men’s cross country
November 10, 2016
Leafs end season on high note
Goshen’s cross country teams ran their final meet of the season this past Saturday at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. 11 runners set personal bests, the men’s team finishing 5th out of 10 teams and the women finishing 8th out of 10. The men were again led by Ryan Smith, a senior, and Steven Cranston, a first-year, who were the first Maple Leafs across the finish line. Smith captured the meet’s top position along the way, once again setting the school’s record, finishing 13.8 seconds faster than his previous best. Cranston also ran the fastest time of his career...
October 27, 2016
Smith strikes again, ten career bests for GCXC
Ryan Smith, a senior, led the way for not just Goshen, but every racer in the field. Twelve Maple Leafs posted their fastest times of the season Saturday as the Goshen College men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the NAIA Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ten of Goshen’s 19 runners turned in the fastest times of their careers, while two more added season bests that were slower than times run in previous seasons. Smith took first place in the men’s race with a time of 25:03.13. Chelsea Foster and Nora Rangel, first-years, led the way for...
October 13, 2016
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...
October 6, 2016
Leafs run in Louisville
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...
September 15, 2016
Cross Country opens at Marion
Goshen College’s cross country teams traveled to Marion, Indiana last Friday for the Indiana Wesleyan Twilight Invitational; their opening meet of the season. The women’s team finished 11th out of thirteen competing teams but saw a top 50 finish from Nora Rangel (26), first-year, and top 100 finishes from Chelsea Foster (71), first-year, and Jill Steinmetz (99), junior. Megan Graves, senior, finished 105th with Anneliese Wiebe (115), first-year, Kayla Gray (120), senior, and Jenae Stutzman (121), first-year, all recording top 125 finishes. Also running for the women were Siana Emery and Megan Graber, first-years. Gray set a career best with...
February 11, 2016
Rustin Nyce named Goshen College head track and cross country coach
SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT tonykm@goshen.edu Rustin Nyce, a former Goshen College runner and assistant coach, has been named head coach of the Goshen College men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs, the Goshen College Athletic Department announced Monday. A 2002 GC graduate, Nyce has been interim head coach of the cross country teams since Doug Yoder resigned in June. He spent three seasons as an assistant coach during Yoder’s tenure and seven seasons as the head boys cross country coach at Fairfield High School in Millersburg, Indiana. “Rustin has quickly proven that he has the skill set...
November 12, 2015
Cross country concludes season
Both the men’s and the women’s cross country teams concluded their seasons in Huntington, IN, on Saturday at the Crossroads League Championship meet. The women finished 10th with 266 points and the men finished fifth with 126 points. Alejandro Rodriguez, a senior, and Ryan Smith, a junior, both left the meet with a chance to qualify for the national level. Smith has an almost-guaranteed slot in nationals with his seventh-place (26:05.35) finish. Rodriguez (26:35.98) finished 14th, and both earned all-conference honors by finishing in the top 15 slots. Hannah Barg, a senior, led the Goshen women with a 20:50.13 time...
September 17, 2015
XC welcomes Coach Nyce
On June 30, it was announced that Doug Yoder would resign as head cross country coach at GC and Rustin Nyce would take over as interim head coach. Fast-forward about two and a half months, and the Leafs and Nyce are in full swing. After many weeks of practice, the team opened their season at Indiana Wesleyan last Friday, where the men finished fourth and the women finished ninth in the invitational. Irene Schmid, a senior, was encouraged by the team’s results. “This year, we are hoping to slowly get better throughout the season, and hopefully peak at our last...
December 3, 2014
Cross Country Finishes Season In Historic Meet
The Goshen College men’s cross country team ended its season on a historic note, making their first ever team appearance at the NAIA National Championship in Kansas on Saturday, Nov. 22. The Maple Leafs ran at Rim Rock Farm in Kansas. Over 300 runners participated in the National Championship, where the Maple Leafs finished 27th overall with a total of 713 points. The first two GC runners to finish the race were seniors: Jordan Smeltzer, from New Paris, Ind., and Moses Kaelo, from Narok, Kenya. They ended up with a time of 26:41:70, and it was determined that Kaelo was...
November 19, 2014
Headed To Nationals, ‘Pumped’ And ‘Energized’
The Maple Leafs cross country team could not be more exited. After being just points away from making it to the NAIA National Cross Country Championship for the past three years, the team has finally made their dream a reality. This season’s cross country team is the first in the history of Goshen College to make it to Nationals. “We’re flying in practice, hitting really fast times,” Jordan Smeltzer, a senior, said. “We’re peaking at the right time; we’re pumped, and we’re energized.” For most of the team, this will be their first national meet experience, so spirits are high....
November 19, 2014
Cross Country Going To Nationals
The Goshen College men’s cross country team qualified for nationals for the first time in the program’s history. Previously, only individuals have qualified and one of the men’s teams’ goals, at the beginning of the season, was to qualify for nationals. “This year we finally had enough momentum to make it through,” Lucas Harnish, a junior, said. The cross country team belongs to the Crossroads League Conference and is part of the larger NAIA organization, made of up 23 conferences and 200 schools in the nation. Based on the Crossroads League meet, Indiana Wesleyan University received an automatic bid for...
November 6, 2014
XC Looks To Nationals
Both cross country teams are having a good season this year. The best results have come from the men’s team, placing first as a team in both the Hokum Karem, hosted at Goshen, and in the Bethel Invitational. Meanwhile, the women’s team has also done well, placing second position at the Hokum Karem and the third at the IWU Invitational. Ryan Smith, a sophomore runner that holds a school record for the men’s 8k from his first year, talked about this season for the men’s team. “The team is stronger than ever,” he said. “The men’s team has a legitimate...
September 10, 2014
Men’s XC Wins Hokum Karem
The cross country Maple Leafs hosted their only home meet on Saturday in the Goshen College Hokum Karem. This race is run by dividing teams into pairs who alternate running one mile loops, and the results come from scoring the top three pairs of each team. On the men’s side, Goshen College won the event over Grace College and Holy Cross College by finishing the event with 11 points. The Lancers and the Saints ended up with 19 and 24 points, respectively. The individual champions were Holy Cross’ runners Jack Reilly and Patrick Yerkes with a time of 50 minutes,...
April 17, 2014
Two to be added to ’14-’15 XC, track
Goshen College added two new athletes to next year’s roster for the track and field team, as well as the cross-country program. Nathaniel Roberts, of Sprague High School in Oregon, and Alex Oberlin, of Fairfield High School in Goshen, have recently signed their national letter of intents. Maple Leafs’ Coach Doug Yoder said, “These two guys are my top recruits for the upcoming year. They will provide immediate impact to our programs.” Roberts is a six-time Junior Olympic national champion in the race walk. Roberts will join the Goshen College’s race-walking program, which has earned 26 All-American honors in the...
December 7, 2013
Smith makes history
It was 26 degrees with wind gusting to 20 miles per hour when the gun sounded to begin the NAIA national cross-country meet on Nov. 23. To say that most people wouldn’t choose to run in those conditions is an understatement; to declare the weather a detriment to performance would be another. At least one Maple Leaf appeared to be unfettered by the weather, as Ryan Smith, a first-year, turned in the fastest national meet time in Goshen history. Smith finished 63rd, traversing the eight kilometer (4.97 mile) course in 25 minutes, 34.27 seconds. His time was the sixth fastest...