APR. 1 — 2002 Year In Review
Various highlights top off Goshen's most successful year ever

Super final season: Senior Tricia Kurtz ended her senior cross country season being selected to the all-region team.

Goshen, IN — National rankings, meet wins, individual honors and a sense of enthusiasm marked the 2002 women’s cross country season.
For the first time in school history, a Maple Leaf women’s team climbed into the national rankings, with the team climbing as high as a tie for 16th in the final poll of the year.

After opening the season with solid showings in meets at Grace and Defiance, the team posted convincing wins at the small Bethel and Goshen invitationals, posting impressive team times of 100:33 and 99:06 for the top five runners in the process, but it was a middle of the pack showing at the Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational that propelled the team to national attention.

“We had good times at both the Bethel meet and our own invitational, but the field was small and the courses were relatively unknown for the raters, so they weren’t sure what to do with us,” said Goshen head coach Lyle Miller. “When we went to Kenosha, ran good times and beat some quality teams, they couldn’t ignore us any longer.”

Overall placing didn’t tell the story at the Kenosha meet. While the team finished just 14th in the 30-team field, six of the teams ahead of them were NCAA Division I schools, two were ranked in the NAIA’s top 5 and one was ranked 14th in NCAA Division II at the time. In addition, the team convincingly beat two teams ranked in the NAIA’s top 25.

The performance allowed the team to enter the poll at No. 23, and an even stronger performance at the Mid-Central College Conference Championships a week later moved the team to a tie for 16th.

All eight runners competing that day ran season-best times as the team obliterated its team time records for the fastest two, three, four, five and seven runners. The squad placed four runners in the top 15, led by conference champion Heidi Saunders and three runners made the all-conference team.

“The MCC meet was probably our best of the year,” said Miller. “Not only did we run well, but we competed well against teams we needed to beat, finishing a pretty convincing second.”

The team closed out the season with a fourth-place finish at the power-packed Region VIII championships. Joining the Maple Leafs were five other teams that had been ranked at some point during the season. Running at less than full strength, the team was upset by 20th-ranked Spring Arbor and Huntington, besting No. 22 Siena Heights and No. 26 Aquinas easily.

“Everyone was able to run, and we ran pretty well under the circumstances, but we were banged up just enough with injuries that a couple of teams were able to sneak by us. Spring Arbor has a very balanced team, and Huntington likely would have been ranked near us if they hadn’t been dealing with injuries of their own during the season. They were as high as 15th at one point during the season.”

Thanks to additional upsets in other regions, the Maple Leafs narrowly missed getting an at-large berth into the national championships. Every school above the squad in the final rankings was selected, leaving the team just on the outside looking in.

Individually, however, more honors continued for the team. In addition to her conference win, Saunders captured the regional title and advanced to the national meet. Senior Tricia Kurtz went out in fine fashion, earning all-region selection and missing a national-qualifying spot by three seconds.

Both were selected as NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes, as was Rebekah Henn. Melissa Lehman joined Saunders and Kurtz on the all-conference team.

Saunders concluded the season with a 70th place finish at the NAIA national meet (see page 19) after battling a bug during the two weeks leading up to the meet.

“Despite the way nationals turned out, Heidi had an outstanding season,” said Miller. “She continues to rewrite our record books and showed the competition that she can run with anyone. She’s been very mentally tough on the track, and I think she started to match that toughness in cross country this season.”

In addition to conference and regionals, she won three other meets and finished third in a 122-runner field at Defiance. Besides nationals, her only finish outside the top three was at Wisconsin-Parkside, where she finished 16th among nearly 300 runners. Seven runners ahead of her were competing for NCAA Division I schools.
Lehman and Kurtz ran in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots for the team throughout the season.

“Both Melissa and Tricia stepped up this year,” said Miller. “They were inseparable in practice and that carried over into how they raced. Both of them ran well enough to be the top runner on a lot of good teams. They provided so much stability and consistency throughout the season.

