NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Goshen cross country teams raced at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite on Friday. The men came in 13th of 21 and the women were 22nd of 22 teams in the Gold races.

Men - 13th of 21
Goshen was the top NAIA school in the race, placing ahead of Spring Arbor, who was in 17th. Spring Arbor is ranked #8 in the NAIA top 25 poll while Goshen is #20. The field contained many Division I schools such as St. Thomas, IU Indianapolis, Kansas State, Indiana State and Eastern Michigan.

Duncan Kogei was the top individual placer for the Maple Leafs, coming in 16th overall out of 167 total runners in the 8k race. His times this season, in his first year as a Maple Leaf, have gotten better meet by meet. He started with a 25:20.5 time at Indiana Wesleyan, then improved to a 24:58.4 time at Michigan State and displayed an impressive 24:47.3 at Notre Dame.

Drew Hogan came in 37th in his first race since being named the NAIA Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week after his performance at the IWU Twilight Classic. He put up a time of 25:07.8. Mathew Keitany had a 25:24.3 time and came in 49th. Jacob Friesen was 81st and finished in 25:55.4 and Jesse Bontrager completed Goshen's top five in 152nd place, crossing the line in 27:38.7.

GC placed ahead of D-I schools DePaul, Valparaiso, Milwaukee, Robert Morris, Western Illinois and Kent State.

Women - 22nd of 22
The women faced much of the same Division I schools as the men did. They had a total score of 663, one spot behind Spring Arbor's 607 points - the only other NAIA school in the race.

For the first time this season, the Leafs had enough women competing to have a team score. Kassandra Ortega led the group by finishing the 5k race in 19:15.6, coming in 97th of 171. Presley Allen was next in 145th place and a 20:04.5 time. Britney Ortega completed the race in 21:25.0, followed by Citlaly Sanchez in 21:31.5 and Marin Kauffman Smith in 21:47.7.

Goshen competes at the Bethel Invite next Friday, October 10.