Anderson Finishes Eighth in HCAC Championships

The Anderson University men's cross country team finished eighth place in Sunday's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Championships at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.
 
"All things considered, they competed and they competed as well as they could have," Coach Sol Stephens said. "We've been battling sickness and battling injuries, but those are still not excuses for when the time comes for the conference meet. We still have to put our best foot forward and unfortunately [Sunday] it wasn't enough."
 
The meet was ran on the nationally-renowned LaVern Gibson Course, which has hosted 12 NCAA Division I Championships. It will also host the 2019 NCAA Division I Championships and the 2020 NCAA Division III Championships.
 
Ian Leatherman (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) took 15th with an 8K time of 27 minutes, 35.7 seconds. The senior from Fishers earned all-HCAC Honorable Mention, which is awarded to runners who finished 13th-20th.
 
After capturing third in the 2018 HCAC Championships, Leatherman was looking for a similar finish. Leatherman started with the leaders, but the leaders eventually separated.
 
"I wasn't satisfied," Leatherman admitted. "I would have liked to have done better. I tried as hard as I could, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't there [on Sunday] and of this season. Hopefully, I can come back with track and that should go well."
 
Clayton Wilson (Greencastle, Ind./Greencastle) secured 31st with a time of 28:59.4.
 
"I thought I did OK," Wilson acknowledged. "Not as good as I could have."
 
"I know our 1 and 2 guys are disappointed in their performance because it definitely has more of an impact on the team," Stephens added. "After the race, I looked them in their eyes and asked if they gave me all they had for what [Sunday] was and the answer was 'yes,' so we have to take that it's the best of what [Sunday] is going to be. Unfortunately, the timing of it, the one bad race showed up at the conference meet and that's on me as the coach. I will get us back to the drawing board to right the wrongs of [Sunday] to get us ready for the indoor conference meet in February and the outdoor conference meet in April."
 
Kaleb Guchinski (Fishers, Ind./Fishers) raced to 57th with a time of 30:44.8.
 
"I believe overall that we performed and competed well," Guchinski recalled. "Although maybe our times didn't reflect that, we competed well against the other teams."
 
Kaid Hutchinson (Pendleton, Ind./Pendleton Heights) put together a 71st-place finish with a time of 32:48.1.
 
"Overall, I think I did better than I was expecting given that LaVern Gibson is one of the hardest courses in the nation," Hutchinson admitted. "I was expecting to go two or three minutes slower than I actually did, so that was unexpected, but I'm glad it happened."
 
"Kaleb and Kaid ran well," Stephens said. "They were in their PR ballparks even though that is one of the tougher courses in the nation."
 
Evan Kropf (Fort Wayne, Ind./Fort Wayne Concordia) finished 77th with a time of 33:58.3.
 
"I thought I did pretty well," Kropf commented. "For our team performance, we all didn't have the best times because the course was really difficult, but I think we did well for our team."
 
Manchester University edged Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for the conference title by three points. Rose-Hulman's Ben Gothard led the majority of the race. The leaders managed to catch up to Gothard and Gothard claimed fourth. Lucas Fontanez earned the individual crown for Manchester with a time of 26:41.9. Enrique Salazar placed 10th (27:21.5) for Manchester and was named HCAC Freshman of the Year.
 
Manchester scored 46 points in the team standings, finishing ahead of Rose-Hulman (49), Earlham College (57), Hanover College (117), Franklin College (138), Bluffton University (157), Transylvania University (184), Anderson (198) and Mount St. Joseph University (263), which rounded out the team standings.
 
"We still ran well if you are just looking at the time, but the conference meet sometimes is not dictated on time, it's dictated by places and the places are what matters. We'll have some firm conversations on how we are going to proceed moving into track season, dedicate our time and efforts toward that and we'll have expectations of a payoff."
 
Anderson is scheduled for the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. in Grand Rapids, Mich.
 
"We're still going to get back on the grind for these next two weeks for the regional meet and still try and strike while we are still in the position to. We just have to be better in putting ourselves in the position to compete at that level to advance or run that best time."