“I was disappointed for them for different reasons at the end of the year,” Miller continued. “Melissa put in an outstanding summer, and she ran No. 2 at our first five meets before both feet started to bother her. I think she also would have been in the thick of things looking for an individual national spot if she hadn’t been hurting.

“Tricia just missed going out with a bang. With 25 races under their belts, it’s tough for seniors to keep knocking big amounts of time off, but she did. I really believe she’d have had a great race at nationals if she’d gotten the chance.”

Similarly, Henn gave the team strong efforts in the fourth position. Doing double duty, running cross country and playing soccer, she ran in the No. 3 spot at the season’s first meet before finishing fourth at the final five meets.

“Rebekah is probably the best all-around athlete on the team,” said Miller. “It takes a special athlete to be able to handle competing in two sports, but Rebekah showed she is that kind of person.”

For most of the season, Henn practiced with the soccer team, running meets off her soccer conditioning. “The way she stepped forward for us, particularly at conference and regional when she had been able to practice with us a bit more, turned us from a team with three very good runners to one with four.”

Rounding out the scoring five at nearly every meet was Charity Brubaker. “Charity is a gutsy competitor,” said Miller. “During that stretch of meets in the middle of the season when we were making some big strides on the field, it was her performance in the No. 5 spot that was making the difference in us being a competitive team from top to bottom.”

Tonia Marino, Jenny Stalter and Rachel Yantzi each took turns in the top seven during the season.

“Those three are an interesting group that I think can really surprise people,” said Miller. “Tonia is a good athlete but she’d never been in cross country before. She didn’t decide to run until mid-August, but she very quickly showed that she has the drive and potential to do well. The jump in mileage had her injured a bit, and she missed a couple meets to prior commitments, but she was again healthy at the end of the year. I think if she’d have been at all the meets, she would have pushing our top five.

“Jenny provided the opposite extreme,” said Miller. “She ran throughout high school, but the college she was at her first two years didn’t have a cross country team. It took a while for her to regain the conditioning it takes to compete at this level, but she was making great strides.”

Balancing the two was Yantzi, who entered the season after a comparatively low-mileage high school program.
“Rachel just continued to drop time throughout the year,” said Miller. “She had a couple meets where she dropped her time by as much as a minute. Having this year of experience under her belt will really pay dividends down the road.”

Rounding out the squad were Hadley Lehman and Angie Caskey. Each competed in cross country for the first time. “They were both willing to do all the work that comes with being competitive runners, even though they weren’t often going to score in the meet. To me, that says a lot about their personalities. They brought the kind of quality attributes that were so much a part of this entire team.”

Quartet combines for nine individual honors

Maple Leaf runners captured nine individual awards during the 2002 season.

Topping the award winners was Heidi Saunders, who picked up three honors. She was named an NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete and to the All-NAIA Region VIII and Mid-Central College Conference teams.
She was joined on the Scholar-Athlete team by Tricia Kurtz and Rebekah Henn. To be eligible, women must have run at least one time under 20 minutes, 30 seconds, be a junior or senior academically and have a grade point average of at least 3.50.

Saunders achieved the honor while majoring in biology education, Kurtz while double-majoring in chemistry and molecular biology and Henn in Bible and religion. It was Kurtz’s second selection to the list.

Saunders and Kurtz were named to the all-region team for their performances at the regional meet. Saunders won the meet and Kurtz finished 13th to earn selection to the 14-runner team.

The duo was joined by Melissa Lehman on the All-MCC team after they finished first, eighth and ninth at the conference championships.

Junior Heidi Saunders

Kenosha, WI — In running her slowest time of the season, junior Heidi Saunders failed to achieve All-American status in her most recent attempt, finishing 70th out of 254 runners at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships this Saturday.

Saunders, a four-time All-American performer at Goshen in both cross country and track and field, had a difficult time on Saturday, finishing the national race in a time of 19:47, a full 43 seconds slower than her slowest time this year. Saunders was in a reasonably competitive position late in the race before she fell in the muddy conditions, ruining any chance for a fifth All-American honor.

