Women’s Cross Country Finishes Seventh in HCAC Championships

The Anderson University women's cross country team finished seventh place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championships on Saturday at Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville.

Manchester University locked up first place with a team score of 55 points. Transylvania University and Hanover College tied for second with 63 points. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology came in fourth with 64 points, finishing ahead of Berea College (87), Franklin College (172) and Anderson University (203), which rounds out the team standings. Bluffton University, Earlham College and Mount St. Joseph University did not have enough runners to fill out a scoring team.

Manchester's Chesnee Miller took the individual title with a 6K time of 22 minutes, 41.3 seconds.

Anna Walpole led the Ravens by claiming 32nd with a personal-record (PR) time of 25:58.3. Madison Merder secured 48th with a PR time of 27:45.4. Lyvia Salo turned in a 57th-place finish with a season-best time of 28:31.2. Anderson XCTF Performer of the Meet Jade Witt locked up 58th with a time of 28:53.9, busting her PR by 3:05.8. Sadie Knox put together a 60th-place finish with a season-best time of 29:05.9. Ellasyn Bruner took 68th (30:45.3), Avyanna Jones came in 72nd (31:49.7) and Madison Aaron placed 76th (32:40.9). Abby Haag finished 78th with a season-best time of 34:42.4 to round out the Anderson field.

"The course was familiar and the weather was terrific," Coach Nic Huffman said. "I felt we were prepared going into the meet. Both [the men and women's] teams ran really strong and gave their best effort. That is all I ask. The women started off with our top runner sick and unable to compete, plus another scorer injured. Our team score takes a hit when we are missing key contributors. They fought through adversity and had some great performances for themselves. I'm proud of what they did. This young group will continue to improve."

The Ravens resume action in the NCAA D-III Great Lakes Regional on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. in Louisville, Ky. at Tom Sawyer Park.