The Hillsdale men’s cross country team traveled to the University of Findlay on Saturday to compete in the G-MAC Conference championship meet at Hillcrest Golf Course.

The Chargers took fourth, right above the Findlay Oilers, thanks to a collegiate-best 8k race run by senior Mark Sprague. In only his fourth race this season, Sprague finished at the 25:05 mark, which left him eighth overall out of 146 runners.

“I’m still surprised with myself that I was able to run like that,” Sprague said. “Competing at that level is a lot of fun, so I am grateful to all my teammates and coach for giving me endless support over the years.” 

Sprague’s race earned a first-team All G-MAC honor, which was his first honor in cross country for Hillsdale. 

Another Charger award-winner was  junior Alex Mitchell, who received a second-team All G-MAC honor for his 18th place finish at 25:26. Mitchell was able to improve from his 25th overall finish from the G-MAC championship meet a year ago.

“G-MAC’s was the best our team has performed all season,” Mitchell said. “We finished just behind some teams that are ranked at the top of the region and have national championship experience.”

Following behind Mitchell was junior Micah Vanderkooi and senior Isaac Waffle. Both finished at the 25-minute mark. Vanderkooi finished 28th at the 25:52 mark, while Waffle finished in 25:53 for 29th place. Senior Sean Hoeft’s 26:38 finish helped boost the Chargers over the Oilers and the Tiffin Dragons, earning 51st overall. Sophomore Donnie McArdle and freshman Nathaniel Osborne were right behind Hoeft. McArdle finished 53rd overall with a time of 26:49, and Osborne finished 58th in his first ever conference championship at 26:51. 

Head Coach R.P White was positive regarding the team’s performance.

“The guys ran tough on a tough day, with 40 mph gusts of wind. We handled adversity better than most,” White said. “The upperclassmen had strong performances which helped the team finish in the same spot we did last year, despite the fact our conference added regionally ranked Northwood.”

The Chargers’ next meet will be the NCAA DII Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Saturday, Nov. 19. 

“Finishing as well as we did and still seeing so much room for improvement gives me confidence that at the regional meet in two weeks we’ll give ourselves a shot to qualify for the national championship meet,” Mitchell said.