“It was a tough day for Heidi in a number of ways,” said Lyle Miller, Goshen head coach. “She’s been dealing with a bug for much of the last two weeks, so she was less than 100 percent going in. In a regular season meet, she could probably survive that, but in a race like this, where every 10 seconds can mean 15-20 places, there’s no margin for error.”

The top 30 runners to finish the national race achieve All-American status. Miller said he had Saunders pegged in 45th place when she went down in the mud. Despite her below-par performance at the nationals, Saunders had an amazing 2002 season: She was the NAIA Region VIII medallist; won the Mid-Central Collegiate Conference meet with a new meet record, and shattered her old personal record in the process. Saunders was the fastest runner for Goshen in all of its meets this season as well, finishing above the 19 minute-mark just twice prior to the national race.

Saunders has four All-American awards — one in cross-country as a freshman, two at the outdoor track and field championships as both a freshman and a sophomore and one at the Indoor Track and Field National Championships as a sophomore.

Junior Heidi Saunders

Marion, IN — After a record setting year in Goshen College women’s cross country, the team’s season ended Saturday after a fourth-place finish in the NAIA Region VIII Championships on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan. Ranked as the 16th-best cross country team in the nation by the NAIA’s final poll of the season, Goshen narrowly missed an at-large berth to the national championships taking place in two weeks.

“For our team, this was the end of an outstanding season, one of the best a women’s team at Goshen has ever had in any sport,” said Lyle Miller, Goshen head coach. “We gave ourselves a legitimate shot for a spot in the national championships, but found out on Sunday that we were probably one of about four or five teams that were considered for the last two or so at-large positions.”

Goshen finished as the fourth-best team in Region VIII with 112 points, falling behind to team champion Indiana Wesleyan (38 points), Spring Arbor (98 points) and Huntington (104 points). Wesleyan (ranked fifth) received an automatic bid to nationals as a result of the regional win, while both Spring Arbor (ranked 20th) and Huntington (not ranked) each received at-large bids.

Had Goshen defeated Huntington — as the team did by a 61 to 87 score during the Mid-Central Collegiate Championships on Oct. 26 — the Leafs would, in all likelihood, be competing in the national championships in two weeks. But windy weather and a tough course made it difficult Saturday, as Huntington edged out the Leafs for what turned out to be the last national qualifying position in the region.

“Not getting one of those (at-large) spots didn’t come from a lack of effort,” Miller said. “We let it all out on the table, but Huntington stepped forward with a huge effort. We certainly didn’t lose third place, they won it.”

Even without the team’s qualification, all was not lost Saturday as junior All-American Heidi Saunders won the individual race, finishing with a time of 18:49. Her regional win gives her an automatic berth to the national championships, taking place on Nov. 23 at Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

“Heidi was able to pull away in the end of a very competitive individual race like the tough competitor she is,” Miller said.

Goshen’s next finisher, senior team-leader Tricia Kurtz, just missed making nationals as an individual, coming in just three seconds slower (with a time of 19:47 good for 13th place overall) than what she would have needed.

“Tricia Kurtz again ran very well, and capped off an outstanding season,” Miller said. “To improve the way she has from last year is a testament to her desire and drive.”

Sophomore Melissa Lehman had a tough day, finishing 19th overall with a time of 20:07, despite having pulled ligaments in each foot. Sophomore Rebekah Henn took 24th place with a clip of 20:15, while junior Charity Brubaker finished 72nd with a time of 21:59.

“Melissa Lehman again ran a very gutsy race despite being in a tremendous amount of pain from a pair of foot injuries,” Miller said. “Rebekah Henn moved up on some people from the conference race. Her development as a number four runner was huge in the success of our team. Similarly, Charity Brubaker's performance as the number five runner in a couple of meets started getting us attention on the map, and she ran tough on Saturday after missing a bunch of practice time because of injury.

