GRAND RAPIDS – Both the men’s and women’s cross country squads for Grace College finished in their fastest times of the season on Saturday at the Great Lakes Challenge.

The Lady Lancers’ top four runners were just 35 seconds apart, and the men’s squad finished ahead of three Crossroads League opponents in the race.

Jenna McClellan paced the Lady Lancers in a time of 20:18.30 in the 5k race, and Tara Hamstra finished one second behind her.

Alexis Nelson was third on the team in a season-best time of 20:50.51, and Creigh Ogle was not far behind in 20:53.38.

“The women’s squad boasted a split of just 35 seconds between our No. 1 and No. 4 finishers,” said Grace head coach Jeff Raymond. “If we can get our fifth runner closer to that pack, we can have a very strong conference race in two weeks.”

On the men’s side, Ben Drew led the Lancers with an 89th-place finish out of 352 runners. Rex was second for Grace in a personal-best time of 27:25.06.

Collin Chupp finished third for Grace in 27:50.93, Tim Trapp was fourth in 28:04.74, and Richie Cornett rounded out Grace’s scoring with a season-best 29:19.44.

“Our top four guys continue to run well, including a big PR today by Jonathan Rex to be our No. 2 runner,” Raymond continued. “We still have some areas where we can improve, but I was pleased with our effort today.”