HLG Shines at IC Invite

RESULTS

On a beautiful fall Saturday in nearby Jacksonville, Illinois, the HLG cross country team took advantage of great racing conditions to put forth their most complete effort of the season. The men walked away with a 4th place team finish while the women's team, despite resting over half of the squad, took home a sixth-place finish.

THE MEN
It was a record setting day for the men's team as all six Trojans set new personal best times. The team was bolstered by the effort of junior Philiph Tonui, who shattered his own school record in the 8K en route to a first-place finish. Philiph, who was the winner of last year's meet as well, completed the course in a blistering time of 24:45. His effort proved to be just the beginning as the rest of the men ran with great heart and desire and finished with great results. Senior Jason Cline crossed the line in a time of 27:22, which was good for 21st place overall. Not far behind was sophomore Ben Griffin (27:49-29th), junior Brett Jones (27:51-31st), and freshman Tyler Malone (27:58-35th). Not to be outdone, junior Nathan Uding capped off the team's effort with a new personal best finish of 28:49, which placed him 49th overall.

COACH COMMENTS: What a tremendous effort by our men today. Philiph got out early and led from wire to wire. My hat goes off to the guy riding the lead bike. Philiph actually passed him once or twice so he got his workout in as well! It was great to see him put a complete race together, especially when he was not seriously challenged. He ran a fantastic time and that puts him in a position to go out and finish the season strong. Jason, Ben, Brett, and Tyler pushed each other the entire race and to see them all come in within 36 seconds of one another is a testament to their hard work and decision to just go for it today. Nathan also came out and gave a very solid effort, dropping 3 1/2 minutes off his time from last week! I think all of these guys gained a lot of confidence today and are starting to realize just what they are capable of doing when they push the limit and push one another. I'm very, very proud of them all today and thank God for such a great group of guys to work with.

THE WOMEN
With over half of the women's team resting this weekend, it was up to a group of five Lady Trojans to carry the load this week and they responded very well to the longer (6 kilometer) race. Freshman Amber Zinkula continued her rapid ascent as the newcomer to cross country set a new school record for the 6K distance, finishing 19th overall with a time of 25:02. Freshman Mandi Riddle (25:50-35th) and sophomore Sarah Erickson (37th-26:18) were the next to finish for HLG while sophomore Liz Wilder (44th-27:03) and senior Carissa Eichmeyer (53rd-27:55) rounded out the strong effort for the Lady Trojans.

COACH COMMENTS: I was really proud of how the ladies stepped up today and competed. Moving up to the 6K distance is challenging mentally but we focused on running consistently all week and threw some extra things in to help prepare for the longer race. With so many young runners, it is great to see them come out and make the adjustments necessary to keep improving each week. Amber came out and gave a strong performance and I believe that she is going to improve dramatically before the season is over. Sarah came out and gave a consistent performance, as did Liz and Carissa, who are both really coming along in their training. Mandi struggled early in the race but toughed it out and she will continue to be a major contributor for us as we head towards the end of the season. By resting the rest of the group, we should be close to full strength when we head to Graceland next weekend.

HLG will make take a trip to Lamoni, Iowa next weekend to compete in the Graceland Invitational in what will be the team's final race before the AMC Championship meet on November 6.

Full results will be posted when they become available online.