“Tonia Marino (78th place, 22:22) and Rachel Yantzi (83rd place, 22:35) continued to show improvement relative to the field and I'm excited about their potential as they develop. Ditto for Jenny Stalter (94th place, 23:39) — she would have been right with Tonia and Rachel if she wasn't also dealing with some injuries. Angie Caskey (100th place, 25:15) was very close to a personal best in conditions that were our worst of the season.”

Other team finishes from the Region VIII Championships included: Aquinas 129 points, Siena Heights (ranked 22nd) 145, Bethel 184, Cornerstone 215, Tri-State 215, Taylor 231, Marian 284, Grace 291 and St. Francis incomplete.

Saunders will have two weeks to prepare for the national race, which will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 23.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (1st) — 18:49
Tricia Kurtz (13th) — 19:47
Melissa Lehman (19th) — 20:07
Rebekah Henn (24th) — 20:15
Charity Brubaker (72nd) — 21:59
Tonia Marino (78th) — 22:22
Rachel Yantzi (83rd) — 22:35
Jenny Stalter (94th) — 23:39
Angie Caskey (100th) — 25:15

New records set: Junior Heidi Saunders had a tremendous day at the MCC Championships on Saurday: Her winning clip of 18:15 broke both the conference record and her own Goshen school record. As a team, the Leafs finished in second place behind Indiana Wesleyan.

Mishawaka, IN — Just one day after being ranked the 23rd best team in the country in the latest NAIA national polls, the Goshen women’s cross country team paced its way to a second place finish at the Mid-Central Collegiate Conference Championships at Bethel Saturday. As a team, Goshen lost only to Indiana Wesleyan, a team currently ranked sixth in the country.

Goshen’s 61 points placed the Leafs well ahead of third place finisher Huntington (87 points), as Wesleyan finished with only 21 points. Junior All-American Heidi Saunders was not to be denied, however, as she took medallist honors with a time of 18:15, a new personal and school record (her old clip stood at 18:39 set last year) and a new MCC record. No one has run faster than Saunders in the 12-year history of the Mid-Central Collegiate Conference, as her time blew the old record away by 15 seconds.

“Heidi went out as aggressively as she has all season, and then broke the race wide open in the second mile to win by about 80 meters,” said Lyle Miller, head coach. “Even with Heidi’s performance, it’s hard to pick out individuals because so many people ran well.”

In fact, all eight Goshen runners posted season-best times at the championships. Senior Tricia Kurtz (18:52, eighth place) ran the seventh-fastest time in school history, as only Saunders has run faster. Sophomore Melissa Lehman (19:02, ninth place) posted the school’s 15th-fastest time, and only five different runners have gone faster. Only eight different individuals at Goshen have ever run faster than sophomore Rebekah Henn’s time (19:37, 18th place). In combined times, the team set school records for top two (37:07), top three (56:09), top four (75:46), top five (96:27) and top seven (141:19).

“After getting into the national rankings for the first time, the first thing a coach is going to be apprehensive about is whether the team will get complacent,” Miller said. “We didn’t. We stayed hungry. I can’t say enough about the senior leadership Tricia Kurtz is showing. With Heidi, Tricia and Melissa, we nearly had three runners under 19 minutes and Rebekah gave us a fourth under 20 minutes.”

Complete results for the MCC Championships are: Indiana Wesleyan 21 points, Goshen 61, Huntington 87, Bethel 105, Taylor 112, Marian 151, Grace 165 and St. Francis finished with an incomplete score.

Goshen will now have two weeks to prepare for the NAIA Region VIII Championships. That race will take place at Indiana Wesleyan on Nov. 9. The women’s contest is slated to begin at 10:30 a.m.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (1st) — 18:15
Tricia Kurtz (8th) — 18:52
Melissa Lehman (9th) — 19:02
Rebekah Henn (18th) — 19:37
Charity Brubaker (39th) — 20:41
Rachel Yantzi (45th) — 21:21
Hadley Lehman (59th) — 23:31
Angie Caskey (60th) — 25:07

Ranked Leafs: The Goshen College women's cross country team , shown here beginning the Goshen Ponderosa Invitational on Oct. 5, is now ranked in the NAIA Top 25. The association's latest poll placed the Leafs as the 23rd-best team in the country.

