ROCK, ISLAND, Il. – The 30th-ranked Calvin men's cross country team had a strong showing at the Augustana Interregional Invitational with a seventh place team score of 232 points.
Saturday's competition was held at the Saukie Golf Course.
Competing in a field of nationally-ranked teams, finished behind top-ranked Wartburg, second-ranked Pomona-Pitzer, 12th-ranked North Central, 22nd-ranked Otterbein, 10th-ranked Washington University (St. Louis) and 14th-ranked Chicago.
Calvin was paced by junior Brandan Knepper (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg HS) who placed 15th individually with a time of 24:42 on the 8K course.
Calvin's top five featured a 64-second spread as senior Ryan Vreeke (Lakewood, Ca./Lakewood HS) was 37th (25:10), freshman Nicholas Henz (Oswego, Il./Oswego East HS) 57th (25:34), senior Noah Cummisford (Mequon, Wisc./Homestead HS) 72nd (25:46) and sophomore Caleb Gaffner (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) 73rd (25:46).
Rounding out Calvin's top seven were freshman Thaine Nederveld (Columbus, Oh./Columbus Alternative HS) in 86th (25:56) and sophomore Eric Swinson (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeast HS) in 103rd (26:13).
Other Calvin finishers included sophomore Benjamin Kinnucan (Lowell, Mich./Lowell HS) in 108th (26:19), freshman Luke Witvliet (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) in 118th (26:26) and junior Clenon Fincher (Elmhurst, Il./Timothy Christian HS) in 129th (26:41).
Joe Freiburger of Wartburg was the meet winner in a time of 24:16. Wartburg won the team title with a score of 39 points.
In the men's open race, senior William Terpstra (Lombard, Il./Timothy Christian HS) took 34th in a time of 26:54. Freshman Caleb Schillinger (North Liberty, Ia./Liberty HS) was 61st in 27:17. Senior Charlie Kornoelje (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) was 97th in 28:27.
COACHES COMMENT: "We had a solid day," said Calvin head cross country coach Brian Diemer. "There was some big-time competition here in the men's race and we got a feel for what it will take at the national level. Brandan Knepper made a push for the top 10 and really ran a gutsy race. The rest of our guys pushed forward and for our young guys, this was a great learning experience. The challenge in front of us now is to regroup, get as healthy as possible and get ready for the conference meet in two weeks."
