Wiley best in league, men take 2nd at CL Championships

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. – Freshman Addy Wiley proved she's best in the league by topping the field of 128 runners at the Crossroads League Cross Country Championships Friday morning at the Blue River Cross Country Course. As the CL individual champion, the Huntington native left everyone in the dust by clocking in at 17:26 to win by over 22 seconds.

Sophomore Shelby Christman was next for the Foresters by turning in a time of 18:44 to finish 13th. The HU pair earned All-Conference honors for finishing in the top 15. The All-League badge is Christman's second in as many years.

Abby Mays navigated the course in 19:13 to earn 19th place. Carmen Trier came in next for HU in 19:19 to be the 21st runner to cross the finish line. Emily Tedder rounded out Huntington's top-five scoring with her 27th place finish in 19:43 for a new PR.

MacKenzie Brewer was the sixth Forester to finish in 20:35 to claim 41st place while Amelia Strzechowski took 57th in 21:33. Other runners for HU included Shay Reyes (21:56), Deann Fry (22:17), Morgann Hart (25:46) and Evelyn Sigler (26:36).

"This was a great race for Addy, alone for most of it, to win a league championship," said Coach Austin Roark. "Emily ran a PR while Abby, Carmen and Mackenzie showed great consistency. The women continue to show why they are a highly ranked team and now get to focus on health and turn their attention to nationals."

As a team, HU, ranked 9th nationally, finished third with 81 points and a time of 1:34.27 to be edged out by Indiana Wesleyan for second place by a single point. As a team, Roark's crew posted an average 5K time of 18:54.

Taylor was deemed the Crossroads League Champions with 24 points followed by IWU (80), Huntington (81), Grace (113), Goshen (138), Saint Francis (179), Marian (193), Spring Arbor (201), Mount Vernon (218) and Bethel (274).

The Huntington men, ranked 12th nationally, ran a great race to claim second place among their CL peers with 54 points and an overall time of 2:09.20. Their average 8K time was 25:52.

After IWU's Eli Fullerton claimed first place, the next three runners were all sporting Forester green. Junior Reece Gibson's kick in the final stretch landed him 2nd place in 25:23 to lead the HU pack.

Senior Haile Stutzman took 3rd in 25:24 and not far back was classmate Kent Yoder in 25:26 for 4th place. Austin Liepe was the next Forester to cross the line in 26:04 for 12th place. As top-15 finishers, all four HU harriers earned All-League honors. It was Stutzman's fourth badge, Yoder's third, Gibson's second and Liepe's first.

Matthew Hyter closed out HU's scoring five with his 33rd place finish in 27:01. Jonah Lemmon (28:47) and Jackson Robinson (29:02) finished 54th and 58th respectively. Other HU runners included Isaac Combs (30:53), Riley Brand (31:02), Tyler Loucks (31:36), Andrew Eubank (32:38), Paul Bickel (32:50), Markis Crosbie (33:45) and Patrick Gunsett (38:23).

"The men had an incredible meet and showed what they are capable of," said Roark. "This was a breakthrough race for Reece. Austin also ran a great race while Kent and Haile have been consistent for us. This group continues to improve and have put together some great meets recently."

IWU won the men's title with 40 points followed by HU (54), Taylor (88), Grace (104), Spring Arbor (105), Goshen (137), Marian (153), Mount Vernon (216), Saint Francis (275) and Bethel (289).
 
The Foresters now set their sights on NAIA Nationals slated for November 18.

The Huntington University Foresters compete in 17 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 125 NAIA All-America honors and 449 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.