Olathe, KS — Fresh on the heels of two small-meet wins and a strong showing at last Saturday's Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational, the Goshen College women's cross country team has cracked the national rankings.

The Maple Leafs are ranked 23rd in the NAIA poll, according to rankings released this morning on the association's web site www.naia.org. It is believed to be the first time a Maple Leafs women's team has been ranked nationally in any sport.

"The women on our team put in a strong summer of training and have continued to work very hard this season," said Goshen coach Lyle Miller. "To attract some national attention as we head into our post-season is a testament to their commitment to maximizing their potential, and I'm very happy for them. Our next step is to continue running with the kind of aggressiveness and consistency we've been showing over the past few weeks."

The Maple Leaf women's and men's teams travel to St. Patrick's Park Saturday for the Mid-Central Collegiate Conference championships, hosted by Bethel College, beginning at 11 a.m. Their NAIA Region VIII championships are set for Nov. 9 at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marian.

Sophomore Melissa Lehman

Kenosha, WI — Continuing its strong season, Goshen took home a 14th place finish (410 points) in the Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational Saturday, defeating two teams ranked in the NAIA top 25 in the process. Of the 13 squads to post lower scores than the Leafs at the event, six were NCAA Division I schools, two were ranked in the NAIA top five and one was ranked 14th in the NCAA Division II.

“On paper, 14th out of 30th may not sound like much, but when you look at the field, it was an impressive showing,” said Lyle Miller, Goshen head coach.

Goshen was led by its All-American junior Heidi Saunders, who was the 19th individual to finish the race in a time of 18:50. That clip gives Saunders the fifth-fastest time in the Goshen record books, and the second-fastest by a junior. Sophomore Melissa Lehman also ran very well, finishing with a clip of 19:37, good for ninth-fastest in school history by a sophomore. Senior Tricia Kurtz came in third for the team at 19:46, missing the Goshen senior top ten list by a second and, combined with Saunders and Lehman, combined for the school’s second fastest trio in history.

“Heidi Saunders again ran very strong to finish in the top 20, but in a race this size getting low scores from your second and third runners is just as significant,” Miller said. “Melissa Lehman and Tricia Kurtz each came close to matching their best times of the season on a hilly, windy course. (Freshman) Rachel Yantzi (22:16) also knocked 15 seconds off her best time.”

Bradley (IL) took home team honors from the event, collecting only 55 points. Kathleen Brice from Elmhurst was the individual medallist, finishing the course in 18:06.

Goshen will compete in the Mid-Central Collegiate Championships at Bethel next Saturday. Meet time for the women will begin at 11:30 a.m.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (19th) — 18:50
Melissa Lehman (64th) — 19:37
Tricia Kurtz (74th) — 19:46
Rebekah Henn (138th) — 20:29
Charity Brubaker (196th) — 21:22
Rachel Yantzi (238th) — 22:16
Angie Caskey (117th) — 26:20

Goshen, IN — Picking up from where it left off one week and one day earlier, the Goshen College women’s cross country team won again, this time taking the trophy to its only home meet of the season at the Goshen Ponderosa Invitational on Saturday. The victory came on the heels of the team’s win at the Bethel Invitational last Friday, and marked the first time in Goshen College history that a team had won two meets in the same season.

Goshen head coach Lyle Miller was deservedly ecstatic following the race, where all of his runners turned in impressive times under the perfect conditions of Saturday’s weather. The Leafs were led, of course, by their All-American in junior Heidi Saunders, who won the individual title in a time of 18:44. That clip set a new Goshen Ponderosa Invitational record, erasing her old mark of 18:46 set in 2000.

