The Goshen College cross-country teams traveled down to Louisville, Kentucky this past weekend to compete at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park for the Greater Louisville Classic. The women’s team finished 21st out of 39 teams and the men placed 14th out of 41.
Chelsea Foster and Nora Rangel, both first-years, were the first Maple Leafs to cross the finish line for the women’s team, with Foster finishing 87th overall with a time of 23:50.51 and Rangel finishing 101st with a time of 24:08.29. Megan Graves, a senior, was the third Leaf to post a top 200 finish, coming in 169th with a finishing time of 25:08.20.Annaliese Wiebe (210th), a first-year, Siana Emery (218th), a first-year, Jill Steinmetz (226th), a junior, and Jenae Stutzman (257th), a first-year, all posted top 260 finishes. Kayla Gray, a senior, and Graves both posted their best collegiate times for a 6K, with Gray improving her career best by five minutes.
The men’s team was led by Ryan Smith, a senior, who once again broke the school record for time in an eight-kilometer race. This was the fourth time Smith has claimed the record as his own and the tenth time he has put his name into the school record books for fastest races. Smith’s time of 24:55.30 was good enough for a 4th place overall finish on the day.
Smith was joined by Steven Cranston, a first-year, and Luke Graber, a senior, who both collected top 100 times, finishing 68th and 97th respectively. Juan Perez (139th), a first-year, and Luke Kaufman (185th), a senior, both finished with top 200 results. Brenner Burkholder (222nd), a junior, Alex Steiner (242nd), a sophomore, and Daniel Klink, a senior, rounded out the Goshen men.
The Leafs run again this Friday at the Bethel College Invitational in Mishawaka, Indiana.
