GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University men’s cross country team continued its top-notch season with a runner-up performance at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan finished second place in the 35-team field with 84 points. IWU was just seven points behind the invitational champion No. 3-ranked Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) with 77 points. It’s the second consecutive meet for Indiana Wesleyan that they finished less than 10 points behind Olivet Nazarene, a team receiving a first place vote in the national poll.
Indiana Wesleyan was nine points ahead of No. 5 Saint Francis (Ill.) and 23 points in front of No. 6 Aquinas (Mich.). In all, the challenge featured eight teams ranked in the NAIA Top-25 Coaches’ Poll and one more team receiving votes.
“We beat everyone but the No. 3 team. We were able to challenge them but did not beat them today,” said IWU head coach John Foss. “Finishing second place at the Great Lakes Challenge is the best we have ever done at this meet. It was a great performance and very encouraging.”
Once again Neno Bellinotti (FR/Sweetser, Ind.) led the Wildcats with a second place finish in the 375-runner field. Bellinotti completed the 8,000-meter course in a time of 25:29. Jacob Reinking (SO/Ft. Wayne, Ind.) gave the Wildcats a pair of top-10 finishers as he was 10th in a time of 26:01.
Josh Neideck (FR/Upland, Ind.) was 16th overall in a time of 26:17 and John Wilson (JR/Angola, Ind.) was 18th place in 26:20. Tyler Laubach (JR/Walnutport, Pa.) was the final Wildcat to score and he placed 38th in a time of 26:46.
“We had a real nice day,” continued Foss. “Neno was second overall. He ran a great race and made a challenge to the Robert Morris runner, a guy who has won the last three races here. But our star today was Jacob Reinking. He finished 10th overall and was just a couple places from second in our league. He really ran the best race of his career. Both John Wilson and Josh Neideck ran great races and both finished in the top-20.”
Alex Brown (JR/Coleman, Mich.) was the sixth Wildcat across the line in 27:09 for 58th place and Nathan Gerick (SO/LaPorte, Ind.) ran a 27:21 for 75th place.
Indiana Wesleyan races again in two weeks at the Crossroads League Championship. The meet will be contested at 12 p.m. on Saturday, November 8 in Upland, Indiana.
