Though injuries kept top runners on both the men’s and women’s teams from competing, each squad showed improvement compared to the first meet of the season.
Transfer-sophomore Nick Fiene sprained his ankle about halfway through last Saturday’s Louisville Classic after getting his leg stuck in a deep patch of mud, and freshman standout Arena Lewis didn’t race after feeling ankle pain in the days leading up to the meet. Fiene is expected to return to racing for the GLIAC Conference Championship on Oct. 22, while Lewis’s status is to be determined.
“She might be back in a week, or it might be something where it takes a little bit longer,” said Assistant Distance Coach Richard White.
The men who did compete took advantage of the race’s fast course and good conditions, running impressive races that showed marked improvement over their first race of the season, and from this time last season. The average time for the top five finishers was nearly a minute faster than their time at the Louisville Classic last season.
Building on his performance at the Spartan Invitational, junior Tony Wondaal placed 15th in the race, among the top athletes in the GLIAC, beating his personal best by 45 seconds.
“Grand Valley State University’s three and four, Nate Orndorf and Wuoi Mach, were 10 seconds back from me,” Wondaal said. “I made a conscious decision at the two-and-a-half mile point that I was going to break from Mach and Orndorf and try to hold them off for the rest of the race.”
Seniors Joseph Newcomb and Caleb Gatchell were second and third on the team, with freshman Joe Humes and senior Luke Daigneault stepping up to the team’s fourth and fifth positions.
Most of the men ran personal best times at the meet. Junior Sam Philips also managed to have a good race, though not a personal best, after losing one of his spikes in the mud early in the race.
While the team’s top five ran faster overall at Louisville than they did at the Spartan Invitational, the gap between their first and the fifth runners increased by about 25 seconds. This gap, however, was most-likely affected by Fiene dropping out of the race.
“I could say something positive about every single one of the guys across the board,” White said. “It was just a really good performance … such a motivated group of guys, usually it’s easy when everyone is that motivated.”
White also highlighted Humes, who improved his time from the first race by over a minute, calling his race “special.”
Following Saturday’s race, the men are ranked 11th nationally and third in the Midwest region in this week’s national coaches poll.
The women also showed significant improvement over their first meet, with nearly all of the runners recording a personal best.
Senior Molly Oren placed 34th in the race, placing among the top GLIAC runners and earning the GLIAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week award. Oren was followed by junior Hannah Macintyre in 45th.
“There was a lot of good competition,” Oren said. “In the middle it was a lot easier to continue pushing because there are always people to continue to pass.”
The women’s top five was rounded out with sophomore Ally Eads, junior Amanda Reagle, and senior Meri Didier.
“The women had a really strong showing as well,” White said. “The person we thought made the biggest leap was Amanda Reagle. You could tell it was a mental breakthrough for her as well as the physical barrier she broke.”
Reagle was pleased with her race, but said she would still like to do better.
“The coaches were emphasizing getting out early in the beginning of the race, so I worked on that,” Reagle said, “and I still felt, even though I got out hard, that I had quite a bit left in me in the end, so I just worked on moving up places.”
Following Saturday’s race, the women fell to 10th nationally and fourth in the Midwest region in this week’s national coaches poll.
The team’s next scheduled meet is the Michigan Intercollegiate Championships this Friday at 4 p.m. at Hayden Park. According to Coach White, the top runners on the men’s and women’s teams will treat the meet as a workout, pacing freshman and developmental runners.
