No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan cruised to a winning performance at the 2023 NAIA Great Lakes Challenge XC Invitational, held at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, on Saturday morning. The Wildcats, who were winning at this meet for second successive year, tallied 40 points after placing four finishers inside the top-eight, while all five scorers crossed inside the top-20.
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Senior Landon Wakeman led the way with a third-place finish, clocking in at 24:48 to finish behind winner Jackson Wilson of Rocky Mountain, who posted 24:37 and second-place Serhiy Shevchenro of Cumberlands, who ran 24:46.
The Indiana Wesleyan scorers were completed by Eli Fullerton (24:49) in fourth place, Luke Pohl (24:52) in fifth, Braden Vernot (25:03), and Raffi Fry (25:17) in 20th.
No. 7 Cumberlands (Ky.) was runner-up today tallying 105 points, followed by No. 14 Grace (Ind.) (140), No. 13 Goshen (Ind.) (144) and No. 19 St. Francis (Ill.) (240) in what was a loaded field in the final tune up for the teams ahead of conference championships.
NAIA Great Lakes Challenge XC Invitational – Maroon Men’s 8k Results
Top 20 Men’s 8k Results
- Jackson Wilson – Rocky Mountain College – 24:37.20
- Serhiy Shevchenro – Cumberlands – 24:46.10
- Landon Wakeman – Indiana Wesleyan – 24:48.60
- Eli Fullerton – Indiana Wesleyan – 24:49.10
- Luke Pohl – Indiana Wesleyan – 24:52.40
- Aiden Kammler – Shawnee State – 24:58.40
- Michael Reif – St. Francis (Ill.) – 24:59.50
- Braden Vernot – Indiana Wesleyan – 25:03.70
- Dimitri Margaritidis – Grace – 25:04.10
- Corbyn Svec – Rocky Mountain – 25:04.80
- Blake Hipkiss – Marian (Ind.) – 25:06.80
- Drew Hogan – Goshen – 25:07.40
- Justin Morgan – Montana Tech – 25:07.40
- Shawn Little – Shawnee State – 25:07.60
- Mylan Nocton – Indiana East – 25:09.60
- Edwin Kipainoi – Montana Tech – 25:10.70
- Cole Johnston – Grace – 25:14.30
- Matthew Keitany – Goshen – 25:15.60
- Isaac Sytsma – St. Xavier – 25:15.80
- Raffi Fry – Indiana Wesleyan – 25:17.00
- Gustav Bendsen – Cumberlands – 25:18.00
- Brandon Armendarez – Governors State – 25:18.00
- Collins Kipkosqei Rop – Cumberlands – 25:19.90
- Korry Hamlin – Grace – 25:21.30
- Zack Gacnik – Carroll (Mont.) – 25:21.50
Men’s Maroon – 8K Finish Team Scores:
- Indiana Wesleyan – 40
- Cumberlands – 105
- Grace – 140
- Goshen – 144
- St. Francis (Ill.) – 240
- Shawnee State – 268
- Montana Tech – 269
- Rocky Mountain – 270
- Aquinas – 271
- Indiana East – 271
- Carroll (Mont.) – 297
- Olivet Nazarene – 327
- Marian (Ind.) – 333
- Cornerstone – 366
- Spring Arbor – 388
- Campbellsville – 440
- Governors State – 449
- UC Merced – 498
- Lawrence Tech – 510
- Indiana Kokomo – 549
