Pride cross country wraps up 2021 regular season at NAIA Great Lakes Challenge

GRAND RAPIDS, Iowa - In a deep and strong NAIA field, the Clarke University cross country team put up some strong times at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge hosted by Aquinas University this Saturday.

With a field so big, they split the teams running into Maroon and White races as the Pride competed in the White races in both the men's and womens competitions. The men finished with a 24th place team finish as the women only sent out four runners to finish without a team score.

For the CU men, Daniel Miller once again finished with the top individual time in his 55th place finish at 27:35.40 but it was Benjamin Vasquez and Emmett Schwartzhoff who finished with their personal best times at the end of the race. Vasquez finished with a 28:14.40, his first sub-29 8K race as he PRed by over a minute and Schwartzhoff topped his PR by 25 seconds to finish at 29:00.00 for his second-straight race ending in a PR.

The rest of the men's times were rounded out by Kole Haverly's 30:45.40, Jimmy Slowik's 30:56.20, and Brennan Shelton's 31:58.10 as Shelton's time did not contribute to the team score for the Pride.

On the women's side, Rory Bickler, Claire Ronnebaum, Marina Mercado, and Lydia Radeke ran the 5K race for Clarke. Bickler led the Pride with her finishing time of 19:30.60 to finish in 14th place individually as Ronnebaum finished in 71st at 20:43.60. Mercado and Radeke were about a minute apart at 22:05.80 for Mercado and 23:16.60 for Radeke.

Clarke cross country will now prepare for the postseason, which is two weeks away when they head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Heart of America Championship races on Nov. 6.