“To have all eight athletes on your team turn in strong performances on the same day is unusual in any sport, so to do that in our only home meet of the year was very gratifying,” Miller said. “As a team, I was pleased with the aggressive approach we took to the race, going out strong and maintaining the pace throughout.”

And maintain the pace they did. In combined times, Goshen set new school records for top two, top three, top four, top five and top seven finishes. Saunders' time was the second-fastest in school history, just five seconds off her career best set last year at Indiana Wesleyan. Sophomore Melissa Lehman clip of 19:30 placed her third, and tied her for the 25th-fastest pace in school history. Senior Tricia Kurtz ran a career-best time of 19:45, the 38th fastest in Goshen history. Only nine different individuals have run faster than sophomore Rebekah Henn’s clip of 20:11, while this race marked the first time in school history that Goshen has ever had three runners break the 20-minute mark in the same race.

“Among the people who ran especially well were Tricia Kurtz and (freshman) Rachel Yantzi,” Miller said. “It was a good week for Tricia, getting her medical school acceptance letter on Monday and setting a personal record by 20 seconds Saturday. Rachel stepped up to knock more than a minute off of her best time. It was a great day for us as a team.”

Goshen took home the team trophy collecting only 18 team points. Other schools finishing the competition included Bethel (42 points) and Grace (68 points). Tri-State competed in the race, but did not have enough runners finish for a team score.

Goshen will have two weeks to practice and find shelf room for its last two trophy-getting meets. The team will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin for the Wisconsin-Parkside Invitational on October 19. Meet time for women is set for 1 p.m.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (1st) — 18:44
Melissa Lehman (3rd) — 19:30
Tricia Kurtz (4th) — 19:45
Rebekah Henn (6th) — 20:11
Charity Brubaker (8th) — 20:56
Jenny Stalter (18th) — 22:24
Rachel Yantzi (19th) — 22:31
Hadley Lehman (23rd) — 24:20

SEPT. 27 — Goshen Wins Bethel Invitational
Leafs get first team win since 1996; Saunders takes medalist honors

Dark horses: The Goshen College women's cross country team poses with its first place trophy from the Bethel Invitational on Friday. The win marked the first team victory for the program since the 1996 Defiance Invitational.

Mishawaka, IN — Prior to Friday, one would have to look back to the 1996 season to find a Goshen College women’s cross country team victory at any meet.

Look no more.

The Leafs ran their way to a team victory at the Bethel Invitational Friday, netting only 25 points in crushing the competition. The next closest squad was Tri-State with 52 points. Bethel collected 70, Trinity Christian had 90 and St. Francis finished with 111. Prior to Friday's win, the last team victory came at the 1996 Defiance Invitational.

In addition to the team win, Goshen was also graced with individual medallist honors, as junior Heidi Saunders finished first with a time of 19:03.

“It was gratifying to see the progress we’ve continued to make,” said Lyle Miller, Goshen head coach. “Last week, the tornados in southern Indiana kept us from competing, but I was especially pleased with how they were able to regain their focus.”

Goshen’s top five runners: Saunders (19:03), sophomore Melissa Lehman (19:39), senior Tricia Kurtz (20:05), sophomore Rebekah Henn (20:35) and junior Charity Brubaker (21:11) matched the fastest time in Goshen history with 100:33. Adding on junior Jenny Stalter (22:27) and classmate Tonia Marino (22:41), the top seven runners beat Goshen’s old school mark by 46 seconds. Saunders and Lehman totaled 38:42, the third fastest time in school history by a one-two finish. Also, Kurtz’s time was a career-best.

“Again, a bunch of people ran well, but Charity Brubaker deserves special accolades for her performance in the number five spot,” Miller said. “She ran with several athletes who were ahead of her a few weeks ago and really put the cap on the bottle after our top four turned in a solid effort. Jenny Stalter took another step forward for us in terms of depth, knocking off a few more seconds on a course that was not particularly fast. We competed well down the stretch, outkicking several athletes to pick up some valuable points.”

