Top ten finishes for GC cross country at Bethel

Both Goshen College men’s and women’s cross country teams posted top ten finishes this past Friday at the Bethel College Invitational at Saint Patrick’s County Park in Mishawaka, Indiana.

On a day that saw a dozen Maple Leafs run career high highs and two more adding their fastest times of the season, Goshen’s women team finished second and the men team posted an eighth place finish.

The women tallied 75 team points behind a fourth place finish from Chelsea Foster, a first-year, and an eighth place finish for Nora Rangel, a first-year. Marking their career bests, Foster finished with a time of 19:51.1 and Rangel finished in 20:06.9 – 10.7 seconds better than her previous fastest mark.

Aside from Foster and Rangel, four of the top 22 women at the Invitational were GC women. Megan Graves, a senior, also posted a career best with a 19th place finish in 20:51.6, 30 seconds faster than her previous best. Annelise Wiebe, a first-year, finished the race in 21:17.1, placing her 23rd.

Rounding out the scoring and personal bests were Siana Emery, a first-year, and Megan Graber, a first-year, as well as Jill Steinmetz, a junior.

For the men, a new face crossed the finish line first for the Leafs. With the absence of school record holder Ryan Smith, Steven Cranston, a first-year, posted GC’s eighth fastest career time of 25:58.4. This finish was good enough for 13th place in a large field of runners.

Luke Graber, a senior, was the next to cross the line for the Leafs with a 42nd place finish in 26:51.9. Juan Perez, a first-year, Daniel Klink, a junior, and Luke Kauffman, a senior, finished third, fourth, and fifth respectively for the Leafs with just seven seconds between 66th place finisher, Perez, and 70th place finisher, Kauffman. Klink crossed the line at 69th place.

Ryan Haggerty, Rafael Zuniga and Delphin Monga, all first-years, also posted career bests. Jose Ortiz, a sophomore, rounded out the personal bests by cutting nearly a minute and 45 seconds off his career mark.

Maple Leaf runners will be off for two weeks before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 22 in the NAIA Great Lakes Invitational at Aquinas College in Michigan.