The men’s and women’s cross country teams both finished second, with the men competing against 11 teams and the women against 14, at the Lucian Rosa Invite, hosted by The University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

The men’s team finished 13 points behind the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Junior Gabriel Phillips finished third overall with a time of 25:30 in the eight-kilometer race. The first five Chargers finished in the top 26, with seniors Ross Kuhn and Richie Johnston, junior Nathaniel Osborne, and sophomore Caleb Youngstedt following Phillips across the line. Youngstedt, as the fifth runner, secured the Chargers’ second place over the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Northern Michigan University.

“The race went well, we all knew what the plan was and what each of us had to do,” Youngstedt said. “We came up a little short of beating Colorado Springs, but to come within 14 points of a nationally ranked team at this point in the season is a very good sign of things to come.”

Four freshman racers also competed for the men’s team, finishing under 30 minutes. Freshman Zach Self finished in 26th place with his personal best eight-kilometer time of 27:10.

“Going from racing 5ks to 8ks is a big difference but I’ve loved just being present and learning from my experiences,” Self said. “It’s a lot of fun to work together with your teammates and keep each other in check before leaving it all out there in the last couple of miles.”

For the women’s team, freshman Evyn Humphrey finished first for the Chargers and fourth overall in the race with her personal best six-kilometer time of 22:11. Sophomore Savannah Fraley finished in sixth, and freshman Allison Kuzma in seventh. Senior Kayla Loescher and sophomore Eleanor Clark finished 23rd and 24th to round out the top five Hillsdale finishers and secure the team second place overall. Loescher, one of only two senior women on the team, ran just 16 seconds off her six-kilometer personal best time.

“We had a lot of really great performances, and I think it was another example of what our team is capable of as we move into the rest of the season,” Loescher said. “I don’t think that I would be where I’m at in life without all of these amazing girls.”

The Charger’s next competition will be at the Jayhawk Collegiate Invitational hosted by Muskegon Community College on Oct. 12.