LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 19th-ranked Calvin men's cross country team had a strong showing at the Live and Lou Cross Country Classic which served as a pre-national invitational for several collegiate programs including Division III institutions. Saturday's competition was held at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park. The park will also be the host site of the NCAA III Championships November 20.
Competing in the 8K Silver Division of the competition, Calvin finished eighth with a team score of 303 points. All seven schools finishing ahead of the Knights were ranked above the Knights in the national polls including first place MIT (#5 nationally) which produced a team score of 46 points.
Calvin was led by junior Brandan Knepper (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg HS) who was 15th in a time of 24:52.
Senior Ryan Vreeke (Lakewood, Ca./Valley Christian HS) was Calvin's next man, placing 50th in a time of 25:39.
Junior William Hofmann (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North HS) was 73rd in 26:03 with senior Noah Cummisford (Mequon, Wisc./Homestead HS) 84th in 26:14. Freshman Nicholas Henz (Oswego, Il./Oswego East HS) ran right with Cummisford, placing 85th in a time of 26:14.
Henz led a trio of Calvin freshmen that ran well with Luke Witvliet (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) placing 101st in 26:31 and Thaine Nederveld (Columbus, Oh./Columbus Alternative School) 103rd (26:32).
Sophomore Eric Swinson (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeast HS) was 109th (26:38), senior Micah Meindertsma (Caledonia, Mich./Caledonia HS) 118th (26:46) and junior Clenon Fincher (Elmhurst, Il./Timothy Christian HS) 126th (26:51).
COACHES COMMENT: "I was very pleased with our performance today," said Calvin head men's cross country coach Brian Diemer. "It was a very hot, humid day and we had a handful of runners making their first race in nearly a month against stiff competition and on a challenging course. I thought Brandan Knepper got out of his comfort zone, pushed his limits and ran a wonderful race. Very pleased to see him race the way he did. Ryan Vreeke had a nice confidence boosting run and it was great to see some veterans have solid races with our freshmen running right with them. This (race) course is very strategic. It forces you to get out here. After the first half-mile it gets very narrow and 3-4 seconds in the opening portion of the race can mean 50 or more places because of how it bottle-necks. There's no room to pass. It was extremely valuable for our guys to see how this course is designed along with the needed strategy to compete on it."
NEXT UP: Calvin returns to action on October 16 when it competes at the Augustana Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois.