Goshen will host its lone invitational this Saturday. The women’s race is slated to begin at 12:15 p.m. behind the Eigsti Track and Field Complex at Goshen.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (1st) — 19:03
Melissa Lehman (3rd) — 19:39
Tricia Kurtz (5th) — 20:05
Rebekah Henn (6th) — 20:35
Charity Brubaker (10th) — 21:11
Jenny Stalter (19th) — 22:27
Tonia Marino (21st) — 22:41
Rachel Yantzi (26th) — 23:38
Hadley Lehman (30th) — 24:44

Senior Tricia Kurtz

Defiance, OH — Running well again as a team, the Goshen College women’s cross country squad had a very good showing at the 14-team Defiance Invitational on Saturday. Goshen took home a fifth place team finish with 123 team points, just 49 points off of the clip that team winner Bethel had set.

The Leafs were paced by a Goshen record-setting threesome of junior Heidi Saunders (third place overall at 19:04), sophomore Melissa Lehman (sixth place overall at 19:30) and senior Tricia Kurtz (12th overall at 20:07), who with a combined time of 58:41, became the fastest ever one-two-three finish in school history. Lehman, who shattered her time of 20:09 from just one week ago, placed herself as the 23rd fastest Maple Leaf in school history. Saunders, the two-time All-American, didn’t run quite as fast as the first week, though her finish at Defiance was fast enough to go down as the 13th-fastest in school history.

“I thought we had a real solid performance at a number of spots,” said Lyle Miller, Goshen head coach. “I was again pleased with how Melissa Lehman and Tricia Kurtz competed for us in the two-three spots, and almost everyone on the team knocked off at least 30 seconds from their times a week ago.”

Goshen also had major improvements from runners not finishing near the top for the Leafs — senior Hadley Lehman, junior Jenny Stalter and freshman Rachel Yantzi each dropped almost two minutes off of their respective times from last week’s meet at Grace.

Goshen was without the services of sophomore Rebekah Henn, who also plays soccer for the Goshen College women’s soccer team.

“The group's continued improvement will be a real key for us as our season progresses, and I'm confident in their ability to step into the next group of runners,” Miller said. “Though some of our combined team times again stack up well in our record books, I think they'll go even lower, since we were missing one athlete (Henn) because of a scheduling conflict.”

Amanda Portis of Tri-State took the individual medallist honors, finishing with a time of 18:45.

Goshen will travel to the Indiana Intercollegiates next Friday. The women’s race is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (3rd) — 19:04
Melissa Lehman (6th) — 19:30
Tricia Kurtz (12th) — 20:07
Charity Brubaker (41st) — 21:16
Tonia Marino (71st) — 22:20
Jenny Stalter (75th) — 22:35
Rachel Yantzi (87th) — 23:05
Hadley Lehman (110th) — 25:59
Angie Caskey (117th) — 27:20

Junior Heidi Saunders Sophomnore Melissa Lehman

Winona Lake, IN — Goshen College got a strong start to its season Saturday, finishing with the top runner in its first invitational of the year and finishing just 10 team points behind the 20th ranked team in the country. Junior All-American Heidi Saunders paced the Leafs with a first-place 18:58 finish, while the team’s 39 points was just a shade higher than Mid-Central foe Huntington’s 29 points at the Grace Invitational.

“After a good first two weeks of practice, it was good to get a first race under our belts to see where we’re at,” said Lyle Miller, Goshen head coach. “I was pleased to see our results, particularly in relation to a Huntington team that is ranked 20th in the preseason national rankings. The combined times of our top five runners actually was better than theirs by about 20 seconds, which felt good.”

Saunder’s finishing clip tied her for sixth fastest all-time in Goshen College history, and set a record for juniors. Only three different sophomore’s have run faster than Melissa Lehman’s 20:09, and six have run faster than Rebekah Henn’s 20:30. Senior Tricia Kurtz put herself in the school record books for seniors, running a sixth-best time of 20:43.

“It was a good team effort, so it’s hard to single out any individual for running well,” Miller said. “A bunch of them did.”

