After finishing 6th at the Calvin Knight Invitational last season, the Hillsdale men’s cross country team improved by three spots, taking 3rd place at the Knight Invitational on Sept. 10. 

The Chargers had nine people run the 8K race, and finished 3rd as a team behind Grand Valley State University, and the host school Calvin University. 

Leading the Chargers was junior Alex Mitchell, who finished the race 3rd overall, finishing one of his best races at the 26:20 mark. 

“Calvin was a great way to see where we were compared to last year, and that’s really all we were looking for,” Mitchell said. “It’s clear that we are in a much better place than we are in a much better position than we were a year ago. Personally, I have a lot more experience as a runner and am going into this year knowing that I am capable of being one of the best runners in the conference and in the region.”

The Chargers had three runners including Mitchell finish in the top 25 on Saturday. Senior Isaac Waffle finished 10th overall with a time of 26:27, and junior Micah Vanderkooi took 23rd after finishing at the 26:42 mark.

Following Vanderkooi was sophomore Richie Johnston in 39th place, who had his personal best at 26:50. Freshman Nathaniel Osborne finished 56th overall in his first collegiate race with a time of 26:52. 

“I would say this is the best I’ve felt going into a cross country season,” Osbourne said.  “Coach White’s training has allowed for a smooth transition to a higher workload and running with the team every day has given me confidence in my ability to perform at the collegiate level.”

The team’s other runners included  sophomore Donnie McArdle, who finished 74th at the 26:54 mark, as well as senior Mark Sprague at 27:10. Freshman Emil Schlueter ran a 27:50 in his first collegiate race, and junior Sean Hoeft finished at 27:16. 

Head coach R.P. White was very positive about his team’s success on Saturday.

“Many of the returning athletes have put in another year of hard training and acquired new levels of fitness,” White said. “It will be interesting to see how they can apply this to competitions moving forward.”

The Chargers will run their next race on Friday, Sept. 30 at the Lansing Invitational, hosted by Lansing Community College, and then will race the following day at the Louisville Cross Country Classic in Louisville, Kentucky.