Cross Country competes against top teams in the nation

The MVNU men's cross country team came in 13th out of 25 teams at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge. The women's team took ninth place out of the 25 teams.

The men, paced by sophomore De-Andre Steward, finished the 8K with an average time of 27:01.7.

Steward finished the race in 26:41, just under two seconds faster than sophomore Jacob Lofton.

“Our individual and team times were a little slower than we were expecting,” Lofton said.

The Cougars, currently in sixth place overall, hope to finish top five in the Crossroads League by the end of the season.

“We are going to decrease our mileage and increase the intensity of our workouts” in preparation for the Crossroads League Championship, Lofton said.

Senior Annie Winkler paved the way for the ladies’ top 10 finish.

Winkler finished 17th out of over 270 runners with a 5K time of 18:46, just nine seconds slower than the school record and her personal best which she set last weekend at the Jenna Strong Fall Classic.

Cougars Head Coach Chip Wilson was happy with the confidence shown by his Cougars.

“We had the opportunity to run against some of the best teams in the nation,” Wilson said.

Wilson looks forward to the Crossroads League Championship.

“We have set high team goals for our conference meet, and this was a very solid setup for that race,” Wilson said.

The Cougars will take two weeks off in preparation for the Crossroads League Championship, which will be hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University on Nov. 5.