By: Justin DeWeese
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A school record was broken by the #23 men's cross country team after they raced at the Live in Lou Classic hosted by the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. The men recorded the best overall time among the top five finishers in school history and placed 13
th out of 45 competitive teams.
Ezra Kipruto,
Nelson Kemboi,
Drew Hogan,
Liam Elias and
Jackson Steinmetz combined for a time of 127:26, 86 seconds faster than the previous best mark of the five top runners. The time to beat came from the 2019 Greater Louisville Classic. Goshen placed 13
th in a race that featured runners from schools like Xavier, Marshall, Grand Valley State, and Tennessee-Martin. The men beat seven ranked opponents and placed ahead of conference foes Taylor and Spring Arbor. Grace placed 6
th and Huntington came in at 11
th.
Ezra Kipruto and
Nelson Kemboi placed 28
th and 30
th respectively; Kipruto finished in 24:56.3 in his first race as a Maple Leaf and Kemboi was right after at 24:57.8. Kipruto is a transfer from Division I institution Liberty University where he competed for one season.
Drew Hogan had a time of 25:34.4,
Liam Elias was next with a 25:52.5 time, and
Jackson Steinmetz rounded out the top five at 26:05.7. Nearly all of the team ran season-best times.
The men compete next on Friday, October 7, at 2:30 pm at the Bethel Invitational. It will be the junior varsity squad only that is competing.
