The Goshen College Men’s Cross Country team is now ranked No. 19 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics rankings, moving up one place from their previous ranking. Two weeks ago, the Maple Leafs were also ranked fourth in the Crossroads League behind Marian University, Taylor University and Indiana Wesleyan University.

The Maple Leafs competed at the Bethel Invitational on Oct. 10. The team placed third out of 10 teams and was led by junior Samuel Klopfenstein, who had a time of 27:37:0 and placed ninth of 89.

Beside Klopfenstein’s influence, Rustin Nyce, director of track and field and cross country, recognize the development of the rest of this year’s team. Senior Drew Hogan and sophomore Duncan Kogei, a transfer from the University of Rio Grande, have been key pieces for the program.

Nyce commented on Hogan’s commitment to the team. “Drew is like the ultimate team player.  He’s really hyped for practice and he likes to see people perform well in the context of performing well for themselves.”

Kogei received recognition for his results this year so far, as he was named the Crossroads League Runner of the Week on Oct. 7 for the second time this season.

While these accomplishments garner recognition for the team, Nyce doesn’t think his team pays much attention to it. He believes that “nobody on the team is surprised when national awards or conference awards come up.”

Instead, the team focuses on the bigger goals. “If the highlight of our season is [awards], that’s not where we want to be. Living in the present, those are good results, but then as we’re working towards more, we need to let those go, because that’s not where we want to be,” said Nyce.

Sophomore Jesse Bontrager has taken over 30 seconds off his time for the cross country distance of eight kilometers. Bontrager gets a lot of motivation from seeing his teammates making headlines. He said, “It’s really nice to have because I’m not the fastest guy and I can’t lead by example, but I see Drew and I’m like, ‘Wow, this guy’s fast, I want to be like him.’”

Alongside Kogei, the team has welcomed eight new first-years, after graduating nine seniors. Nyce said, “Watching the culture shift from the more senior-based group that we had to a younger group, both have good, strong cultures, but they’re different. So seeing different people find their place in that culture and seeing people contribute to that team is satisfying.”

The next race for the team is on Saturday at the Great Lakes Invite at Aquinas College in Michigan. Nyce believes that this is an opportunity for the team. “We understand what it means, the guys that are returning know what this competition means, and the new guys also understand because they hear what the upperclassmen are talking about,” said Nyce.

With three races left in the season, Nyce’s main goal for the team is for his entire team to leave it all on the course. He said, “I want 100% of our athletes to be able to walk away knowing that they gave it their best effort, and they brought their true selves to the competition, and they enjoy that they got to do it.”

Looking ahead, Hogan is excited to move on to bigger things in the future. He said, “I just want to have fun with it, be competitive with it, and everything will play out how it should.”

The varsity men’s race on Saturday takes place at 10 a.m. at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids.