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OCT.
6 — Goshen Makes Hard Statement At Eagle Invite
Leafs
finish second behind only NCAA Div. I Northern Illinois
in angry fashion |
Lisle, IL — The Goshen College
women’s cross country team had a firm statement to make at
Friday’s Benedictine University Eagle Invitational, and only
NCAA Division I Northern Illinois University could get in its way.
The Leafs took home a second-place team finish at the 22-team meet
Friday afternoon, making a crystal-clear statement to NAIA raters
in the process. After being ranked 19th in the nation in the NAIA’s
Sept. 27 Top 25 poll (click here to
view), Goshen inexplicably fell out of the rankings on Wednesday
(click here to
view latest poll) — only after taking last weekend’s
Earlham Invitational championship in that meet’s top one,
two and three positions (click here for
related article).
Friday’s result at Benedictine was yet another dominating
performance, as senior Petrana Petkova ran away with the individual
championship in a time of 22:45.5. Even extra distance could not
deter Goshen from another impressive performance — Friday’s
meet was a 6K race instead of the normal 5K — as team champ
Northern Illinois could place just one runner inside of the Leafs’ top
three.
For head coach Doug Yoder, it was a sweet as it could get after
a mid-week perplexity.
“We can’t control (the national rankings),” Yoder
said Friday. “All we can control is how hard we train and
compete. The women’s team finished second behind D1 Northern
Illinois. That is impressive. Going one, three, five against that
competition
is particularly impressive.”
Flanking Petkova in that finish was senior Laura Herr (third overall,
23:35.8) and sophomore Laura Harnish (fifth overall, 23:47.2),
a pair that sandwiched Northern Illinois’ top runner at the
number four position. Goshen would have most likely won the team
event had the Division I Huskies not placed runners in the sixth,
seventh and eighth-place slots to secure a total 39 team points
to Goshen’s 72.
“Petrana took charge from the beginning and was never challenged,” Yoder
said. “Laura Herr and Laura Harnish were both challenged
by various other athletes throughout the race and really took charge
during the second half of the race.”
While Petkova, Herr and Harnish were dominating the event’s
top five, Goshen received a breakout performance from freshman
Rachael Baker, who finished fourth for the Leafs and 32nd overall
in a time of 25:18.5. It was Baker’s top team finish of the
season.
“Rachael Baker finally stepped up and ran the kind of race
that I have been expecting all year,” Yoder said. “It
was good to see her establish herself early and maintain her race.
All of the girls did an excellent job considering they ran 6K instead
of the usual 5K. Our high level of conditioning really showed in
this length of race.”
Freshman Tina Peters finished as Goshen’s final scoring runner,
taking 38th place overall in a time of 25:28.2. Classmate Whitney
Turner struggled slightly on the course, falling out of the team’s
top five with a 41st-place performance in a time of 25:44.8.
NCAA Division II St. Joseph’s College was the next-closest
challenger to the Leafs, finishing third with 100 total points.
A total 147 athletes participated in the event. For a complete
list of individual and team results, click here.
Goshen will next travel to Manchester College for the Manchester
College Invitational next Saturday. Women’s race time is
now set at 9 a.m. This is a late time change from an original 11
a.m. start time.
Goshen Individual Results
Petrana Petkova (1st) — 22:45.5
Laura Herr (3rd) — 23:35.8
Laura Harnish (5th) — 23:47.2
Rachael Baker (32nd) — 25:18.5
Tina Peters (38th) — 25:28.2
Whitney Turner (41st) — 25:44.8
Laura Stevens (61st) — 26:39.4
Anna Mast (67th) — 26:58.0
Tessa Horst (78th) — 27:34.7
Rachel Wigginton (89th) — 28:08.3
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  Freshman
Rachael Baker
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