TU Takes Fifth at Loaded Great Lakes Invite
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The No. 13 Taylor men's cross country team finished behind four NAIA Top-20 teams and ahead of two others in a stacked 25-team field at the Great Lakes Invite, which included seven nationally-ranked programs.
"We battled throughout the race and defeated two ranked teams," said head coach Lance Vanderberg. "We will hope to improve upon our overall race execution as we look toward the Crossroads League Championships."
The Trojans posted a team time of 134:47 and earned 163 points to finish fifth in the standings, marking their fifth-straight year with an improved finish at the meet.
No. 9 Indiana Wesleyan won the race with 48 points, while No. 6 Olivet Nazarene (84), No. 15 Aquinas (105) and No. 19 Marian (114) joined TU in forming the top-five. The Trojans finished directly ahead of No. 12 Indiana Tech (187) and No. 18 Bethel (206), as well as RV Goshen (332).
Matt Hall paced the Purple and Gold for the ninth-straight race and for the 12th time in 14 career outings with a sixth-place showing. Hall's time of 25:58.17 was good for All-Great Lakes Invite honors.
Stephen Cho crossed the line next for TU in 34th, registering his third-straight race as Taylor's second-fastest performer with a time of 27:06.99 and Joseph Beamish finished 38th with a time of 27:10.40.
Micah Bragg and Aaron Scott placed 42nd and 43rd with times of 27:16.12 and 27:16.30 to round out Taylor's top-five finishers.
No. 13 Taylor (70-15) will race for the Crossroads League Championship when it takes the course at Huntington on Saturday, November 7, starting at 10:30 am.