overall.
At the LCC Invite, the Chargers finished 5th as a team with 141 total points. In his senior debut, Mark Miller led the Chargers with an 8k time of 26:51, earning him 5th overall. Following Miller were sophomore Isaac Waffle, who came in 18th place with a time of 27:22, and senior Jack Shelley, who finished 29th with a 27:50 time.
First-year runner Richie Johnston ran a new personal best time of 28:15, earning him 38th place overall. Johnston was followed by freshman Caleb Bigler, who finished 61st with a time of 29:16.
“The past meets have helped us to get mentally ready to compete against some fierce competition at G-MACs,” Johnston said. “The races have given us confidence going into each workout and future race. It is definitely crunch time now, but we know that we have the tools in our hands to do great things.”
“Notre Dame is great preparation mentally and physically,” Head Coach R.P White said. “Being in an environment where the best D1 teams in the country compete is valuable experience. It helps prepare us physically due to the fact you have to get out hard the first mile and hang on. We won’t be in a race that aggressive at G-MAC’s.”
The Chargers will have a few weeks off to train before they compete in the G-MAC Championships in Cedarville, OH, on Oct. 23. Following that meet will be the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in Evansville, IN, on Nov. 6.