Combining the individual times only produces more school records: The top two of Saunders and Lehman ranks fourth in school history in 39:07; the top three (with Henn) ranks third in 59:37; the top four (with Kurtz) ranks third in 80:20; and the top five (with junior Charity Brubaker) ranks fourth in 103:03.

Other team scores at the meet included Grace 76, St. Mary's 106 and St. francis 120. Goshen will travel to Defiance for the Defiance Invitational on Saturday. The meet is slated to start at 11 a.m.

Goshen Individual Results
Heidi Saunders (1st) — 18:58
Melissa Lehman (5th) — 20:09
Rebekah Henn (6th) — 20:30
Tricia Kurtz (8th) — 20:43
Charity Brubaker (19th) — 22:43
Tonia Marino (25th) — 23:16
Jenny Stalter (29th) — 24:31
Rachel Yantzi (31st) — 24:55
Angie Caskey (39th) — 27:50
Hadley Lehman (40th) — 27:51

APR. 10 — Goshen Announces Miller As Cross Country Coach
Goshen faculty member returns to athletics post after eight-year hiatus

Miller

Goshen, IN — Goshen College has announced that Lyle Miller will return to the coaching field, taking over the reins of a cross country program he previously led for eight seasons.

“We are very pleased and excited to have Lyle rejoin our coaching staff,” said Ken Pletcher, Goshen College Athletic Director. “We know Lyle well and believe he will do a great job in leading our distance running program.”

Miller takes over for Phil Hostetler, who stepped down after three seasons at the Maple Leaf helm.

"Phil did an outstanding job with the program and there are a number of excellent runners already on board," said Miller. "I was impressed when I met with several of the athletes during the interview process. Their depth as individuals, and the commitment they bring to the sport, was a major factor in deciding that this is the right time for me to return to coaching."

Miller was instrumental in beginning the Goshen College women's program, serving as its first full-season coach in 1986. He added men's responsibilities the following year, taking over as head coach in both sports in 1988. During an eight-year tenure that concluded in 1993, he coached seven NAIA All-American Scholar-Athletes, seven national championship qualifiers, 16 All-NAIA District 21 performers, including two individual champions, and 18 all-conference selections, including three individual champions. Miller was chosen Mid-Central College Conference women's coach of the year after the Maple Leafs won the 1992 team championship. His top men's finish was in 1988, when the team missed winning the conference crown by three points.

Miller also coached additional national qualifiers and other award winners during seven years as an assistant or head coach in the Maple Leaf track and field program.

"One of my first priorities is to get to know all of the returning runners and to assure them of their importance in the Goshen College program," said Miller. "In addition, even though it's late to be beginning this fall's recruiting process, I believe there's still time to attract quality student-athletes to Goshen -- we do still have scholarship money available for high school athletes who fit the spiritual, academic and athletic mission of the college. As these new people join our returning athletes, I hope that the transition in coaching will be as seamless as possible; our returning people deserve as much for the hard work they've already put in, and I'm counting on them in a big way.

"I hope that athletes find me to be a person who cares about their complete development, both in and out of running shoes," said Miller in reflecting about his coaching philosophy. "Striving to reach our complete potential is part of what makes this sport fun for everyone involved. I don't think it's a coincidence that our program has had graduates go on to become teachers, professors, doctors, accountants and missionaries, for example. The mission of Goshen College is to develop informed, articulate, sensitive, responsible Christians, and I believe that cross country can play a key role in that development for many athletes. Cross country is one part of a bigger picture for our student-athletes."

Miller is a 1989 graduate of Goshen College with a major in sports management and has done graduate study at the University of Iowa. He also serves as director of printing and mailing services at the college, a position he will continue. He, his wife, Bonnie, and their two children attend Waterford Mennonite Church, where he is active as a member of the Ministry Leadership Council and serves as church treasurer.

Contact Miller at (219) 535-7573 (or 800-348-7422, ext. 7573) or lylegm@goshen.edu