Men’s Cross Country grabs 4th at GMAC Championship

Home Charger Cross Country Men’s Cross Country grabs 4th at GMAC Championship
Men’s Cross Country grabs 4th at GMAC Championship

The Hillsdale Men’s Cross Country team finished in 4th place at the G-MAC Conference Championships in Cedarville, Ohio last Saturday.

Junior Adam Weir was the first charger to cross the finish line on Saturday, and the eighth runner to finish overall. His time of 25:06 marked a personal best in the 8k by more than a minute, which was good enough to earn First Team All G-MAC honors. 

 “We have a whole team willing to embrace the pain of running hard and that is crucial for moving up to the 10k at the Regional meet next weekend,” Weir said, “I’m excited to see what my men can do at the race we train all year for with that kind of motivation.”

Following behind Weir were freshman Alex Mitchell and Micah Vanderkooi, who finished 23rd and 25th overall. Mitchell finished with a time of 25:40, while Vanderkooi notched a time of 25:44, both of them are personal bests by more than a minute each.

“We’ve gotten a lot better at being aggressive,” Mitchell said, “Each race the younger guys have been able to hold onto fast paces for longer and at G-MACs most of us were able to be really aggressive while still being calm and confident.”

Exactly two seconds behind Vanderkooi was senior Mark Miller, who finished in 26th place at the 25:46 mark, a season record for him by a minute. Completing the top five for Hillsdale was freshman Preston Fagerlin, who finished 35th overall and grabbed a personal record by more than a minute. 

Also competing for the Chargers were freshman Ross Kuhn and Donnie McArdle, who placed 63rd and 64th. 108 total points earned the Chargers 4th place, while 30 points earned Walsh University first place. 

“We’ve definitely improved our fitness and time, but most importantly we have run different styles of races and have used some different strategies.” Coach R.P White said, “That is the biggest improvement is getting exposure to a relatively young team.”

The next race for Hillsdale will be the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in Evansville OH on Nov. 6, followed by the NCAA Championships on Nov. 20 in St. Leo, FL.