Goshen, IN — After sweeping championships at the Goshen College Hokum Karem since its inception in 2005, the Goshen College women’s cross country team finally faltered, finishing second overall in Saturday’s third-annual event.
Goshen’s 13 team points were one off the title pace of Mid-Central Conference foe Huntington University — 12 points — though the Leafs did maintain one record: No tandem other than a Goshen duo has ever finished first at a GC Hokum Karem, a trend that continued this year. Junior Laura Harnish and sophomore Tina Peters ran away with the individual title (a collective time of 37:40), bettering the second-place pair by a minute and fifteen seconds.
“We showed some good performances, but we would have liked to have won the team championship for the third year in a row,” said Doug Yoder, Goshen head coach. “We have some young, inexperienced runners on our squad this year, and we will improve as the season progresses.”
Inexperience can prove costly at a Hokum Karem, a much differently-formatted event than traditional cross country meets: Runners are paired and then take turns running one-mile increments. After each athlete has run a total of three miles each in relay fashion — or six miles per tandem — a time is recorded for each pair.
Harnish and Peters’ clip registered a remarkable 6:17 average per mile, and also helped the Leafs in scoring. With the top three tandems counting toward team scoring only, Harnish and Peters first-place finish was good for one point.
Goshen’s downfall came after sophomores Rachael Baker and Maria Byler clocked in at 39:49 — third place overall — as the Leafs next tandem did not cross the finish line until ninth place overall. Sophomores Michelle Miller and Renee Miller finished in 45:18, allowing both Huntington and Benedictine University (third place, 20 total points) to finish its top three tandems prior to the Millers.
Weighted by the strong performance of its top two pairs, Goshen was able to narrowly miss out on first place. Had the Leafs final tandem finished just 37 seconds quicker, Goshen would have taken a share of the meet title.
“There is a lot of potential on this team,” Yoder said. “This is a fun way to start a season, but it is a much different type of event than the usual. I think once we get into the groove of the season you will see some impressive times from our young runners.”
Goshen will open the traditional portion of its season next Saturday, as the team will travel to Defiance College for the annual Defiance College Invitational. Meet time for the women is set for 10 a.m.
Goshen College Hokum Karem Official Results
Women's Results
3 x 1 Mile x 2 persons
1. Huntington University 12
2. Goshen College 13
3. Benedictine University 20
Place Name School (Scoring Value) Time
1. Harnish/Peters, - GOS (1) 37:40.00
2. Buck/Roughia, - HUN (2) 38:55.00
3. Baker/Byler, - GOS (3) 39:49.00
4. Vance/Kyler, - HUN (4) 40:09.00
5. Miller/Becker, - BEN (5) 40:26.00
6. Stebing/Shideler, - HUN (6) 43:10.00
7. Brown/Aloisio, - BEN (7) 44:00.00
8. Holowicki/, Korzeniewski - BEN (8) 44:41.00
9. M Miller/ R Miller, - GOS (9) 45:18.00
10. Murray/Duplancich, - BEN (--) 47:07.00
11. Horst/Loberg, - GOS (--) 47:26.00
12. George/Droste, - BEN (--) 51:57.0
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Junior Laura Harnish and sophomore Tina Peters