Goshen, IN — Following last week’s season-opening Goshen College Hokum Karem, there was some discussion as to who would be the Leafs’ top runner throughout the 2006 campaign.

Saturday’s meet at Defiance College proved it might not matter at all.

Goshen used a “win-by-pack” mentality at the annual, nine-team Defiance College Invitational, taking a second place team result after the Leafs’ top five runners finished in a speedy clump, ranging from fifth place overall to 19th place in an outstanding early season effort.

“Coming in second as a team to a very strong Tri-State University team is outstanding for us,” said Doug Yoder, Goshen head coach. “We had a gap time, or the distance between our first through fifth runners, of 1:06. That tells us that we are running pretty close together and that’s what makes a cross country team a good one.”

Junior Nick Adkins led the way in the 103-man race, finishing fifth overall in a time of 27:59.1. While that clip was slightly off his season-best time from 2005, it was good enough to edge out freshman Ben Bouwman’s time of 28:04.2 (sixth overall) to claim the Leafs’ top position on the weekend. Sophomore David Rumsey followed in 15th place (28:52.2) followed by junior Jake Gillette (17th place, 28:58.5) and freshman Dietrich Eitzen (19th place, 29:05.8) in rounding off Goshen’s top five.

Those places helped Goshen to just 59 points on the day, falling only to Tri-State’s 28-point effort, as the Thunder’s top fivesome all finished in the top 11 places overall.

“We had some great performances by freshmen athletes with Ben Bouwman running the second position for us and Dietrich Eitzen bringing up the number five position,” Yoder said. “There is a lot of potential overall for the men’s team to do well as the season progresses.”

Junior Ramadhan Onyango brought up the Leafs’ sixth spot overall in a time of 31:58.2, finishing 59th overall. That clip was just 10 seconds off his season-opening performance of 2005.

The University of Findlay’s Simon Kendell won the individual medal at the meet, taking first place in a time of 27:12.3. His effort was only able to give Findlay a fourth-place team result (91 points), as Manchester College finished third (80 points), Adrian College fifth (126 points), Notre Dame College sixth (130 points), Alma College seventh (145 points), Defiance College eighth (259 points) and Ohio Dominican University ninth (277 points). Click here for complete individual results and times, along with team-by-team point breakdowns.

Goshen will next participate in the annual Indiana Intercollegiate mega-meet on Friday at Indiana State University. Starting time for the men’s race is set for 5:30 p.m.

Goshen Individual Results
Nick Adkins (5th) — 27:59.1
Ben Bouwman (6th) — 28:04.2
David Rumsey (15th) — 28:52.2
Jake Gillette (17th) — 28:58.5
Dietrich Eitzen (19th) — 29:05.8
Ramadhan Onyango (59th) — 31:58.2
Sam Moyer (62nd) — 32:08.2
Mark Miller (68th) — 32:56.9
Michael Amos (69th) — 32:56.9
Alex Bouwman (75th) — 33:28.7
Jonathan Stuckey (83rd) — 35:00.7
Nelson Kling (93rd) — 37:39.5