Grace XC: Underclassmen Pace Lancers
MARION – The Grace College cross country team was led by a pair of underclassmen at the IWU Twilight Invitational on Friday.
Freshman Ben Rankin finished ninth in the men’s race at 26:40, and sophomore Raven Arellano was seventh in the women’s race at 19:08. Rankin, who was competing in his first 8k race, was the lone underclassman to finish in the race’s top 10.
“Raven [Arellano] and Ben [Rankin] had very strong races to finish in the top 10. With most of the Crossroads schools represented and some other quality programs, they performed well,” said Grace head coach Jeff Raymond. “We got a taste of quality competition today and several of our runners responded pretty well. We’ll keep getting better, and I’m excited about the improvement I know will happen as the season moves forward.”
For the Lady Lancers, Emma Mitchell turned in a personal-best performance of 20:27 as Grace’s second runner. Brigit Nemitz was less than five seconds behind Mitchell.
McCallah Mast and Jessica Zvers both turned in sub-21 minute times. Karla Singer (21:40) and Liz Fox (21:46) finished in a tight pack.
On the men’s side, Nathan Lane at 27:51 and Joel Bertelsen at 28:02 were a close second and third for the Lancers. Tyler Houvener also finished below 29 minutes with a time of 28:36.
Sam Hall (29:10), Brendan Hamilton (29:40) and Tim Drew (29:44) rounded out Grace’s scoring.
The Lancers will next travel to the Indiana Intercollegiates in Bloomington on Sept. 16.